{"id":826963,"date":"2026-07-27T12:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826963\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T12:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:56:10","slug":"bill-oddie-much-loved-member-of-the-goodies-comedy-series-in-the-1970s-dead-at-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826963\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Oddie, much-loved member of The Goodies comedy series in the 1970s, dead at 85"},"content":{"rendered":"

British actor, comedian and broadcaster Bill Oddie, best known to Australian audiences as a member of the 1970s comedy trio The Goodies, has died aged 85.<\/p>\n

His agent, David Foster, confirmed his death to the BBC, without revealing the cause.<\/p>\n

The Goodies was a surreal British comedy series starring Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, blending slapstick, satire, music and visual gags.<\/p>\n

It ran for nine seasons between 1970 and 1982, with 76 episodes, screening in Australia on the ABC.<\/p>\n

“It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of Bill Oddie, the country’s best-loved birder,” Mr Foster said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Bill was a multi-talented entertainer \u2014 a wildlife presenter, broadcaster, comedian, writer, songwriter, musician and conservationist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Yet it was never fame that he valued. Instead, he encouraged us to respect and protect the environment.”<\/p>\n

After The Goodies, Oddie became one of Britain’s best-known wildlife broadcasters and conservationists through BBC series including Birding with Bill Oddie and Springwatch.<\/p>\n

His death means that Scottish-born Graeme Garden \u2014 at 83, the youngest of The Goodies cast \u2014 is the one surviving member from TV show’s main cast.<\/p>\n

Tim Brooke-Taylor died in April 2020<\/a>, aged 79, after contracting COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The bearded Oddie was arguably the wildest member of The Goodies’ cast, known for his unpredictable antics and outspoken views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wore bright T-shirts, while his cast members were often dressed in dress shirts, jackets and ties.<\/p>\n

He also wrote The Goodies hit song The Funky Gibbon which reached number four on the UK charts in 1975.<\/p>\n

“It was an honour and a privilege to represent him for so many years. I will miss him terribly,” Mr Foster said.\"Bill<\/p>\n

The Goodies ran between 1970 and 1982 over 76 episodes. (BBC)<\/p>\n

Born in Rochdale in northern England, Oddie grew up in Birmingham before attending Cambridge University where he dabbled in comedy.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, he made a name for himself as a writer, working alongside John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame.<\/p>\n

It was as a writer that he met his future Goodies co-stars Brooke-Taylor and Garden.<\/p>\n

Apart from Australia and the UK, The Goodies enjoyed popularity in New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and, to a lesser extent, in the United States.<\/p>\n

Oddie is survived by his wife, Laura, and daughters, Bonnie, Kate and Rosie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British actor, comedian and broadcaster Bill Oddie, best known to Australian audiences as a member of the 1970s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,1576,400134,279678,400136,28567,134,6207,9118,400137,400135,427],"class_list":["post-826963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bbc","tag-bill-oddie","tag-british-comedy","tag-classic-british-tv","tag-comedian","tag-entertainment","tag-itv","tag-obituary","tag-rochedale","tag-the-goodies","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}