| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Producer: | Dick Clement |
| Starring: | James Bolam Rodney Bewes Sheila Fearn |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Company: | BBC Television |
| Network: | BBC2 |
| Num Series: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 20 (10 missing) |
| Related: | Whatever Happened to 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 ten of these episodes have survived.[1]
This show was followed by a sequel series, in colour, entitled Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 24 December 1974. This was followed in 1976 by a spin-off feature film The Likely Lads.
Some episodes of both the original black and white series and the colour sequel were adapted for BBC radio with the original television cast.
The original show followed the friendship of two young working class men, Terry Collier (James Bolam) and Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes), 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 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, working class personality and Bob's ambition to better himself and move to the middle class.
Bob and Terry are two average working class lads growing up (despite Bob’s very West-Riding accent) in the industrial North East, whose hobbies are beer, football and girls. They are street-wise, yet they stumble into one scrape after another as they struggle 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 attempts to join the Army but is rejected because of his flat feet. Terry, who decides at the last minute to enlist to keep Bob company, is accepted and shipped away for three years.
It was gradually revealed that Terry and Bob's full names are 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 is made of Thelma, who is said to have been Bob's childhood sweetheart, she had appeared only once in the original show, in which Bob has no steady girlfriend and is forever seeking one, though Thelma is mentioned in some episodes in series three, including "Rocker" and "Goodbye to All That".
The word "likely" in the show's title is ambiguous. In some dialects in Northern England 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, hence, in Geordie slang, "a likely lad". Another possible meaning is the ambiguous Northern usage of "likely" to mean a small-time troublemaker.
Guest stars included George Layton, Garfield Morgan, Wendy Richard, Wanda Ventham, Susan Jameson (the real-life wife of James Bolam), Michael Sheard, Nerys Hughes, Geoffrey Hughes, Helen Fraser and Tony Caunter.
Only ten episodes survive (as film telerecordings) in the BBC's archives, as a result of its wiping 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.
| Title | Airdate | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entente Cordiale | 16 December 1964 | The lads return home from their first foreign holiday, pursued by a girl they met in Spain. | |
| Double Date | 23 December 1964 | A lovelorn Bob is cheered up by a double date. | Guest stars: Susan Jameson Coral Atkins. |
| Christmas Night with the Stars sketch | 25 December 1964 | At Christmas Terry and Bob make a bet on which characters appeared in a Rupert Bear annual. | |
| Older Women Are More Experienced | 30 December 1964 | Terry finds an older girlfriend and Bob finds a younger one. | |
| Other Side of the Fence | 6 January 1965 | Bob is offered a better job, in management. | Guest stars: Michael Sheard Anneke Wills |
| Chance of a Lifetime | 13 January 1965 | The lads are offered the chance to emigrate to Australia. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptationGuest star: Garfield Morgan |
| The Suitor | 20 January 1965 | Terry enlists Bob's help to try to get rid of his sister's Italian boyfriend. | Guest star: George Layton |
| Title | Airdate | Description | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby, It's Cold Outside | 16 June 1965 | The lads have a double date arranged but nowhere they can take the girls afterwards. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation | |
| A Star Is Born | 23 June 1965 | The lads compete in a pub talent night | Previously missing, recovered in 2018 | |
| Talk of the Town | 30 June 1965 | Bob's engagement to Thelma becomes the talk of the town, but is news to Bob. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation Guest stars: Helen Fraser Irene Richmond | |
| The Last of the Big Spenders | 7 July 1965 | The lads take two London girls out on the town. | Previously missing, recovered in 2001 Guest stars: Wendy Richard Wanda Ventham Michael Sheard | |
| Far Away Places | 14 July 1965 | The lads plan another foreign holiday but have trouble raising the money for it. | Previously missing, recovered in 2018 | |
| Where Have All the Flowers Gone? | 21 July 1965 | The lads attend a friend's wedding and realise that they are now the only unmarried men they know. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation. An audio recording of the episode exists. Guest star: George Layton |
| Title | Airdate | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outward Bound | 4 June 1966 | The lads go camping, planning to end up at a campsite notorious for hippy love-ins. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation Guest star: Nerys Hughes |
| Friends and Neighbours | 11 June 1966 | Bob is caught in the middle when Terry's granddad starts a feud with Bob's next-door neighbours, whose daughter is Bob's new girlfriend. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation |
| Rocker | 18 June 1966 | Bob buys a moped and Terry ends up in hospital. | |
| Brief Encounter | 25 June 1966 | Unbeknownst to each other Bob and Terry are both dating the same girl. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation (re-titled "Their Hearts Were Touched By Ursula") |
| The Razor's Edge | 2 July 1966 | Bob grows a beard, which causes him trouble at work. When Terry tries to defend him things go from bad to worse. | Missing Guest stars: Geoffrey Hughes Irene Richmond |
| Anchors Aweigh | 9 July 1966 | The lads take a boating holiday together on the Norfolk Broads, despite Terry's deep mistrust of boats. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation |
| Love and Marriage | 16 July 1966 | The lads are invited on a stag night. | Missing – re-made as radio adaptation Guest stars: Helen Fraser Geoffrey Hughes |
| Goodbye to All That | 23 July 1966 | Bob joins the army and Terry, finding life lonely on his own, decides to join up too. | Guest stars: Irene Richmond Tony Caunter |
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.
Sixteen of the television scripts were adapted for radio by James Bolam, and broadcast in two series during 1967 and 1968.[2]
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).
| Title | Airdate | Cast | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Where Have All the Flowers Gone? | 6 August 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Mrs Collier – Olive Milbourne Vicar, Uncle Walter – John Cazabon Auntie Peggy – Betty Hardy Cyril – Le Roy Lingwood Elaine – Carol Marsh Beryl – Rosalind Shanks | Series 1 was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme | |
| 2. The Suitor | 13 August 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Mrs Collier – Olive Milbourne Mario – George Layton | ||
| 3. Rocker | 20 August 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Motor Salesman – Reginald Jessup Nurse – Cheryl Molineaux Carol – Rosalind Shanks | ||
| 4. Older Women Are More Experienced | 27 August 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Mrs Winsor – Rhoda Lewis Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins Sheila, Elsie – Madeleine Mills | ||
| 5. Baby, It's Cold Outside | 3 September 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Jack – Donald McKillop Margaret – Dorothy White Jane, Baby – Shirley Jaffe Rose – Kate Story June – Janet Kelly | ||
| 6. Outward Bound | 10 September 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam The Scoutmaster – Peter Hawkins The Postmistress – Kathleen Helme Jack – Donald McKillop Valerie – Janet Kelly Susan – Kate Story Cafe Proprietor, Lorry Driver – David Brierly | ||
| 7. The Talk of the Town | 17 September 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – John Henderson Audrey – Sheila Fearn Mrs Ferris – Kathleen Helme Elsie – Madeleine Mills Thelma – Susan Jameson Big Duggie – Michael Kilgarriff Blakey – Douglas Hankin | The part of Cloughy was recast this week, as Bartlett Mullins was not available. The part of Thelma was also recast, with Susan Jameson playing the role on this occasion. She had previously appeared in the television series as a different character, in the episode "Double Date". | |
| 8. Anchors Aweigh | 24 September 1967 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Mum – Julie May Sally – Sara Kestelman Denise – Madeleine Mills Sam – Wilfred Carter |
| Title | Airdate | Cast | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Friends and Neighbours | 19 May 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Granddad – Bert Palmer Mrs Perrin – Noel Dyson Mr Perrin – Glenn Melvyn Lorna Perrin – Angela Lovell | Series 2 was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 | |
| 2. The Other Side of the Fence | 26 May 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins Blakey, Roger – Richard Moore Nesbit – Michael Sheard Holgate – Eric Dodson Judith – Anneke Wills Sally Anne – Didi Sullivan | ||
| 3. Entente Cordiale | 2 June 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Mrs Collier – Olive Milbourne Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Erik Chitty Louise, Waitress – Anna Gilchrist Colette – Bettina Le Beau | The part of Cloughy was recast this week, as Bartlett Mullins was not available | |
| 4. Double Date | 9 June 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Deirdre – Dilys Watling Pat – Susan Jameson | ||
| 5. Love and Marriage | 16 June 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins Duggie – Derek Newark Helen – Helen Fraser Archie – Roger Avon Podge – Geoffrey Hughes Mrs Foster – Doris Rogers | ||
| 6. Their Hearts Were Touched by Ursula | 23 June 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Ursula – Isobel Black Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins All other female parts – Jennifer Croxton All other male parts – Peter Hawkins | An adaptation of the television episode Brief Encounter | |
| 7. Chance of a Lifetime | 30 June 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Sgt Jeffcock – Garfield Morgan Ralph – Barry Linehan Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins Cecile – Veronica Lang Blakey – George Layton | ||
| 8. Goodbye to all That | 7 July 1968 | Bob – Rodney Bewes Terry – James Bolam Audrey – Sheila Fearn Jack – Donald McKillop Cloughy – Bartlett Mullins Mrs Collier – Olive Milbourne Mr Collier – Alex McDonald George – Barry Stanton Army Sergeant – Tony Caunter Mrs Ferris – Irene Richmond Youth – Andrew Robertson Recruit – Hugh Walters |
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, as extras on the 2019 Network DVD release of the feature film made in 1976.