When Tom and Barbara Good decide to exchange the pressures of the rat race for an alternative, more sustainable way of living, they set about turning their suburban home in Surbiton into a model of self-sufficiency. They grow their own fruit and veg, keep livestock in the garden, make their own clothes, and even generate their own electricity from manure. It's the good life for them – but not for Margo and Jerry Leadbetter, who live next door, and are desperately trying to maintain the Sur...

Meet Surbiton’s most famous residents; Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry.It is Tom Good's 40th birthday and he feels thoroughly unfulfilled. If only he can discover what 'It' is, and if he can, will his wife Barbara agree to do 'It' with him?The subsequent and sudden transformation of the Goods’ home into a smallholding causes consternation for Margo and Jerry next door, and they decide it’s their duty to interfere...So begins The Good Life, the much loved classi...

Helen Lederer reads John Esmonde & Bob Larbey’s novelisation of the adored BBC TV series following the fortunes of the Goods and the Leadbeaters.As Tom Good turns forty he is bored with the drudgery of a nine-to-five job. Selling the idea of self-sufficiency to Barbara, his practical yet devoted wife, he sets about transforming not only their garden but also their whole way of life.As they tear up the front lawn, build a generator and introduce pigs to The ...