Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish

Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish is a British comedy television show that ran for five series between 2013 and 2017, with a revival series in 2025. It was broadcast on Dave and presented by Dave Gorman. The series mainly consisted of Gorman presenting comedic PowerPoint presentations in which he attempts to argue that modern life is neither bad nor good, but "good...ish". The series began on 17 September 2013. A fifth series began airing on 31 October 2017.
Gorman announced on 18 December 2017 that the show would conclude after the final episode of series 5 aired the following night. However, in July 2024 it was announced that four brand-new hour-long specials had been ordered by UKTV for their rebranded U&Dave channel. A sixth series began airing on 24 February 2025. Despite earlier reports that it would comprise four episodes, though, it instead consisted of three, with the fourth recorded episode having been dropped since part of it featured material centring on the rise to fame of Gregg Wallace – the episode was recorded before it was reported that Wallace was under investigation following allegations of historical misconduct, which Wallace denies. Two segments of the fourth episode that don't centre on Wallace will be released as standalone features on U's streaming platform.
Each episode sees Gorman present a stand-up show using PowerPoint, on a particular theme about modern life. Examples include celebrity culture and social media. Each episode features a recurring section called the "Found Poem", in which Gorman reads out a selection of bizarre comments left on news websites, all covering a particular story. Gorman performs the Found Poem with a lone spotlight shining on him, while accompanied by the Billroth String Quartet (Billroth Ensemble from Series 4) playing 'Sarabande' from George Frideric Handel's Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437). The title of each episode comes from a line out of the Found Poem.
The programmes were recorded at the Tabernacle, Notting Hill. The episodes were recorded in pairs. Prior to the final recordings, Gorman did "dry run" performances of each episode's content in small theatres. Gorman frequently rewrote portions of the performance after the dry runs.
The show was labour-intensive to create; in the final three weeks before taping a pair of episodes, Gorman would work for over 100 hours a week. The heavy workload was one of the contributing factors to the decision to end the show in 2017. Another factor was Gorman's decision to tour in 2018.
The show's title is similar to that of the 1993 Blur album Modern Life Is Rubbish. When asked if the title was an intentional reference, Gorman said 'I think it's a Blur reference if you want it to be. The "rubbish" version, I think, comes to mind anyway. I just like that'.
Series 4 of Modern Life Is Goodish was confirmed on 7 August 2015. The series contained only 6 episodes because Gorman took a break to look after his expected baby. The show began airing on Dave on 8 November 2016.
Series 5 of Modern Life Is Goodish was also confirmed on 7 August 2015; the series contained 8 episodes. Gorman announced on 18 December 2017 that there would be no sixth series. However, in 2024 it was reported that the show would be back.
Series 6 of Modern Life Is Goodish contained 3 episodes, 1 less than the previously announced 4.
One of the four episodes was dropped due to it containing significant amounts of material pertaining to Gregg Wallace and his BBC television programme Inside the Factory. The material had been written before historical allegations of sexual harassment against Wallace became known. Material from the episode that does not mention Wallace, was released on the U&Dave website.