What would have happened if Bill Oddie had left The Goodies to pursue a pop career after recording a hit song about a monkey dance? Ben McKenzie and Rob Lloyd play Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor trying to ressurect a two-man Goodies series without Bill. The two characters are beautifully played with lots of skilful dialogue. The first part contains abundant winning insights on the creative process as the two sit down to craft their new series. But how to take a new direction with a missing link in the troika of stereotypes: the toff, the brain and the scruff? Highs and lows occur as optimism and adroitly-paced arguments vie for ascendency. But what is planned turns out eventually to be one of those things that simply sounded like a good idea at the time.
Goodies fans should love this work, as should anyone with an interest in good talent performing a well-worked script that is obviously loved by its players. The problem is that it all ends rather abruptly midway through what should have been the second half. A total running time of 35 minutes is just not going to feed the word-of-mouth that is required to attract more than the dozen or so punters who turned out this night. The Fridge in the Fringe Factory Theatre until March 16.