Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

Plot

Set in Newcastle upon Tyne in north-east England, the show follows the friendship, resumed after five years apart, of two working-class young men, Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes) and Terry Collier (James Bolam). The word "likely" in the title referred, in the 1960s series, to those showing promise, but also to those likely to get up to well-meaning mischief. The humour was based on the tension between Terry's firmly working-class outlook and Bob's aspirations to join the middle class, through his new white-collar job, suburban home and impending marriage to the prissy librarian Thelma Chambers (Brigit Forsyth).

Since the ending of the original series in 1966, Bob has left factory life behind and now works for his future father-in-law's construction firm, something which makes him even more desperate to curry favour with Thelma and her family. At Thelma's urging, Bob is also joining sports clubs and attending dinner parties, which Terry views as Bob aspiring to join the middle class. This results in Terry viewing Bob as a class traitor and believing his own army experience and solid working-class ethos gives him moral superiority. To a considerable degree the comedy is built on class warfare. Whereas Bob, Thelma and Terry's sister Audrey have adapted to the various changes, Terry's failure to adjust to the changes that have occurred during his five years in the army result in him being left behind, a relic of the attitudes of the mid-1960s.

As implied in the lyrics to the programme's theme song, the 1970s series plays on both lads' feelings of nostalgia for the lost days of their reckless youth. Both of them are depressed by the demolition of so many of the landmarks of their childhood, though Bob, who works for a construction firm, sometimes sees it as progress. Bob has also bought his own house on a new estate, further distancing him from his and Terry's pasts. Reflecting the distinctions now separating the two young men, the opening credits show Terry waiting for a bus in the older and more industrial parts of the city, with Bob seen outside his new home with his own car in the modern surroundings of the Elm Lodge housing estate.

The conflict between what Bob has become, and what he sees himself as, makes him impulsively inclined to follow the lead set by the more headstrong Terry, who leads them recklessly into one scrape after another. Bob usually blames his drinking, poor diet and reckless behaviour on Terry, a view with which Audrey and Thelma only too willingly agree. This may be true in part, but Bob needs little persuasion to stay out drinking with Terry or to behave accordingly. Bob does not actually move into his new house until after his wedding to Thelma due to fears of being judged by his new neighbours (although, in the final episode of the first series, both Bob and Thelma make it clear they have an active sex life), and for the first series lives with his mother. Terry lives with his parents (his father is never seen) in a 19th-century terrace, which he claims has far more character than Bob's new house, where "the only thing that tells you apart from your neighbours is the colour of your curtains".

Theme song

The show's theme song, "Whatever Happened to You", was written by Mike Hugg (of Manfred Mann) and La Frenais and performed by Hugg's session band, with session singer Tony Rivers supplying the lead vocals; released as a single under the name Highly Likely, the song reached number 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1973. Hugg also wrote the theme tune to the spin-off 1976 feature film, Remember When.

Changes in format and style from The Likely Lads

Although Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? was a continuation of the earlier series and featured many of the same characters, the style and format had changed. Unlike the original show, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? was made in colour. Also, The Likely Lads had been quite "stagey" (in the theatrical sense) in its format, being studio-bound with little in the way of location filming. The 1970s series made extensive use of location filming in and around the north-east. In terms of humour, the two shows are very different. The Likely Lads had been a broad comedy, full of jokes and obvious gags, whereas Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? used much subtler humour, derived from the dialogue and characterisation, often interspersed with sentimentality and even touches of pathos as the lads mourned or reflected on their lost past. Nostalgia was a strong thread running through the show. The lads frequently did ask each other the question in the show's title, "Whatever happened to us?", particularly during their more mellow moments in the pub.

Cast

Regular cast

James Bolam as Terry Collier

Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris

Brigit Forsyth as Thelma Chambers (later Ferris), Bob's fiancée, whom he marries at the end of series 1

Sheila Fearn as Audrey Collier, married name unknown, Terry's elder sister.

Recurring cast

Bill Owen as George Chambers, Thelma's father

Joan Hickson (Series 1) and Noel Dyson (Series 2) as Mrs Chambers, Thelma's mother

Anita Carey as Susan Chambers, Thelma's sister, who lives in Toronto, Canada, with her accountant fiancé Peter

Olive Milbourne as Edith Collier, mother of Terry, Audrey and Linda

Robert Gillespie, police officer

Barbara Ogilvie as Alice Ferris, Bob's mother

Ronald Lacey as Ernie, Audrey's husband

Elizabeth Lax as Wendy, Bob's secretary

Stephanie Turner as Mary, Terry's friend in Birthday Boy

Christopher Biggins as "Podge" Rowley, Bob and Terry's friend

Julian Holloway as Alan Boyle, Bob's friend; originally from Surrey

Juliet Aykroyd as Anthea, Thelma's assistant at the library

Unseen characters

Cyril Collier, Terry's and Audrey's father, who appeared in the 1960s series

Leslie Ferris, Bob's father (in the 1960s series, it was established that Bob's father is deceased)

Linda Collier, Terry's and Audrey's sister

Frank Clark, Bob's original choice for best man

Nigel "Little Hutch" Hutchinson, a sex-mad pal who always has a racing tip for Terry

Norma Braithwaite, a childhood schoolfriend of Thelma who passed on Bob's letters of apology to her

Cloughie, a workmate of Bob and Terry from the 1960s series. It is mentioned in passing that he now runs a newsagent's shop.

Jutta Baumgarten, Terry's estranged West German wife. She was due to appear in the last episode of Series 1, played by April Walker, but after filming her first scene, the writers decided against having both male characters married and released Walker from her contract. Despite this, Walker remains on the end credits despite not appearing in the episode.

Maurice "Memphis" Hardaker, a member of the lads' skiffle group, Rob Ferris and the Wildcats. He was also mentioned in the original 1960s series as colleague Morrie Hardaker.

Deirdre Birchwood, an ex-girlfriend of Bob with somewhat loose morals. The frequent references to her became a running gag (with the line "Don't mention Deirdre Birchwood!" becoming a catchphrase).

Wendy Thwaite, another ex-girlfriend of Bob, with whom he had his first sexual experience

Bryony Hood, another ex-girlfriend of Bob, who became a topless go-go dancer in Sunderland

Episode guide

Radio series

The thirteen episodes of Series 1 were adapted for radio, with the original television cast, and broadcast on Radio 4 between 30 July and 22 October 1975. This series is periodically re-broadcast in the "classic comedy" hour on digital radio channel BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Context

Before the 1970s series was made, the cast had already been reunited twice, in 1967 and 1968, to record sixteen of the original television scripts for two series (of eight episodes each) on BBC Radio, the scripts for which were adapted for radio by James Bolam.

To emphasise continuity, the opening section of the title credits at the start of each episode includes a short montage of black-and-white stills photos of Bob and Terry in scenes from the 1960s series, presented as if in a photograph album. The leather-bound photo album, which Bob gives Terry before the wedding, in the episode "End of an Era", is also the one seen in the opening credits.

To avoid animosity over billing, Rodney Bewes and James Bolam were alternated in the opening credits, so that one week Bewes was billed first and the following week Bolam was. In the closing credits the billing was reversed, with whoever had been billed second in the opening credits being billed first.

Bewes maintained his connections with The Likely Lads, appearing in a cameo role as the old newspaper seller in a 2002 ITV remake of the series' most popular episode, "No Hiding Place", starring Tyneside entertainers Ant and Dec, which aired under the title A Tribute to the Likely Lads.

In 1995 and 1996, the series was repeated in its entirety on BBC2. It went on to become a short-term staple of cable channels and was again shown on satellite and cable TV in 2008 and 2009. In April 2013, the first series began a repeat run on BBC Four, its first showing on terrestrial television since 1996. Both series and the feature film have also been released on DVD.

The titles for the 1974 Christmas Special call the show simply The Likely Lads.

Exterior shots were filmed on Tyneside and around the north-east, while interiors were shot at the BBC Television Centre in London.

The BBC decided not to commission a third series of the show, partly because Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais had written a pilot script for another 1973 series, entitled Seven of One, in which Ronnie Barker appeared in seven different situations from different writers, each of which was a try-out for a possible series. The BBC decided they liked one by Clement and La Frenais, who found themselves suddenly offered a new series, starring Barker, which became the television comedy Porridge.

Home media

The complete first and second series of the 1970s show (including the Christmas special) were made available in the UK on Region 2 DVD.

Feature film

In 1976 a feature-length film was released, written by Clement and La Frenais, which was directed by Michael Tuchner. By this time, Terry has moved to a high-rise flat and also has a Finnish girlfriend called Christina ("Chris"), played by Mary Tamm. Both Mary Tamm and James Bolam's wife Susan Jameson appeared in Doctor Who with Tom Baker.

The film opens with the lads lamenting the demolition of one of their favourite pubs, The Fat Ox, before they go on a caravanning holiday with Thelma and Chris. The complications resulting from the trip lead to Terry and Chris splitting up, as a result of which Terry decides to emigrate, signing on as a crewman on a cargo ship.

Bob and Terry sneak one last late-night drink together aboard Terry's ship, anchored in the docks; but Terry has second thoughts, and disembarks the next morning. Bob, however, awakes, hung over, aboard the ship, as it sails for Bahrain. This was a reversal of the ending of the original 1960s show (in which Terry was missing Bob who had joined the Army, so he joined up too, only to discover that Bob had been discharged with flat feet).

A Tribute to the Likely Lads

In 2002, the episode "No Hiding Place" was remade by Ginger Productions for ITV, featuring Declan Donnelly as Bob and Ant McPartlin as Terry, and Rodney Bewes in a cameo role. Reception was lukewarm: most critics agreed that, on paper, the pair were perfectly cast, but that they seemed too young to play Bob and Terry at that point in their lives.

Stage version

In 2008, the Gala Theatre in Durham staged the world premiere of The Likely Lads, adapted for the stage by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and directed by Simon Stallworthy. The title roles of Bob and Terry were played by David Nellist and Scott Frazer respectively.

In May 2011, the Tynemouth Priory Theatre, in Tynemouth, was granted the rights to become the first non-professional company to stage the production. It became one of the theatre's most attended productions, selling out well in advance for all performances. Terry was played by Brendan Egan and Bob by Stu Bowman.

In popular culture

The title song "Whatever Happened to You?" was recorded and released as a single, sung by Highly Likely. It was also released as a single by the British punk band Snuff, titled "Christmas Single".

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have said the show was an influence on The Office.

English indie rock band the Libertines released a song titled "What Became Of The Likely Lads"; it is the closing track on their self-titled second album.