After 23 years, the Goodies will ride again - but only in Australia

More than two decades after they parked up their three-seater "trandem" for good, one of the most celebrated slapstick comedy acts of the Seventies, the Goodies, will ride again.

The trio - who fought each other with tomato ketchup, mastered the Lancastrian marital art of Ecky Thump and created a giant kitten which demolished London - will reunite for their first tour in March. However, it will be seen only by their fanbase in Australia, where the shows have continued to be screened.

With the motto "Anything anytime", Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor would perform a variety of zany tasks each week, first for the BBC and then ITV, until the series was axed in 1982 after 12 years.

Oddie went on to become the face of BBC wildlife broadcasting, while the others continue to work on television and radio in a variety of guises, including team captains on Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Much to their chagrin, the shows are never repeated apart from a rare sighting of The Goodies and the Beanstalk on Channel Five over Christmas.

Now they will perform together for the first time since the series was dumped - due to a change in the regime at ITV - with 12 shows planned in Australia.

Garden said: "We want to do bits from our earlier shows that people will not have seen or heard before because the tapes no longer exist. We might give them a taste of that by actually doing them live.

"We're all intrigued by the idea. It's quite tempting to think that if it isn't any good no one will actually hear about it at home - but I suspect they will."