Whatever happened to the likely lads? - Richard Webber

In 1963 a young Dick Clement was on a director?s course for the BBC. As part of their final presentation they presented a sketch about two boys and two girls talking about a date. The BBC liked it. BBC2 was about to be launched. They were short of series. They phoned Dick Clement and asked if he could write the first series. He and La Frenais got to work on their kitchen table... and so launched the careers of three sets of Likely Lads: Bob Ferris and Terry Collier; James Bolam and Rodney Bewes; Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. By 1966, 20 episodes had been recorded and Terry and Bob had become icons of the age. In 1973 they returned in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? which was even more popular than the original series. Today, both series are still shown achieving audience figures of between six and seven million people and Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais went on to write the classic shows Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen Pet as well as hit Hollywood movies The Rock and Still Crazy. This is the first time writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have collaborated on a book about themselves and their most famous creations, how they were commissioned to write the first series which became The Likely Lads, how the series was written, the reaction to it, filming and writing the sequel. Included are character and main actor profiles, episode-by-episode guide cast-lists and original transmission dates and much more.