Why we changed the title

When I interviewed Spike's third wife, Shelagh Milligan, for the film, she told me that Spike would have HATED the title "Goon But Not Forgotten". She said he thought it was a cliche, (and he hated cliches: he called them "the handrail of the crippled mind"). It was overused in the UK media after his death, and he hated being remembered only as a Goon. He wrote 83 books and his war memoirs, children's verse and books such as "Bad Jelly the Witch" as well as his serious poetry, will almost certainly outlive his Goon Show scripts. The other reason is that the exploration of Spike's depression, which he referred to as his "illness", is a major theme of the film. He wanted the words "I told you I was ill" to be written on his tombstone (in Gaelic), and so it seems to be the perfect title for the film.

"I told you I was ill: Spike Milligan"