I wouldn't quite put it at the huge cultural loss level, as I'm a bit more ambivalent about the tyranny of the present when it comes to culture in general and due to Monty Python's Flying Circus and some of its contemporaneous peers having been subject to a lot of hagiography over the years; for every funny sketch, there were others that fell rather flat. Some of what they did ages well, some is timeless and some is difficult to comprehend today without a precise knowledge of late 1960s cultural mores, current events and satirical targets. They were very much creatures of their time and, if that time was different, they would not emerge in the same way as in @. Now, I'm not contending that a couple of socio-political and economic changes would wipe the slate clean from the long British tradition of irreverence, satire and generally taking the mickey, but several key changes would have an effect.
I haven't decided to say Monty Python et al won't exist here on account of not liking them (I don't mind some of their stuff, although much less than when I was a teenager), or thinking that their absence would lead to some sort of permanent conservative utopia (I don't and the latter isn't a goal anyway), but because, upon consideration, I don't see the drivers for their emergence happening here.
What we have is:
- A more Reithian BBC due to ongoing wars and crises, social conservatism, a government prepared to censor more
- No
Beyond the Fringe or
Private Eye- No competing commercial television in Britain
- A very different Suez in 1956 with flow-on effects, particularly with regard to national purpose, self-image, self-confidence and place in the world
- Some of the key figures pursuing other career paths that historically closed off for them
I'm not altogether sure that the absence of a comedy series influential amongst young people would result in less mental flexibility. The latter can come from a variety of different sources.
The Goodies had their moments of subversion, such as the political revolution episode, 'Give Police a Chance', 'South Africa', 'Gender Education' and a few others. I'd envisage that the type of 'Dark Earth Goodies' that would appear would be more along the lines of 'Kitten Kong' and 'The Goodies and the Beanstalk', or a bit more absurd and clearly aimed at a younger audience.
