Star of ‘The Goodies’ Dead at 85

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Bill Oddie has died at the age of 85.

The TV star was known for his 1970-82 role in The Goodies, which he co-wrote and acted in as a fictionalized version of himself, alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden.

The Rochdale-born icon also wrote the music for The Goodies, including the 1975 hit “The Funky Gibbon,” which reached No. 4 on the U.K. charts. Oddie also became TV’s signature birdwatcher, on BBC’s Springwatch.

He was a staunch wildlife advocate, serving as a member of the council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Oddie had a complex personality underneath his easygoing appearance.

He lived with bipolar disorder that at times caused him to miss a number of episodes of Springwatch.

After the BBC dropped him from the show he admitted he was sent into a major depressive episode that put him in a hospital for a year.

The star married Jean Hart, a jazz musician, in 1967.

He is survived by their two daughters.

The couple later divorced and Oddie married Laura Beaumont, a host on the TV game show Sale of the Century, in 1983.

His cause of death has not been disclosed.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/27/bill-oddie-the-comedy-legend-tragically-undervalued-by-the-bbc">Read it at The Guardian

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-oddie-star-of-the-goodies-and-springwatch-dies-at-85/">Read more at The Daily Beast.