The Likely Lads

Review by David Woodward

The wonder of DVD is the ability to go back in time and watch your favourite actors as they were in their younger days.

The Likely Lads was a British TV series produced by Dick Clement that ran from 1964 to 1966. It was one of the first shows to bring English regional dialects to television and dealt with the working class of that era.

The series starred a then-youthful James Bolam (with a full head of hair!) and Rodney Bewes. Bolam is best known now as an older actor after his acting career was resurrected in more recent TV series New Tricks and Born and Bred. Bewes went on to co-star in Porridge.

The Likely Lads itself was about the friendship of two average factory lads, the proudly working class Terry Collier (Bolam) and the slightly more aspirational Bob Ferris (Bewes) with other core characters being Terry’s mother and sister. It was a very English drawing room comedy revolving around the lads’ continuous efforts to try to get girlfriends. Although The Likely Lads finished in 1966, the pair returned to TV in 1973 for the much better colour sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?.

Like many TV series from the early 1960s, there was a risk of losing The Likely Lads forever when the BBC wiped their old videotapes in the 1970s. Of the 21 episodes made in 1964-66, only eight have survived, although it is hoped that further world-wide searches will see other episodes re-surfacing.

The eight black-and-white episodes on this DVD set are from each of the three seasons with the majority being 25-minute episodes from the First Season and two 30-minute ones from the Third Season.

The first four episodes on the DVD are the first four in actual broadcast order and are about the boys returning from a holiday on the continent, going out on double dates, and chatting up an older woman and secretaries from the office. The fifth in this set is also from the First Season and guest stars a young George (Doctor in the House) Layton.
The sixth episode on the DVD is apparently the most recently found one (in 2001) and is from Season Two. It guest stars Wendy Richard (from Are You Being Served?) but is a rather silly piece.

The last two are better quality and come from the third and final season, including the very last episode in which Terry enlists in the Army and is shipped away for three years.
The characters in the series are likeable and their activities are very reflective of the Swinging Sixties.

The Likely Lads is a lost gem that is worth a viewing!

DVD Special Features

Unfortunately, there are no extras on this particular DVD set. This is unusual as there is plenty of history to explore about the series itself and some explanation about the episodes would have been helpful.

Conclusion: Episodes 70% Extras: N/A