New TV series puts the spotlight back on 'The Good Life'

Smallholders all over the country know that living off the land is alive and well, but a new TV series to celebrate the 35th anniversary of TV sitcom 'The Good Life' is raising awareness of suburban self-sufficiency once more.
 
BBC2's new three-part series 'Giles and Sue Live the Good Life' sees writer and food critic Giles Coren and comedian Sue Perkins step back to 1975 to try to learn some self-sufficient skills and techniques. Although not living the life round the clock, the duo throw themselves in to recreating a distinctly Tom and Barbara lifestyle, learning some of the skills and techniques in order to find out what it takes to make the dream a reality. Based in an ordinary suburban street, and inspired by archive clips of the comedy, during the series Giles and Sue try to recreate the Good’s world – from growing vegetables in the garden and grazing goats in the local park, to attempting to generate alternative energy supplies. They’ll seek advice from experts when needed, but most of the time they’ll try to find their own answers to everything, from carrot blight to how to treat a nasty outbreak of chicken mite. The original series is beloved of many and inspired people to give self-sufficiency a go. This new series shows that the smallholder lifestyle is experiencing a modern renaissance and soon maybe every back garden will have a chicken coop or two!