''The Likely Lads'' is a British
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
created and written by
Dick Clement
Dick Clement (born 5 September 1937) is an English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including '' The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?' ...
and
Ian La Frenais
Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ''Porridg ...
and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only ten of these episodes have survived.
This show was followed by a sequel series, in colour, entitled ''
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit '' The Likely Lads''. It was created and written, as was its prede ...
'', broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 24 December 1974. This was followed in 1976 by a spin-off feature film ''
The Likely Lads
''The Likely Lads'' is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only te ...
''.
Some episodes of both the original black and white series and the colour sequel were adapted for BBC radio with the original television cast.
Premise
The original show followed the friendship of two young
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
men,
Terry Collier (
James Bolam
James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fi ...
) and
Bob Ferris (
Rodney Bewes
Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...
), in the mid-1960s. Bob and Terry are assumed to be in their early 20s (when their ages are revealed in the later
film, this puts both characters at around 20 when the series started).
After growing up at school and in the
Scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...
together, Bob and Terry are working in the same factory, Ellison's Electrical, alongside the older, wiser duo of Cloughie and Jack. The show's humour derived largely from the tensions between Terry's cynical,
everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
, working class personality and Bob's ambition to better himself and move to the
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
.
Bob and Terry were two average working class lads growing up in the industrial
North East, whose hobbies were beer, football and girls. They were street-wise, yet they stumbled into one scrape after another as they struggled to enjoy the
Swinging Sixties on their meagre incomes.
At the end of the third and final series in 1966, a depressed and bored Bob attempted to join the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
but was rejected because of his
flat feet
Flat feet (also called pes planus or fallen arches) is a postural deformity in which the arches of the foot collapse, with the entire sole of the foot coming into complete or near-complete contact with the ground. Sometimes children are born ...
. Terry, who decided at the last minute to enlist to keep Bob company, was accepted and shipped away for three years.
It was gradually revealed that Terry and Bob's full names were Terence Daniel Collier and Robert Andrew Scarborough Ferris (''Scarborough'' not revealed until the 1970s colour series). According to the later feature film, made in 1976, both ''Lads'' were conceived during the same wartime
air raid and were thus born in the same year, 1944.
Although in the colour sequel much was made of Thelma, who was said to have been Bob's childhood sweetheart, she appeared only once in the original show, in which Bob had no steady girlfriend and was forever seeking one, though she was mentioned in some episodes in series three, including "Rocker" and "Goodbye to All That".
Etymology
The word "likely" in the show's title is ambiguous. In some dialects in
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
it means "likeable" but it may be derived from the phrase ''the man most likely to'' (i.e. likely to succeed, having potential), a boxing expression in common use on
Tyneside
Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt.
The population of Tyneside as publishe ...
, hence, in
Geordie slang, "a likely lad". Another possible meaning is the ambiguous Northern usage of "likely" to mean a small-time troublemaker.
Cast
*
James Bolam
James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fi ...
as
Terry Collier
*
Rodney Bewes
Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...
as
Bob Ferris
*
Brigit Forsyth as
Thelma Chambers
Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel '' Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). Note that alth ...
*
Sheila Fearn as
Audrey Collier, Terry's older sister
*
Bartlett Mullins
Bartlett Mullins (13 August 1904 – 15 May 1992) was a British actor.
Career
He is best remembered by British TV viewers as Mr Clough ''"Cloughie"'', Bob and Terry's workmate in the sitcom ''The Likely Lads''. He also appeared on episodes of ' ...
as Cloughie, a workmate
*
Don McKillop
Donald Harley McKillop (15 February 1928 – 19 December 2005) was an English actor who trained at RADA. Notable roles include Bert the Landlord in the '' Doctor Who'' fifth and final serial of the eighth season, ''The Dæmons'' in 1971, Jack i ...
as Jack, another workmate
*
Olive Milbourne
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
as Mrs Edith Collier, Terry and Audrey's mother
*
Alex McDonald as Mr Cyril Collier, Terry and Audrey's dad
*
Irene Richmond as Mrs Alice Ferris, Bob's mother
*
Richard Moore as Blakey
Guest stars included
George Layton
George Layton (born 2 March 1943) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and author best known for three television roles – junior doctor Paul Collier in the comedy series '' Doctor in the House'' and its sequels '' Doctor at Large'', '' ...
,
Garfield Morgan
Thomas Timothy Garfield Morgan (19 April 1931 – 5 December 2009) was an English actor who appeared mostly on television and occasionally in films.
Biography
Born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, Morgan began acting with a youth club drama group ...
,
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard (born Wendy Emerton; 20 July 1943 – 26 February 2009) was an English actress, known for her television roles as Miss Shirley Brahms on the BBC sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler on the soa ...
,
Wanda Ventham
Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress with many roles on British television since beginning her career in the 1950s. She played Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series ''UFO'' and had a recurring ...
,
Susan Jameson (the real-life wife of James Bolam),
Michael Sheard
Michael Sheard (18 June 1938 – 31 August 2005) was a Scottish character actor who featured in many films and television programmes, and was known for playing villains. His most prominent television role was as strict deputy headmaster Mauric ...
,
Nerys Hughes
Nerys Hughes (born 8 November 1941) is a Welsh actress and narrator, known primarily for her television roles, including her part in the BBC TV series ''The Liver Birds''.
Biography
She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire. Her parents were Myfi and ...
,
Geoffrey Hughes,
Helen Fraser and
Tony Caunter
Anthony Patrick Caunter (born 22 September 1937) is a Retired British actor best known for his role as Jack Shepherd in the Yorkshire TV sitcom ''Queenie's Castle'' and also his portrayal of Roy Evans in ''EastEnders'' from 1994 to 2003.
The s ...
.
Episodes
Only ten episodes survive (as film
telerecordings
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...
) in the BBC's archives, as a result of its
wiping
Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect.
Common reasons for loss
A significant prop ...
policy of the time. However, the
BBC Archive Treasure Hunt, a public campaign, continues to search for missing episodes. Of the ten remaining lost episodes, only 'The Razor's Edge' was not recorded as part of the radio adaptation series.
Series 1 (1964–65)
Series 2 (1965)
Series 3 (1966)
Surviving episodes
Lost episodes
''Christmas Night with the Stars''
Additionally, an eight-minute episode of ''The Likely Lads'' was broadcast on 25 December 1964, as part of a 90-minute Christmas Day special on BBC 1 called ''
Christmas Night with the Stars'' 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., in which Bob and Terry have an argument over Bob's encyclopaedic knowledge of "Rupert the Bear" Annuals ("It was Edward Trunk!"). This recording still exists in the
BBC Broadcast Archive. An edited version, which included 'The Likely Lads' sketch, was screened on
BBC2 over Christmas 1991.
Radio adaptations
Sixteen of the television scripts were adapted for radio by James Bolam, and broadcast in two series during 1967 and 1968.
Produced by
John Browell, the radio adaptations were recorded at the Paris Studios in Lower Regent Street, London using the original television cast (although some minor parts had to be recast for some episodes, where the original actor was unavailable).
Series 1
Series 2
DVD releases
In one DVD release, only seven of the eight (then) extant episodes were included, in spite of the cover stating that it contained all the surviving episodes. The eighth episode (''Other Side of the Fence'') was included on the ''Likely Lads'' and ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' combined box set, as an 'extra' rather than in chronological order. The two episodes rediscovered in 2018 have been released, with the feature film made in 1976.
See also
*
List of films based on British sitcoms
This is a list of theatrically released feature films that are based on British television programmes.
Comedy
Drama
Science fiction
Documentary
Children's television
See also
* List of films based on television programs
* Cinema of the U ...
*''
The Liver Birds
''The Liver Birds'' is a British sitcom, set in Liverpool, North West England, which aired on BBC1 from April 1969 to January 1979, and again in 1996. The show was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpudlian housewives had met ...
'', a comparable comedy about two women living in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
.
Sources
A Likely Story: The Autobiography of Rodney Bewes published by Century, 1 September 2005
BBC Comedy Guide The Likely Lads
BBC Comedy Guide Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads
The Likely Lads on TyneThe Likely Lads IMDB entryWhatever Happened to The Likely Lads IMDB entry
References
External links
*
The Likely Lads Radio Series, 1967-68*
Further reading
*
*
* Clement, Dick; La Frenais, Ian (1967). ''The Likely Lads.'' London: Rapp & Carroll Limited.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Likely Lads, The
1964 British television series debuts
1966 British television series endings
1960s British sitcoms
BBC television sitcoms
Lost BBC episodes
Television shows set in Tyne and Wear
Television shows set in County Durham
Black-and-white British television shows
English-language television shows
1967 radio programme debuts
1968 radio programme endings