Give Police a Chance

"Give Police a Chance"
The Goodies episode
Episode no.	Series 1 Episode 3 (of 76)
Directed by	Jim Franklin
Produced by	John Howard Davies
Starring	Tim Brooke-Taylor Graeme Garden Bill Oddie
Original air date	22 November 1970 (Sunday — 10.35 p.m.)
Guest actors
Paul Whitsun-Jones as "the Police Sergeant" Jim Collier as "..." Alexander Bridge as "..." Bartlett Mullins as "..." Katya Wyeth as "..."

"Give Police a Chance" is an episode of the award-winning British comedy television series The Goodies.

This episode is also known as "Love the Police" and "Police Public Image" and as "Police Brutality".

Written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie.

Plot

The Goodies are asked to help with the public image of the police, because nobody likes them. The police have no idea why they are so unpopular. The Police Sergeant, and the policeman accompanying him, rough the Goodies up, demanding that they help. The Goodies are terrified, but they agree to help anyway.

The Goodies, dressed as policemen, turn an Identikit into an Identikit Game (for all the family), and open "The Coppe Shoppe" (where they sell handcuffs as a 'charm bracelet', and also sell police helmets). Riding their trandem, they give flowers to people, take away restrictive traffic signs and traffic meters, paint LOVE on the road, block off some streets so that children can use the streets to play in, and go swimming in a "no swimming" area at a park. Everyone begins to love the police, including small children (who run to the Goodies and mob them, whenever they see them).

The Goodies are eventually arrested for 'breaking the law' and appear in Court on trial for their misdeeds. They discover that the Judge is actually the Police Sergeant who hired them, and that a policeman is acting as both the Prosecutor and Defence Counsel. The jury, likewise, is completely composed of policemen (who also double as witnesses in the trial) and they all declare the Goodies guilty immediately — even before the trial begins. All seems hopeless, until Tim makes an impassioned plea to the Judge, commenting that it was the Judge, himself, who asked them to make the police more popular.

Commercials

• The coppe shoppe
• Identikit

Note

• "Give Police a Chance" was the title which Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden agreed on for this episode.
• The song "Give Police a Chance" is based on the John Lennon song, "Give Peace a Chance".

References

• "The Complete Goodies" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
• "The Goodies Rule OK" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
• "From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
• "The Goodies Episode Summaries" — Brett Allender
• "The Goodies — Fact File" — Matthew K. Sharp

External links

• Love the Police at IMDb

("Give Police a Chance" is listed under an alternative title at IMDb)