The Likely Lads

1964

The Likely Lads

7.1 | en | Comedy

The Likely Lads was a black and white British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty-one episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only eight of these shows have survived.

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Seasons & Episodes

EP8 Goodbye to All That

Jul. 23,1966

Bob signs up for the army As the weeks go by Terry starts to miss him and finally decides to join him only to discover that Bob has been discharged due to flat feet

EP7 Love and Marriage

Jul. 16,1966

While they await the start of a mate's stag night, Terry and Bob are pleased to see Duggie, an old friend who is now married with a baby. Taking pity on his lack of a social life, they keep him in the pub and get him drunk. At the same time they conclude that married life really does put a crimp in your happiness ...

EP6 Anchors Aweigh

Jul. 09,1966

After friends pull out of a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads, Bob persuades Terry to take up the offer when he explains that it would be a great way to meet girls. So it seems as Terry makes a date with Sally who runs the boatyard but Bob scuppers his plans when he launches the boat earlier than expected ... Terry is determined to take revenge.

EP5 The Razor's Edge

Jul. 02,1966

Bob has had chicken pox and Terry has kept away from his friend for 3 weeks in order not to catch it. When he does pluck up the courage to see him, he finds Bob has grown a beard and this new facial decoration causes problems at work.

EP4 Brief Encounter

Jun. 25,1966

Bob and Terry are at the local dance hall and having little success finding a dance partner. They decide to split up to change their luck and Bob strikes lucky with Ursula who he arranges to meet the following day.

EP3 Rocker

Jun. 18,1966

Bob has bought a second-hand scooter and dreams of Sunday morning rides to the country with a "bird" on the back.

EP2 Friends and Neighbours

Jun. 11,1966

Bob has a dilemma - he is dating 17 year old Lorna Perrin and gets on well with her middle-class parents. Next door to the Perrin's is a vile old man who wears braces and spits - he is staying there while the owner is in Canada. The problem for Bob is the "vile" old man is Terry's grandad and he has to choose sides - a class war breaks out between the two ...

EP1 Outward Bound

Jun. 04,1966

Bob's idea of a weekend away starts to interest Terry when he is told the place they are going to is full of beatniks - to him that means free love! They decide to hitch-hike but Terry gets blisters and complains all the way there. When they arrive they find the place they were going to stop in has been demolished and it is too late to get a bus or a train home. Their only salvation is the two young ladies camping in a nearby field ...

7.1 | en | Comedy | More Info

Released: 1964-12-16 | Released Producted By: , Country: United Kingdom Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/likelylads/index.shtml

Synopsis

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Cast

Rodney Bewes , James Bolam

Director

Dick Clement

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Cast

Rodney Bewes

as Bob Ferris

Just Liz Unidentified Flying Oddball Jabberwocky Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? San Ferry Ann The Likely Lads Billy Liar

James Bolam

as Terry Collier

Unconditional The Last Days of Lehman Brothers The Last Days of Lehman Brothers To Kill a King Harold Shipman: Doctor Death Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings Close and True Dirty Tricks The End of the Affair

Reviews

sevdakarababa-71077 For that times it has good script. I like the idea about very regular life ( especially in 60's to understand that times and people, how they were thinking). I m watching every detail; clothes, furnitures, kitchen wear, plates, cups. I cant say anything about jokes cause not like our days british shows at all, i didnt understand any joke in the show. They play very very very boring regular people in 60's alright.

RaspberryLucozade Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' 'The Likely Lads' was one of the BBC's biggest sitcoms of the 1960's yet nowadays is barely remembered, possibly due to very little of it still being in existence as it fell foul to the BBC's spring cleaning of the archives. Whilst indeed it is lucky that some has still managed to survive, it is not unfair to say that 'The Likely Lads' has not stood the test of time.'The Likely Lads' were Bob Ferris and Terry Collier, two young Northerners whose main sources of pleasure are drinking, gambling and womanising. Rodney Bewes played the moon faced Bob, whilst James Bolam played the outspoken Terry. They caught the public's imagination straight away and soon ''eee!'' and ''by the cringe!'' could be heard on the streets, in the pub, in the workplace and in the playgrounds. They were so well liked that they even appeared in a specially filmed segment for an edition of 'Christmas Night With The Stars'.Bewes and Bolam did as well as they could considering their previous lack of experience in comedy. Fortunately, they soon matured into fine actors. Sheila Fearn plays Terry's hairdresser sister Audrey, though she would later be seen to better comic effect in Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke's 'George & Mildred' as their neighbour Ann Fourmile. The late Don McKillop and the late Bartlett Mullins were impressive as Jack and Cloughy, who both worked at the same factory as Bob and Terry.After three series, 'The Likely Lads' went their separate ways when they both joined the army. However, they were reunited in 1973 for the superior sequel - 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads' - which saw the aftermath of their time away. 'The Likely Lads', as I said before, has not aged well and overall is pretty second division stuff. Nonetheless, it is worth a look if mainly only to coo over the lovely Sheila Fearn as the sexy Audrey.

fiendishgames I got the DVD of the surviving episodes from series one to three and was a bit disappointed, in truth.I am a great fan of "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?", which I would rank alongside "Steptoe & Son" and "Till Death Us Do Part" as the best British situation comedies, so I was curious to see whether the forerunner to "Whatever Happened ..." was any good.The good news is that even at this stage of Clement & La Frenais's career, their ear for realistic dialogue was clearly well developed. You can watch the programmes as light drama and enjoy them without worrying about the fact that the scripts aren't that funny, although modern audiences might find the shows a bit slow.As hinted above, however, the scripts aren't that funny, though the later episodes are better than the early ones, which suggests that the writers were getting to know their characters better and exploit the tension that exists between sensible, open-minded Bob and wild, bigoted Terry.Even more surprisingly, the acting is only middling to good, whereas in "Whatever Happened ..." it was top notch. I was resigned to Rodney Bewes being a bit wooden (in fact he's not bad, if one assumes he is deliberately underplaying) but James Bolam was a bit disappointing, doing a bit too much mugging for the camera and fake laughing.Worth renting but not buying if only for the shock of seeing Wendy Richard in her dolly-bird days (also Wanda Ventham).