Star of The Goodies dies at 85

Author: AFP,
Publish Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026, 7:28am

The Goodies, featuring Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, who has died at the age of 83, and Tim Brooke-Taylor - who died in 2020 at the age of 79. Photo / Getty Images

UK television personality Bill Oddie, best known for his role in the TV comedy series The Goodies and presenter of nature programmes, has died aged 85.

His agent David Foster said in a statement: “Bill was a multi-talented celebrity – wildlife presenter, broadcaster, comedian, writer, songwriter, musician and conservationist.”

He added: “Yet it was never fame that he valued. Instead, he encouraged us to respect and protect the environment. He taught us the wonder of it. He protested, lobbied and campaigned for it.”

Foster did not reveal the cause of Oddie’s death.

Oddie, who grew up in Birmingham, came to fame as one of the trio in The Goodies, starring with Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor in the comedy sketch show which ran from 1970 to 1982. Re-runs of the show were a regular feature of TV stations around the world.

The three met as students at Cambridge University, and joined the Footlights Club, where their contemporaries included British comedians John Cleese and Eric Idle, who were later to create Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Several of the songs Oddie wrote for The Goodies were UK chart hits, including The Funky Gibbon in 1975.

Oddie was a passionate birdwatcher and conservationist, and presented various shows across the BBC and Channel 4, including the nature programme Springwatch.

He later led a vocal campaign against a government-backed cull of badgers, blamed for spreading tuberculosis to cattle.

In later life Oddie became a well-known conservationist, naturalist and birdwatcher. Photo / Getty Images

He spoke movingly of suffering from depression when he was dropped from Springwatch in 2008. He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Oddie also urged people to go out and experience the natural world.

He said: “My plea to people would be to ‘go naked’ occasionally – take off those earpieces so you hear nature and, of course, birdsong. You may not realise how precious it is until it’s gone.”

- AFP