The Last Of...

'Here's to the Good Life.' Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry drink a toast in the Goods' trashed living room in what was almost (but not quite) the last episode of The Good Life.

… the present series

These days, television seems to go on forever. How many series of Game of Thrones are we up to now? I neither watch nor am I keeping score, but it must be up to seven or eight. Of course, to the modern audience, a ‘series’ can comprise a mere six episodes whereas, back in the good old days, you’d be looking at thirteen episodes as a bare minimum. Film studios needed work to keep them in business, and the TV production industry kept many legendary production bases ticking over until well into the 1970s. But novelty was what sold. Lew Grade always maintained it was easier to sell a brand new idea than a repeat run of some tried and tested formula. This, at any rate, has been offered as a reason why Thunderbirds never went beyond one series, and although there were exceptions like The Saint and Danger Man, it was a rule by which most of his ITC series abided.

Elsewhere on television, in Britain at any rate, series tended to come and go. Expensive hour-long productions rarely remained on air for more than one or two series, with a few exceptions like The Avengers to prove the rule. Any filmed series that was retained for more than one series did so on the basis of worldwide sales, specifically to the US market, and where such sales were not forthcoming, titles were dropped like the proverbial hot brick.

The picture was somewhat different in the case of videotaped drama, which was not only cheaper to produce, but in many cases, an economic necessity. TV studios depended on regular videotaped series to keep their production schedule afloat, but even so, it could be a fight to buy studio time with so many titles vying for a piece of the action, and only the successful would enjoy more than a sole series. There were, of course, many notable successes, all of which enjoyed long runs on air: Dr. Who ran for decades in its original form, before being regenerated later in a model more akin to the ITC productions of an earlier era, and there were other notably long-lived series from the BBC, including Z Cars, its spin-off, Softly Softly, The Onedin Line and When the Boat Comes In.

But they all, eventually, came to an end. Some simply ran out of steam, while others ran out of viewers. Changing tastes took care of others – Softly, Softly, revamped into a new Task Force format in 1969, was beginning to look out of step with the times by its final series in the mid-70s, and its de facto replacement was the tougher, Sweeney-styled Target: a complete misfire which lasted only two short series.

In America, where bigger audiences meant bigger budgets, a popular series could easily run to hundreds of episodes, and their endings were often precipitated by the departure of the talent. Here in the UK, it’s hard to name a single series that enjoyed a lifespan across more than one decade. Dr. Who may indeed be the sole exception. These days, of course, the big record holder has become Casualty – one of TV’s oldest and least imaginative formats proving that sometimes, viewers can’t get enough of a bad thing. Emergency: Ward 10 had been a long-haul favourite with viewers in the late 50s and early 60s, but at least it had the good grace to bow out in the end. Series like Casualty seem almost to be kept on air to prove a point. The point being not the production of quality television, but just to enable the BBC to boast what a long-running success it has on its hands. Last of the Summer Wine was a similar case in point. Its first three or four series were amiable, low-key, dare I say ‘gentle’ comedy, and would have sufficed for the purposes of future repeats. Instead, the BBC just kept it going, propping up an increasingly geriatric format with new characters as the old ones died off. Towards the end, it began to look not unlike a sunset home for venerable character actors. I stopped watching it in the early 80s, by which time I judged it to have run out of ideas. But like Compo’s proverbial tin bath on wheels, it kept on going, and going. And going. Downhill.

None of my favourite series ever seemed to be thus favoured. Most lasted only a single series, whilst others struggled on through two or three. And those that did endure invariably only served to illustrate the law of diminishing returns. Should Star Trek have run to three series? Without a doubt. But was the third series any good? Not really. Its not being any good was down to various factors, but in retrospect it seems almost a criminal act to have allowed such an admirable piece of television to wither away as budgets and enthusiasm dwindled. These days, it wouldn’t be allowed. Witness the endless re-branding of the Star Trek franchise, on TV and in the cinema. The brand is too big to let it die. Throw more money at it. Reboot it. Put a woman in charge (yes, Who fans, Star Trek got there first…)

I’m well aware that TV series still come and go in the blink of an eye, in quantities far too large for me to keep abreast of; but the ones that last really do seem to outstay their welcome. If not actually cancelled, then they should be forcibly rested, while their audience develops a keen taste for that which an older generation calls nostalgia.

Ah, the ‘n’ word again. But that’s the whole point. Without cancellation, there can be no nostalgia. Nostalgia is the afterlife of any good idea. But no good idea is good enough to merit eternal life. Even the Beatles knew when to stop…

Growing up with the television, I soon came to recognise the sigh of disappointment that accompanied the words of the continuity announcer declaring: ‘that was the last in the present series.’ I’d never seen Steptoe and Son at the age of six, but the sight of a trailer advertising the last in a repeated series (some time around 1967) still felt tinged with regret. In the case of programmes which I watched and enjoyed, the knowledge that this week’s episode was the last, perhaps forever, certainly served as a focus for your attention. You had one last chance to enjoy your favourite show before it disappeared. There was no replay, no video, DVD or internet. Once the series had ended, that was your lot until such time as it was repeated. And repeats were by no means guaranteed.

Some series went out with a bang. I didn’t see it myself, but Doomwatch wrapped its first year by blowing up its most popular character. Blakes’ Seven blew up the Liberator, not once, but twice (the first time was a mere scriptwriter’s trick). Danger UXB took a leaf from the Doomwatch writer’s guide and blew up its star Anthony Andrews, in its penultimate episode, and on a seaside pier as well, in case anyone hadn’t noticed the similarity... clearly, you were in dangerous territory when you got to the last episode of anything.

Sometimes, though, what you got was a cop-out. Someone at the Gerry Anderson studio came up with the idea of ending their series with a clip-show instead of a proper episode. It was first done on Stingray, then again on Thunderbirds. By the time of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the trick was beginning to feel over-played, and the script was highly contrived to allow for the tedious repetitions from earlier episodes. Maybe some fans liked to revist old favourites, but for me, it was a wasted opportunity. Amazingly, they got away with it a fourth time on Joe 90, and even in UFO, the re-used footage trick was worked into the episode Mindbender.

What you really wanted from that last episode was a cracker. If the series was to return, then it was fair game to leave the characters’ fates up in the air, but if not, could they please be allowed to have one last brilliant adventure before living happily ever after? Fireball XL5 didn’t do badly with its last episode, The Firefighters, which featured a lot of pyrotechnic explosions and the complete destruction of a key set. Favourite characters were placed in jeopardy... but Venus was saved from the flames by Steve Zodiac... of course.

Sometimes, writers took chances with their last episodes. The final edition of the regular series of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads presented a decidedly downbeat meditation on the ultimate fate of Bob and Terry, who see themselves mirrored in two cantankerous old men. The Good Life went perhaps a step too far, when Tom and Barbara’s home was trashed by vandals: a horrible fate for characters whom viewers had cherished over three series. Oddly, the series returned for a single one-off episode, ‘by Royal Command’, taped in the presence of the Queen and Prince Philip. Had her Majesty been upset at the downbeat ending to the regular series? I’ve often suspected this may have been the case. Either way, this single half-hour effectively ‘re-set’ things in the Good household, and viewers could indeed be assured that Tom and Barbara lived happily ever after.

Occasionally, but only rarely, a series would end with the promise of a return ‘later in the year,’ but more often than not viewers were left in the dark as to the fate of their favourite programmes. Much of the time, a second or third series had not even been commissioned by the end of its predecessor. These days, the commissioning process is all too public, and fans often get to know of an impending new series when it is no more than a twinkle in the eye of its creative team.

It was a rarity indeed for any of my favourites to return for a second series. One notable exception was Space:1999, and in this case I learned of the proposed second series many months ahead of its screen debut, together with a few tantalising nuggets of information – Moonbase Alpha had been moved ‘underground’ (so we were told), and there would be changes in the cast. Losing a beloved character was sometimes the price to pay for another series of your favourite, and in the case of Space:1999, we lost the very best character, Victor Bergman, between series one and two. Space:1999’s second series was, of course, a travesty, proving that any TV or film fan should be careful what they wish for. More of your favourite doesn’t necessarily mean more of what you liked about the first series.

In part two, I’ll talk more about losing those favourite characters...