Chapter Text
Animals
In the last episode of the entire run of The Goodies, Tim and Bill fall into a strange homoerotic relationship during the plot of an even stranger episode. For reasons that must only exist in their universe, Graeme, a pet shop owner, starts selling humans dressed as animals (as in, they have tails and fake noses; it’s not exactly high-tech) instead. One of these human pets is Bill dressed as a dog, who gets bought by Tim.
However, Tim doesn’t have the best relationship with his new pet. Bill gets on his nerves, destroying his belongings and being a nuisance
And in a scene that really reads just like a dysfunctional relationship, Bill starts to lament about how Tim doesn’t care about him anymore. He mentions the silly pet names Tim used to call him (such as Smidgen Flufflett), and says about how Tim always used to rub his stomach and let him stick his nose in his ear.
The whole conversation infuriates Tim, who acts like an uncaring partner. In the end, Tim gets sick of him and decides to dump Bill in the canal. However, when he looks into Bill’s “big brown eyes”, he can’t bring himself to do it, and Bill howls as Tim starts to sob.
It truly is a bizarre relationship, but it fits the dynamics mentioned in this essay, so I think it counts.