Rodney Bewes has checked out; flat feet notwithstanding, he won’t be back this time.
I’d share a beer with you to toast his memory, but I’ve only got six cans.
Bob Ferris as well?? Grim toll.
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“I’d share a beer with you to toast his memory, but I’ve only got six cans.”
How perfectly you evoke the spirit of Terry Collier, sir.
What do you think he’s doing…. pickin’ mushrooms?
Greatest moment in cinema history….
“I couldn’t give a shit”
Fell out big style with James Bolam big style. They haven’t spoken for over 30 years. Shame – the pair of them were comedy gold together.
Bolam is denying any feud, though it’s been well known for decades that he had resisted any approaches from Bewes. I feel a bit sorry for him, knowing that every interview from now on is bound to touch on their relationship.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/22/james-bolam-denies-feud-with-likely-lads-co-star-rodney-bewes
Bolam is, shall we say, quite a lot like Terry. Except not funny.
Has anyone contacted Dierdre Birchwood?
It wouldn’t have happened with Bolam anyway, but Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais were always keen on doing a final Likely Lads series or special, seeing them as pensioners, with (apparently) Bob on his uppers and Terry having made a load of money somehow…
RIP anyway, but WHTTLL will remain a classic
PS Heppo commented on Twitter that “I bet the first girl most of us snogged was called something like Dierdre Birchwood” – that’s gotten some nice replies…
That storyline kind of mirrored what happened in real life. Bolam takes himself very seriously as an actor, and by all accounts felt that TLL was beneath him; nonetheless, went on to allegedly better things (if you call New Tricks and Grandpa In My Pocket ‘better things’) whereas Bewes did end up on his uppers. The rift was caused by a minor indiscretion on Bewes’s part, and Bolam’s disproportionate reaction and refusal to entertain Bewes’s numerous attempts to apologise. The article/interview above looks like hasty revisionism to me.
And he seemed so nice in the Beiderbecke Affair. Or was that Barbara Flynn…
I missed that. I was up all night learning about The Metamorphosis of the Frog.
Way ay, it worr reet canny, oor pet. Season 1 anyway, before Barbs got a vicious Visage-style new romantic hair chop.
Oh, I think it’s all great. Later on Joan Hickson turns up as Thelma’s mother.
And there’s always Thelma herself of course.
hurrrr
Ah, no I was talking about the 3 Beiderbecke series. The Harry and Paul Likely Lads sketch was pretty good on their ‘Story of the Twos’. No Youtube clip that I can find sadly.
It sort of did get made, in a way, but not by the same people.
It was moved even further into the frozen north and called “Still Game”.
That’s exactly what I thought reading Bewes’ idea for an old bloke Likely Lads.
The Clansman as The Fat Ox? like it!
England F…
Just heard Bolam on ‘Front Row’ pooh poohing the very idea that he fell out with Bewes
The Likely Lads was remade, wasn’t it? As Peep Show.
How dare you compare those Oxbridge twerps with the noble Bob and Terry.
Touched a nerve, have I?
Yes. The lovely Thelma replaced by the remorselessly omnipresent Olivia Colman? What’s wrong with the 21st century right there.
The thing about the Likely Lads was that it was perfect casting. As pointed out up there, It was odd that James Bolam found regular work being similarish characters e.g the brilliant Only When I Laugh but Bewes couldn’t make hay with his.
“the brilliant Only When I Laugh”
I must have missed that episode. Good trailer tho:
https://youtu.be/SLnbyCmh7pg
He’s joshing with you, readers – I meant this :
IIRC the three main characters were patients on a hospital ward, each one claiming dramatic illnesses but we know that they’re actually slackers. Their doctor was Richard Wilson. The notion of a patient being allowed to be admitted into hospital when there’s nothing wrong with them wouldn’t fit today. I recall the Bolam character frequently saying “Oh…I know my rights”.
Ee gad, you had to go and remind me. And you remember this dreck fondly?!
I roomed with Tarquin Dreck-Fondly at St Cakes. Frightful oik.
(have I already done this?)
@bartleby each episode was like a 30 minute Beckett play. But much better because there were jokes in it. Richard Wilson couldn’t quite ever prove that the patients were just lazy arses and very time he did, he was frustrated by a technicality. It really was brilliant and I mean that most sincerely.
Blimey, you really believe that shit. Fair play to you BC. I have a similar relationship with the Good Life, so I can’t talk.
Bolam: Lawks Doc, I can’t get out of this here bed because I have imaginary AIDS
Doctor Wilson:
I.
Don’t.
Beleeeeeeeeeve.
It.
Butbutbutbut The Good Life was… total aceness!!! Margot’s wellies! Newspaper party hats! Felicity Kendal!!
The only good thing about Only When I Laugh was that it featured that guy off Victoria Wood As Seen On TV who says, “They were the Be Atles”
Agree on the Good Life. The whole cast were likeable and funny.
OWIL was required viewing in our house. Loved it.
Christopher Strauli.
Also in the film version of Rising Damp, and godawful 80s ITV sitcom Full House
(Why do I know this sh*t?)
Interesting name. I’ve known his face all my life and I’ve never known his name.
Here it is:
Go to 6 minutes for a glimpse of 1985’s civilian future.
We’re having fish and chips for supper tonight.
Every time I eat a pickled onion I think of Bob & Terry.
Mark Lawson hits the nail on the head here.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2017/nov/22/rodney-bewes-tv-great-class-act-likely-lads
I remember an interview with Bolam about 20 years ago on a local news channel where , after being asked if he was enjoying his return to the North East, he sarcastically replied ” i got the very last train here and i’ll be getting the first train away from here”. Jumped up little prick, he’s the Bobby Charlton of the thesp world.