The Aussie Music Connections To The Goodies: Remembering Tim Brooke-Taylor

You may have heard about the passing of Tim Brooke-Taylor on the weekend due to COVID-19, best known as part of The Goodies. 

For a generation of Australian kids, The Goodies was an early evening institution, airing at 6pm on the ABC in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s (which, being a children’s timeslot, meant its more adult content was edited out and hence there were strange jumps in the shows). Even though it had later screenings on Channel 7 and 10 and even pay TV, it’s the ABC run that resonates for most.

One such act that it influenced were Spiderbait, who even went so far as to cover Run in 1993. In a tribute to Brooke-Taylor, Janet English from the band posted on their Facebook “every afternoon after school The Goodies was on the ABC (only two TV stations in Finley) before Monkey, Dr Who and the news.

Essential viewing,” before remembering of Run, “Recording RUN was blast - it was the soundtrack we all grew up with.” Their video for the track shows them paying homage to the show dressed as the trio and recreating various skits.

Turns out there’s an even deeper Australian connection, with the soul musician Jade MacRae having a familial connection to the show. Her father, Dave MacRae, was one of the musicians in early Goodies episodes before later becoming the musical director for the series, working closely with Bill Oddie to produce the songs.

Her mother was even a vocalist for the show and appeared on the episode Almost Live. When Jade appeared on an early episode of Spicks & Specks, she even recounted tales from this time, as well as performing a version of The Funky Gibbon. Jade posted a short tribute on her Facebook, stating, "RIP Tim Brooke Taylor. Thank you for the absurdity - could use a little more of that these days."

Lano & Woodley also posted a tribute to Brooke-Taylor today in the form of a song they'd written to the theme of The Goodies featuring references to many favourite sketches. It contained such lyrics as "Tim you played a whimpering Tory/ Now you're in the land of hope and glory/ I'm not sure if Marge and Tina are crying/ But I sure am."