Richard Briers – January 14th 1934 – February 18th 2013 – AKA Tom Good

A blast from the past Richard Briers has just died from complications of lung disease. His endearing memory for me was in the Good Life which since its inception for a 3 year series 1975 to 1978 was a TV series I followed with many repeats subsequently and shaped my desire for farming and self sufficiency in later life. Actually it was only 30 Episodes over 4 series only though and must have been repeated over and over so many times, one loses count. I am sure the whole set can now be purchased on DVD and no doubt one day I will settle down to watch them when I am ready to reminisce!! It was a series I could watch many times over with the same enthusiasm and he played a major role in its success.

Penelope Keith who he always delighted in rubbing up the wrong way, reinforced my prejudices of what living in Suburbia and keeping up with the Jones were all about, something I never wished to emulate.

I therefore mention this and remember the personality as a significant affect in my life overseas and contributed to my entertainment after a hard day’s work! There is British Humor and more of it, but it was one I thoroughly enjoyed and thank the producers for bringing such a memorable series to TV, which I feel is lacking in today’s programs.

Being able to make fun of run of the mill lives and bring in color of life outside of the norm, has been part of my lifestyle and therefore I identify with this program more than many and Richard Briers was an unforgettable face of that process.

Of course being out of that scene for so long, I had forgotten him and the program, and when I saw more recent photos of him, I could not recognize the person I had seen in those programs so long ago. That is a fact of life for household names, where people remember them for the sitcoms that they acted in and not the fact that like everyone we grow old and change in appearance.

The whole series just revolved round 4 people, the other two being Tom Good’s on screen wife Barbara, Felicity Kendal who had her own endearing personality (having grown up and being schooled in India) and Paul Eddington more of the Yes Minister fame rounding out the 4.

Thank you Richard (TOM) for giving me so many evenings of laughter after weary days of work and hours of driving home from places in different countries as it was also syndicated in the US where I subsequently went to live in.