Reviews & Ratings for
"The Likely Lads" More at IMDbPro »

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Classic Working Class Comedy, 9 April 2007

Author: Victor Meldrew from Manchester

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Britain has produced some classic working class sitcoms, On the Buses, Till Death us do Part and Steptoe and Son. The Likely Lads was also a working class sitcom, but set up North.

The Likely Lads was about the relationship between Bob Ferris and Terry Collier, two lads from Newcastle, with very little hope. Terry's sister is Audrey. The two would get into (mis)adventures. In most episodes, Bob and Terry would have a date.

Dick Clement and Iain La Frenais have written some classic sitcoms, there best being Porridge. Plus they wrote the funnier spin off "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads". James Bolam has also appeared in 3 classic sitcoms, his best work being 'Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads' but was also great in the brilliant "Only When I Laugh". Sadly though, most of The Likely Lads episodes are missing. I have the DVD of all the surviving episodes, but the episode "The Other Side of the Fence" which is surviving isn't on it, for some strange reason. The BBC aren't great when it comes to DVD's. Soon all the episodes of Dads Army would be released, but they have left out the Christmas episode, "The Battle of the Giants". Also the great Geoffery Hughes played the lads friend Podge. He would only have been in his very early 20's then.

Best Episode: Rocker, series 3 episode 3.

5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Bit disappointed, 2 May 2008

Author: fiendishgames from London

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).

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