Surbiton railway station

The Good Life was a successful British sitcom broadcast by the BBC from 1975 to 1978. It was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom.

[edit] Background
The Good Life was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey as a vehicle for Richard Briers [1], the only cast member famous beforehand. Bob Larbey had just reached 40, and this got him and Esmonde thinking how this was a milestone for some people [1], and The Good Life was soon born. The writers decided to make the neighbours old friends rather than enemies, thus creating more comedy as their friendship was tried to the limit.

When it came to casting, Peter Bowles was originally asked to play the role of Jerry, but was unavailable so had to decline. He would later star opposite Penelope Keith in To the Manor Born. Hannah Gordon was also thought of to play Barbara, but she'd recently played a similar role so they decided against the idea. Esmonde and Larbey chose Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith after seeing them perform on stage together in The Norman Conquests. The programme was filmed in the North London surburb of Northwood, despite being set in Surbiton. The house used for Tom and Barbara's had to be returned to its prior condition after filming, and livestock removed overnight.