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| King of the Hill! Richard Briers as Tom Good in the phenomenally popular THE GOOD LIFE. All images: BBC. |
He'd been a popular comedy star before THE GOOD LIFE, but it wasn't until Richard Briers appeared in that series, written specially for him by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey -a look at a successful suburban couple giving up the rat race and their affluent lives to become poorer, happier and self-sufficient, and the resulting problems, character clashes (notably with their neighbours) and memorable humour that could be mined from the fascinating format over the next three seasons- that his career well and truly took off. Briers sadly died yesterday at 79 from lung disease, and with his passing he'll be well and truly missed by all who knew him and enjoyed his varied film and TV work. Egotistical but caring, funny and determined, his portrayal of Tom Good was always enjoyable, often uplifting, sometimes inspiring, and he shined in his scenes with then fiery, sexy and cheeky co-star Felicity Kendal playing his wife, Barbara.
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| Hard at work with the seventies self-sufficiency lifestyle, alongside Felicity Kendal as wife Barbara, in THE GOOD LIFE. |
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| Briers with the full cast of THE GOOD LIFE, including Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith. |
Would you like some bread with that cheese? - Good Life - BBC - YouTube
Margo, Queen of the Jungle - The Good Life - BBC - YouTube
Can I pay you in some other way? - The Good Life - BBC - YouTube
But another performance of his that shouldn't be overlooked is his work as Martin Bryce-the neighbour from hell in Esmonde/Larby's equally successful eighties sitcom EVER DECREASING CIRCLES. Here, Brier played the polar opposite to Tom Good: neurotically obsessed with order, tidiness and all the extra-curricular activities he oversaw in the small, tightly-knit suburban home close that he was king of the castle to, his life soon interrupted for the worse by the arrival of the laid back and friendly charmer Paul (a sublime and crafty performance from Peter Egan) that really upsets the applecart balance away from Martin's favour and the close's loyalties to him, and building further tension with his long-suffering but loyal wife, Ann (Penelope Wilton). A beautifully written series, with some often very funny laugh out loud moments and subtle character moments, the interaction and banter between Briers, Wilton and Egan was often priceless-the show probably the last great fully satisfying sitcom to be produced by BBC 1 beyond the then iconic ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES. . .
Ever decreasing circles (series 2 episode 2, part 1) - YouTube
S2 ep2 The Cricket Match Part 2 - YouTube
S2 ep5 Snooker Part 1 - YouTube
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| Squaring up to rival Paul (Peter Egan), watched by wife Ann (Penelope Wilton), in EVER DECREASING CIRCLES. |
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| As the demented Caretaker fighting Sylvester McCoy's DOCTOR WHO. |
Seeing that strong comedy was a dying breed, Brier's emergence into accompanying stage and film drama work was not unexpected, and he gave some excellent performances for British talent Kenneth Branagh, including the roles of Lieutenant Bardolph in the film-makers gusto re-imagining of HENRY V, and as the scheming Polonious in HAMLET. Let's also not forget how well Briers played baddies in his later years, notably the venomous family wrecker Sir Clixby Bream in one memorable episode of INSPECTOR MORSE: Death Is Now My Neighbour. Alongside voicing the lovable dog Roobarb in old and new animated adventures for youngsters, there was further lightweight but popular work in the Scottish drama MONARCH OF THE GLEN entertaining the older masses. And how could we not mention his OTT turn as the tyrannical, later possessed 'Caretaker' in the memorable eighties DOCTOR WHO story written by Stephen Wyatt, Paradise Towers, clearly showing Briers enjoying himself alongside Sylvester McCoy's then more humorous interpretation of the Time Lord, stuck on a deranged and decayed tower block full of killer robot cleaning machines and a power mad computer determined to eradicate it's human inhabitants, or his performance as the bed ridden, at death's door figure of the frail Parker, kept alive by alien technology, in a 2008 episode of WHO spin-off TORCHWOOD's very good second season: A Day in the Death. In one of his last film roles, Briers was also getting into the comedy horror genre that had been so uniquely tapped by Simon Pegg in SHAUN OF THE DEAD, playing Hamish the elderly Zombie fighter in 2012's popular COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES (apparently a better film than it sounds!).
So, a richly diverse career to be remembered and celebrated. From A GOOD LIFE came a very good life and career indeed!
Obituary feature: BBC News - Richard Briers, The Good Life star, dies aged 79
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