When I was young I was completely convinced that there had once been a giant cat sitting on the BT Tower in the middle of London.

I knew it was true because I’d seen it on the telly and it was utterly convincing. I had cause this week to look up the footage on the internet and was somewhat amazed – and a trifle disappointed – that it didn’t look quite as real as I’d remembered it.

Readers of a certain age will, of course, know that I am talking about The Goodies, which was possibly the best thing that has ever been on – or will be on – the TV, ever.

Even just saying the name conjures up a montage of images: A gigantic Dougal from the Magic Roundabout racing through the streets. A man in an outsized flat cap practising the ancient Lancastrian martial art of Ecky Thump. A Sam Peckinpah-style slow-motion shoot-out with ketchup bottles in a greasy spoon cafe. Three men haring around like lunatics.

There’s some footage kicking about the internet which can enlighten you if you never had the pleasure, or want to push all the right nostalgia buttons. What seemed like simple knockabout slapstick to a young kid back in the 1970s has very nice, anarchic overtones but dressed up in a delightful innocence. The Goodies paved the way for The Young Ones and even The League Of Gentlemen, but there’s been nothing like it since.

Why the reminiscences? Well, I went for a drink last week. With an actual Goodie.

I know. Bonkers, isn’t it? But there I was, sitting in the lobby of the Midland Hotel with the cast of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Radio Show Live, who had just played their little hearts out at St George’s Hall. And among them was none other than Graeme Garden, who appeared in the show as the Voice Of The Book.

I’d interviewed Graeme the week before for a piece before the show, and decided there and then that, with hindsight, he was my favourite Goodie.

Children, myself among them, probably counted Bill Oddie with his funny beard as their favourite, while Tim Brooke Taylor, who I am sure is very nice in real life, always seemed a bit wet in the show. Graeme, though, was by far the coolest of the Goodies, with his sideburns and beige suit, like a sort of counter-cultural physics teacher.

I was having a quick word with Radio 4 minstrel and stand-up comedian Mitch Benn, who played Zaphod in Hitchhiker’s, after the show and he invited me along to the Midland where the cast were staying for a nightcap, along with the cast and crew.

And there I found myself sitting with Mitch, Graeme, Simon Jones (who played Arthur Dent in the show, as well as on the TV adaptation) and the rest of the lovely cast.

I’d even walked across town with Graeme, trying to make interesting conversation while the theme tune to The Goodies played furiously in my head on a loop.

As I left the hotel later and cast my eyes skyward, hoping for a cat curling itself around the City Hall clock, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have The Goodies back.