Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

I am in the process of watching re-runs of this on Yesterday and have always loved it, the comedy is so well observed and it just doesn't seem to date at all. Bob and Terry are characters that we can all identify with, we were one of them back in the day, my brother was certainly Bob and I was Terry! Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' finest work, and that is saying something!

I gave it 9 out of 10 because i've enjoyed "Men Behaving Badly" a lot more in study for my media studies exam next month. I like the way Terry is always undermining the 1970s ideas of the 'modern man' He is backward looking, disinterested in social climbing, success, buying a brand new house and is labelled a 'knocker' by his sister Audrey, who exemplifies the ideological position of the era. The women in the early 70s is stereotypically portrayed as the domestic housewife figure who is weaker than the male society. The comedic representation of Bob and Terry challenges this ideology by exposing an underlying character which is boyish, immature, sex-minded qualities and this produces the comic moments

Cleverly observed, impeccably cast, brilliantly written and refreshingly un PC, this timeless classic is not only my all time favourite sitcom but probably the best ever comedy sequel, especially when compared with the dire Still Open All Hours.

What elevates this above its predecessor The Likely Lads is the presence of Thelma (played to perfection by Bridget Forsyth), and the entire show revolves around Bob's emotional tug of war between commitment to his socially aspirational wife and loyalty to his unashamedly unreformed old drinking buddy Terry Collier. The best episodes are bursting with wit and intelligent social comment, therefore i just hate it when people mention Men Behaving Badly in the same breath as Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? - to me it's a bit like comparing brass and gold, and the two idiots in that show aren't fit to lace Bob & Terry's Watney specials. In fact, the chemistry between James Bolam and Rodney Bewes was as good as anything ever seen in a sitcom in my opinion, which made it all the more sad that they fell out so spectacularly in 1976 and never made up - this and Bolam's reluctance to talk about the the show could explain why WHTTLL doesn't get quite the same kudos and recognition as other sitcoms that frankly couldn't hold a candle to it.

Everything about WHTTLL approaches perfection including a superb supporting cast, the bleak North East locations, right down to a classic theme song penned by Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann fame. It's a world away from the crassness and crude innuendo that passes as comedy today.

"Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads" is a continuation of the lives and friendship between Northern lads Terry and Bob. Like the best of British sitcoms, the humour is derived from character and from situations. The scripts are excellent on the whole and James Bolam and Rodney Bewes vividly brought their respective characters to life. Broadcast in 1973 and 1974, this series became immensely popular and spawned a feature film which wasn't so good. It is a bit of a pity that the two leading actors had a falling out. Bolam accused Bewes of revealing something about the former's private life and has refused to speak to or to have anything more to do with him. The events of this sitcom pick up five years after the original series came to an end. Terry has returned home after being overseas in the army. Bob has bought his first home and is about to settle down into married life. Their reunion occurs by accident onboard the same train in the opening episode and the story lines developed from there. Terry feels rather out of step with everything in his home town as a lot has changed. His old haunts are no longer in existence and he seems to be against anything in the way of progress. Terry's lack of ambition, his ignorance and hypocrisy are amongst the sources of laughter that is effortlessly delivered by both the actors and the writers. A classic of British comedy.

Very few sitcom sequels are better than the first series, and the first series of this was great, but this one is. Bob's social climbing and Terry's determination to stay working class has plenty of comedy opportunities in it and all three main characters are very well cast.

The theme tune is brilliant as are the starting and ending sequences. Bob and Thelma's house is still standing and I wonder if any fans hang about outside and take pics of it.

One of the best ever UK TV sitcoms which cannot be recommended highly enough. It's a comedy must watch, being repeated on TV now, on "that'sTV", 150 on Virgin.