The screenplay is by the scriptwriters of the television show, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais; and the principal roles of Bob and Terry, as well as those of Bob's wife Thelma and Terry's sister Audrey, are played by the original television cast.
This film was the final screen appearance of Bewes and Bolam together. At the time of the film's release, the two had fallen out over a quarrel involving the press, and never spoke to each other again. Bolam denied there was a rift between the two men when Bewes died in November 2017.
Plot
An opening pre-credits sequence shows the conception of both Lads during a Second World Warair raid. After the opening titles the film cuts to Bob and Terry, both aged about thirty, playing football with some boys.
The main plot begins with Bob and Terry's favourite watering hole, the Fat Ox, being demolished. The middle class Bob feels great sentimentality for this loss, whereas the working class Terry, who is now living in a high rise council flat, is more optimistic about the city's redevelopment, pointing out that he now has a "modern kitchen, a lovely view and an inside lavatory". From this establishing sequence the plot unfolds: Terry receives his final divorce decree, freeing him from his wife in West Germany, and is looking forward to a bright future; Bob on the other hand is growing tired of his married life with Thelma, and jaded with his social activities (the two things he boasted about in the television series).
Terry is now in a relationship with Christina (known as "Chris"), a Finnish beauty who works at the local boutique, of whom Bob is openly envious. Thelma sees this as an opportunity to get Terry married and settled down, thus removing the perceived threat to her marriage to Bob which Terry, as Bob's lifelong best friend, represents. In her pursuit of this, Thelma insists the four of them going away on a caravanning holiday in Northumberland; but while Thelma and Chris enjoy the trip, Bob and Terry do not. They hitch up the caravan, with the girls asleep in it, and set off to drive home. While they are stopped at a set of temporary traffic lights, Thelma and Chris get out and Bob drives away before they can get back in, stranding them in front of the churchgoing congregation of the market town. Not realising they're now alone, Bob and Terry nevertheless pick up Sandra and Glenys, two attractive young female hitch-hikers, before Thelma and Chris catch up with them again.
As a result of the trip, Terry and Chris split up, and Bob and Thelma separate. Bob decides to stay temporarily at Terry's new flat; but Terry (who is not expecting him) is busy seducing Iris, a colleague of Chris, and Bob unwittingly walks in on their lovemaking. Due to a misunderstanding, both Bob and Thelma believe the other is having sexual relations elsewhere, and have a furious argument in the back of Terry's employer's van. Unbeknownst to them, the van's public address system is still switched on as Terry had been advertising the latest washing powder, ExtraLite, broadcasting their argument across the neighbourhood. Terry loses his job because of this incident.
Bob and Terry drive up to Whitley Bay for a weekend break, and take a room in a bed and breakfast. Bob promptly seduces the landlady's daughter, whilst Terry is seduced by the landlady. After hearing noises from her daughter's bedroom the landlady walks in and Bob has to make a quick getaway through the bedroom window. The same then happens to Terry, with the daughter walking in on him in bed with her mother; this time it is Terry who makes a rapid and trouserless departure through the bedroom window. But when the landlady goes down to the front door to let Terry back in, Bob appears instead, without his trousers, causing her to cry rape. The Lads make a hasty—and trouserless—departure in Bob's car. They return to Terry's flat safely only to find Thelma and Terry's sister Audrey there, with neither Bob nor Terry able to explain the absence of their trousers.
Taking Audrey's advice, Terry makes plans to emigrate. He signs on as a deckhand aboard a ship leaving Newcastle docks, and the two lads spend his last night in England drinking on board the ship. Unknown to Bob, Terry decides not to go. He disembarks; but Bob, heavily intoxicated, falls asleep on board, and awakes in a lifeboat to discover the ship has sailed. The last scene in the film has Terry explaining to Thelma that they'll realise Bob is on board by accident and put him off at the first port of call, Bahrain.
Throughout the film Bob's car, the recently introduced Vauxhall Chevette, suffers as much indignity as the human characters, having the wheels stolen, crashed across the carriageway to Terry's horror, an accident with the caravan and while escaping trouserless from the guest house, Terry insists Bob break the window to get in, only for Terry to discover his door wasn't locked, and suggest that Bob should be more careful.
The film was greenlit by Nat Cohen of EMI Films. Cohen had enjoyed a deal of success making films of popular British TV series. EMI had an arrangement with Thames Television.[2] It was announced in 1975 as part of a slate of films worth £6 million including adaptations of The Likely Lads and The Sweeney plus Aces High, Spanish Fly and Evil Under the Sun.[3]
Locations
The Beehive pub was used in filming.
The film was made at EMI's Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire and on location on Tyneside, in and around Newcastle and Whitley Bay.[4][5] Locations used include the Spanish City funfair at Whitley Bay, the Beehive public house, the Coast Road (A1058) flats and Tynemouth Pier.
Terry's fictional employer "Extralite" washing powder, was filmed at Greggs Christon Road Dept, Gosforth
Terry's works depot was filmed at the former George Angus site on the Coast Road, Wallsend. It has since been demolished and B&Q now occupy the site.
Terry's flat was at Taunton Close, Willington Square, Wallsend. This was one of three blocks of flats which were locally referred to as the 'fourteen stories' and stood on the south side of the A1058 'Coast Road' opposite the George Angus engineering works. They were demolished in the 1990s.
The church where Thelma and Chris are abandoned - Corbridge, Northumberland. The road layout is the same, but the road is now a one-way system, and the traffic flow is opposite to that in the film.
The caravan site and 'The Beehive' pub - Earsdon, and Whitley Bay Caravan Park near St Mary's Lighthouse. It was known as 'Feathers Caravan Park'
Bob gets some flowers trapped in the bus after Terry does a "voice of above" on him on Market Street in Newcastle upon Tyne (The area is now heavily pedestrianised since the film was made)
Wallsend High Street - where Bob crosses the zebra crossing in front of Terry's van. The Greenwood's store was still there on the corner of Atkinson Terrace until they went into liquidation in 2019.
City Road on the Quayside is where Bob is rescued from the roof of the building.
Borehamwood Library is where Thelma has the brick dropped on her foot. It has since been demolished and replaced with a new building.
The dual carriageway where Bob and Terry pick up the two hitchhikers and later drive over the central reservation to chase the truck giving Thelma a lift is Hertford Road A414 between Hatfield and roundabout with B155.
The "Extralite" washing powder demonstration (Radio Free Ferris) sequence was filmed at the junction of Links Drive and Park Crescent, Borehamwood
The Black Horse pub is the Collingwood pub in Jesmond.
The bed and breakfast, known in the film as Ivanhoe, where they were thrown out of, is on the Links, Whitley Bay. The Briar Dene pub is just visible in the background as they draw up in the car.
The Total petrol station was at the intersection of Harmondsworth Road and Holloway Lane, Hillingdon, London, next to Heathrow Airport. The site is currently owned by Shell.
Release
The film premiered at the ABC 1 cinema in Newcastle on 8 April 1976, attended by the film's writers & cast, except for James Bolam who was performing on stage at the Mayfair Theatre in London at the time in the play Treats.[1]
Critical reception
Like many film adaptations of British television shows of the 1970s, the film was largely poorly received at the time by the critics. Coventry Evening Telegraph felt the film only "magnified the failings of these situation comedy ideas".[6]Daily Mirror were positive in their review, commenting: "Films based on TV series rarely transfer successfully to the big screen. The Likely Lads is an exception." They praised the film's "warmly-amusing situations", "crisp dialogue" and "real-life characters".[7] Later, in 2004 it received five stars in the Radio Times film guide,[8] and also received good reviews in What's on TV.
The film is rated M in New Zealand for sexual themes, "Suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over."
Related Research Articles
The Likely Lads is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only ten of these episodes have survived.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit The Likely Lads. It was created and written, as was its predecessor, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. There were 26 television episodes over two series, and a subsequent 45-minute Christmas special was aired on 24 December 1974. The show won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1974.
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around 10 miles (16 km) east of Newcastle upon Tyne. Two notable landmarks are the Spanish City and St. Mary's Lighthouse, the latter on a small island near the town.
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Ian La Frenais is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge and its sequel Going Straight, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
James Christopher Bolam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in The Likely Lads and its sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Jack Ford in When the Boat Comes In, Roy Figgis in Only When I Laugh, Trevor Chaplin in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, Arthur Gilder in Born and Bred, Jack Halford in New Tricks and the title character of Grandpa in the CBeebies programme Grandpa in My Pocket.
Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the North East of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, 3⁄4 mile from the North Sea coast and 1+1⁄2 mi (2.5 km) north of the River Tyne at North Shields. One mile to the north of Monkseaton, the extensive built-up areas of North Tyneside change abruptly into green belt stretching north into south-east Northumberland. It is at an elevation of 130 feet (40 m) above sea-level.
Rodney Bewes was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom The Likely Lads (1964–66) and its colour sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973–74). Bewes' later career was of a much lower profile, but he continued to work as a stage actor.
Purely Belter is a 2000 British comedy drama film directed by Mark Herman about two teenagers trying to get money, by any means necessary, in order to get season tickets for home games of Premier League football team Newcastle United. It is based on the 2000 novel The Season Ticket by Jonathan Tulloch.
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Summer City is a 1977 Australian drama thriller film, filmed in Newcastle, Australia. It marked Mel Gibson's film debut.
Sheila Fearn is an English retired actress best known for playing Audrey, the sister of Terry Collier in BBC situation comedies The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, and also later on as Ann Fourmile, the next door neighbour in the Thames Television sitcom George and Mildred.
Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is 15 miles (24 km) north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the south by the River Wansbeck. Many inhabitants have a distinctive accent and dialect known as Pitmatic. This varies from the regional dialect known as Geordie.
Edward William "Ed" Wilson, FRSA was an English actor and the Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre from 1987–2003; he later moved to Los Angeles.
Below is a complete list of High Sheriffs of Tyne and Wear since the creation of that county in 1974.
Terence Daniel Collier is a character in British sitcoms The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, and The Likely Lads film. He is played by Sunderland-born actor James Bolam.
Robert Andrew Scarborough Ferris is a fictional character in British sitcoms The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and in The Likely Lads film, played by Bingley-born actor Rodney Bewes. He is single in The Likely Lads, marries Thelma Chambers in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and is still married to her in the film. He works as an electrician and later as a civil engineer. Bob is a long-term friend of Terry Collier.
Christmas Night with the Stars is a television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972. The show was hosted each year by a leading star of BBC TV and featured specially-made short seasonal editions of the previous year's most successful BBC sitcoms and light entertainment programmes. Most of the variety segments no longer exist in accordance with the BBC's practice of discarding programmes at the time.
Audrey Collier is a character in the television series The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads and the film adaptation of The Likely Lads. She is portrayed by Sheila Fearn throughout the series.
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