Dame Penelope Keith to front 'The Good Life: Inside Out' for U&Gold

The one-off retrospective will celebrate 50 years of the iconic sitcom.

Last month, The Good Life celebrated its 50th anniversarty and today U&Gold has announced a one-off two-hour retrospective special, fronted by Dame Penelope Keith, who famously brought the iconic Margo Leadbetter to life in the original series.

With her unique insider perspective, Dame Penelope will take viewers on an entertaining and heartfelt journey through the sitcom’s history, from its first spark of inspiration to its enduring appeal and its place in British comedy history.

The Good Life: Inside Out promises to be packed with nostalgia, revisiting filming locations and revealing props and artifacts from the show’s development process such as original scripts and production notes.

It'll be produced by Double Yellow Entertainment who have painstakingly recreated Margo and Jerry Leadbetter’s drawing room as it appeared in the original programme, and will capture Dame Penelope Keith stepping back onto the set.

As well as Dame Penelope Keith’s reminiscences, the special will also include rarely seen archival interviews with co-stars Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, and Paul Eddington, as well as producer director John Howard Davies.

On fronting the celebration, Dame Penelope Keith said "I am delighted that U&Gold has invited me to celebrate fifty years of The Good Life, a series that was important to me and is still so well loved by viewers. I have such happy memories of making The Good Life - it was a wonderful cast and we were working with excellent scripts and a first rate production team. The only thing I can’t really believe is that it’s fifty years since I first played Margo…where have the years gone?"

It'll be executive produced by Kirsty Hanson, senior commissioning editor for UKTV and creative director, Mark Wells for Double Yellow Entertainment who said "The Good Life is one of the crown jewels of British comedy. What a real privilege it’s been to examine it up close in the company of Dame Penelope Keith, who in Margo created one of the all-time sitcom character greats. Fans of The Good Life can look forward to a very special treat."

Also speaking about The Good Life: Inside Out, Helen Nightingale, head of factual and factual entertainment at UKTV, said "For a show to be remembered so fondly and to be such a reference point in British everyday conversation as The Good Life after 50 years is testament to its quality, and this new retrospective with Double Yellow will explore just how and why the show has endured."

To which UKTV's director of programming, Gerald Casey added "The Good Life is truly British comedy heritage, and we’re honoured to be opening the vault to a wealth of new material and footage, all helmed by the wonderful Dame Penelope Keith."

The Good Life: Inside Out will air later this year on U&Gold