By . Paul Harris . PUBLISHED: . 17:47 EST, 6 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:12 EST, 6 March 2013 . Remembered: More than 200 people attended Richard Briers's funeral at Chiswick's St Michael and All Angels church near the actor's home in West London yesterday . Had Tom Good been allowed to organise his own funeral, his remains would surely have been finely mulched and scattered on the soil of the Good Life's suburban garden. The guests would have toasted his memory with a glass of home-made pea-pod burgundy, and Margot, perhaps, would have turned up in clothing more appropriate for Claridge's than the cabbage patch. What a splendid final episode it would have made for a TV series that captivated most of the viewing nation, including the Queen, for three years during the 1970s - then went on to win millions more fans through repeats around the world. But the finale they gave yesterday to actor Richard Briers recalled far more than his portrayal of Tom and the self-sufficient life in Surbiton that he and screen wife Barbara championed. Instead, a congregation of family and friends joined a cast list from the last half century of film, theatre, TV and comedy to pay tribute to the real Richard Briers - father, grandfather, family clown to his young grandchildren, lover of Shakespeare, and a man with no pretence at celebrity. Thus, the small church near his West London home became a reunion hall for names and faces long familiar to British audiences, among them Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara, and Penelope Keith, who played Margot, now with a combined age approaching 140. Actors including Bernard Cribbins, Peter Bowles, Frank Finlay, Prunella Scales and June Whitfield joined the congregation, as did his great friends Sir Kenneth Branagh and Sheila Hancock. Brian Murphy, the George in George and Mildred, brought applause with a reading of John Betjeman's Subaltern's Love Song; and Penelope Wilton, Briers' co-star from Ever Decreasing Circles, read from The Death of Sir Henry Irving. Paying tribute: The actor's co-stars in The Good Life, Felicity Kendal (left) and Penelope Keith (right) Loving couple: The late actor's wife Annie Briers at the service near their West London home yesterday . Also there were some of the so-called ordinary people whose lives Briers touched simply through his ability to treat everyone equally - and, crucially - to make them laugh. 'He wasn't starry,' said Father Kevin Morris, Vicar of Chiswick's St. Michael and All Angels church. 'He knew everyone, from the pet-shop owner to the newsagent, to near neighbours...' The last time the pair met, he revealed, Briers was complaining that he had to give a speech to the Actors' Church Union. 'I'm not even bloody religious,' he told Father Kevin. 'Well,' the minister told the congregation as he looked around the church yesterday. 'You are now.' He suggested Briers would currently be 'performing at the heavenly banquet' and added: 'Forgive me if I say about him: it was a Good Life.' Famous faces: The service was attended by stars from the world of television, film and theatre, including Emma Thompson (left) and Prunella Scales (right) Hit show: Picture from The Good Life showing Richard Briers with Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara . A really good life: Richard Briers (second left) in a 1975 episode of the Good Life with Felicity Kendal (left), Penelope Keith (centre right) and Paul Eddington (right) More than 200 people attended the funeral, some who knew him more as a likeable local than as one of the country's best loved sit-com stars. Few outsiders will have known, for example, that he and his ex-actress wife Annie lived for 45 years in a suburb not unlike the Good Life's portrayal of Surbiton. Popular: Richard Briers in his most famous role as Tom Good in The Good Life, alongside Penelope Keith . He was a familiar face at charity and social events there and was frequently the self-effacing guest of honour at the Bedford Park annual festival, Chiswick. He was also a great family man - evident not least from the wedding and family photographs incorporated into the order of service. One showed him carrying his bride, Annie, on the first day of a 1956 marriage that would last until his death last month; another as a young man with his daughters Lucy and Kate. The cover photograph showed him as many may remember him - smiling in the sunshine on a bench in the garden. Yesterday Kate told the service the family had been overwhelmed with messages of condolence in the wake of her father's death. One suggested: 'It must seem strange to be sharing such a time of grief with the whole country.' 'It wasn't,' Kate told us. 'It was with a feeling of awe and comfort that one man could have had such a powerful and positive affect on people - and that that man was my dad.' As they left the service, guests signed a memorial book to be presented to his family after a private cremation. Emma Thompson may have echoed Briers' view when she shared a joke with a message that read: 'I simply can't understand what all the fuss is about.' Recognition: Richard Briers after receiving his CBE, pictured with his wife Annie and grandchildren Harry and Rachael at Buckingham Palace . Old friends: The actor with his Marriage Lines co-star and lifelong friend Prunella Scales during an interview for the Daily Mail . Celebrated: Mr Briers was most famous for his sitcoms but was also an outstanding classical actor and voice over artist . Underneath she wrote: 'Get a bloody haircut - Yours, God.' Branagh, who signed Briers to his Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987 and featured him in nine Shakespeare film productions, wrote: 'With love to a darling man. Thank you for being.' Afterwards he said of the service: 'I think he would have thought it was wonderful.' And the fictional Mr Good? At least he finally fulfilled his dream to escape the rat-race. Much-loved: Richard Briers, who died aged 79, is pictured in this 1973 grab from Between The Wars on ITV .
200 people attended service at St. Michael and All Angels church in Chiswick .
Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith, co-stars in The Good Life, attended .
Father Kevin Morris said that the actor 'knew everyone' and 'wasn't starry'
John Betjeman's Subaltern's Love Song was read by actor Brian Murphy .
Kenneth Branagh said after: 'He would have thought it was wonderful'
After the service guests signed a memorial book to be presented to family .
Emma Thompson joked she didn't 'understand what all the fuss is about'
By . Paul Harris . PUBLISHED: . 17:47 EST, 6 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:12 EST, 6 March 2013 . Remembered: More than 200 people attended Richard Briers's funeral at Chiswick's St Michael and All Angels church near the actor's home in West London yesterday . Had Tom Good been allowed to organise his own funeral, his remains would surely have been finely mulched and scattered on the soil of the Good Life's suburban garden. The guests would have toasted his memory with a glass of home-made pea-pod burgundy, and Margot, perhaps, would have turned up in clothing more appropriate for Claridge's than the cabbage patch. What a splendid final episode it would have made for a TV series that captivated most of the viewing nation, including the Queen, for three years during the 1970s - then went on to win millions more fans through repeats around the world. But the finale they gave yesterday to actor Richard Briers recalled far more than his portrayal of Tom and the self-sufficient life in Surbiton that he and screen wife Barbara championed. Instead, a congregation of family and friends joined a cast list from the last half century of film, theatre, TV and comedy to pay tribute to the real Richard Briers - father, grandfather, family clown to his young grandchildren, lover of Shakespeare, and a man with no pretence at celebrity. Thus, the small church near his West London home became a reunion hall for names and faces long familiar to British audiences, among them Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara, and Penelope Keith, who played Margot, now with a combined age approaching 140. Actors including Bernard Cribbins, Peter Bowles, Frank Finlay, Prunella Scales and June Whitfield joined the congregation, as did his great friends Sir Kenneth Branagh and Sheila Hancock. Brian Murphy, the George in George and Mildred, brought applause with a reading of John Betjeman's Subaltern's Love Song; and Penelope Wilton, Briers' co-star from Ever Decreasing Circles, read from The Death of Sir Henry Irving. Paying tribute: The actor's co-stars in The Good Life, Felicity Kendal (left) and Penelope Keith (right) Loving couple: The late actor's wife Annie Briers at the service near their West London home yesterday . Also there were some of the so-called ordinary people whose lives Briers touched simply through his ability to treat everyone equally - and, crucially - to make them laugh. 'He wasn't starry,' said Father Kevin Morris, Vicar of Chiswick's St. Michael and All Angels church. 'He knew everyone, from the pet-shop owner to the newsagent, to near neighbours...' The last time the pair met, he revealed, Briers was complaining that he had to give a speech to the Actors' Church Union. 'I'm not even bloody religious,' he told Father Kevin. 'Well,' the minister told the congregation as he looked around the church yesterday. 'You are now.' He suggested Briers would currently be 'performing at the heavenly banquet' and added: 'Forgive me if I say about him: it was a Good Life.' Famous faces: The service was attended by stars from the world of television, film and theatre, including Emma Thompson (left) and Prunella Scales (right) Hit show: Picture from The Good Life showing Richard Briers with Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara . A really good life: Richard Briers (second left) in a 1975 episode of the Good Life with Felicity Kendal (left), Penelope Keith (centre right) and Paul Eddington (right) More than 200 people attended the funeral, some who knew him more as a likeable local than as one of the country's best loved sit-com stars. Few outsiders will have known, for example, that he and his ex-actress wife Annie lived for 45 years in a suburb not unlike the Good Life's portrayal of Surbiton. Popular: Richard Briers in his most famous role as Tom Good in The Good Life, alongside Penelope Keith . He was a familiar face at charity and social events there and was frequently the self-effacing guest of honour at the Bedford Park annual festival, Chiswick. He was also a great family man - evident not least from the wedding and family photographs incorporated into the order of service. One showed him carrying his bride, Annie, on the first day of a 1956 marriage that would last until his death last month; another as a young man with his daughters Lucy and Kate. The cover photograph showed him as many may remember him - smiling in the sunshine on a bench in the garden. Yesterday Kate told the service the family had been overwhelmed with messages of condolence in the wake of her father's death. One suggested: 'It must seem strange to be sharing such a time of grief with the whole country.' 'It wasn't,' Kate told us. 'It was with a feeling of awe and comfort that one man could have had such a powerful and positive affect on people - and that that man was my dad.' As they left the service, guests signed a memorial book to be presented to his family after a private cremation. Emma Thompson may have echoed Briers' view when she shared a joke with a message that read: 'I simply can't understand what all the fuss is about.' Recognition: Richard Briers after receiving his CBE, pictured with his wife Annie and grandchildren Harry and Rachael at Buckingham Palace . Old friends: The actor with his Marriage Lines co-star and lifelong friend Prunella Scales during an interview for the Daily Mail . Celebrated: Mr Briers was most famous for his sitcoms but was also an outstanding classical actor and voice over artist . Underneath she wrote: 'Get a bloody haircut - Yours, God.' Branagh, who signed Briers to his Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987 and featured him in nine Shakespeare film productions, wrote: 'With love to a darling man. Thank you for being.' Afterwards he said of the service: 'I think he would have thought it was wonderful.' And the fictional Mr Good? At least he finally fulfilled his dream to escape the rat-race. Much-loved: Richard Briers, who died aged 79, is pictured in this 1973 grab from Between The Wars on ITV .
Remembered: More than 200 people attended Richard Kenneth Branagh and Sheila Hancock. Brian Murphy, Subaltern's Love Song; and Penelope Wilton, tribute: The actor's co-stars in The Good Life, Felicity Kendal (left) and Penelope Keith (right) starry,' said Father Kevin Morris, Vicar of Chiswick's St. Michael and All Angels church. 'He my dad.' As they left the service, guests signed a memorial book to be presented to his family after a private cremation. Emma Thompson may have what all the fuss is about.' Recognition: Richard would have thought it was wonderful.' And the