Likely Lads: Comedy Map

Co-writer Ian La Frenais visits some locations in Newcastle used in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

[@LUTONVIDS]

RIP Rodney Bewes,You made a lot of people so happy over the years,enjoy your rest upstairs mate.You spent a part of your life living in our town,Bon Voyage to an adopted Lutonian and fabulous talent.

[@711honved]

Rodney attended my old school in Stopsley & lived in Hollybush Road. He would have left school a few years before the Rioch & Slough bothers started. Bruce Rioch was the school football captain before going on to join LTFC with his brother Neil & Alan Slough....the rest is history!

[@mick6370]

He was born 3 miles from me in Bingley the lads were and still are my favourite sitcom

[@nervo6321]

Bolam Way how cool is that ? Great Great series.

[@annoldham3018]

One thing I love about this series in hindsight is how Terry's character wouldn't look too out of place now, whereas Bob's is firmly entrenched in the early to mid 70s. 🥰

[@johnsimpsonkirkpatrickhist1372]

Great video. Writers Ian La Franais & Dick Clement created one of the best situation comedies ever!

[@merseydave1]

In 1973 was an 8 year old kid, so I couldn't really get it ... seeing the repeats on cable t.v. in the 1990s you could understand what the writer Ian Frenais said in regard to a changing city and working class social mobility ... its very funny and an element of tragedy goes with it.

[@harpothehealer]

Just heard that Rodney Bewes has passed away. What a fantastic piece of work the likely lads was. Remember growing up watching it as a kid and strangely enough seeing life unfold in similar ways ha. As others have said great writing and I think wonderful observational work, including very entertaining and enjoyable performances from James Bolam and of course Rodney Bewes. Thanks Rodney for being Bob Ferris, simply brilliant RIP Reply 1

[@harpothehealer]

Yes, I agree great episode, I also really liked the night before the wedding ending up in the laundrette,

[@Glenn1967ful]

My dad had a similar looking house to Bob's in Crawcrook, worked in a white collar construction job and had a company Vauxhall( Victor 2000 in his case). Guess what my parents split up in 1973 and we went to a street in Wallsend that Terry would feel comfortable in with a pub round the corner. Odd, huh, but when I see this series, I can recognise both worlds from that era.

[@TheWacoKid1963]

Eric's chippy was at Blaydon, the A695 bypass goes over where it stood.

[@johnrider5701]

Terry's face as the bus passes him by still makes me laugh even today.

[@AndrewDaley-lr9qg]

I've had this done to me. I saw the bus driver a few days later and said why did you drive passed me his response was how did I know you wanted this bue my response was this is the only bus that does this route. 😁

[@LouishWaltz]

Newcastle was just like my hometown, Sheffield, where mass demolition of terraced housing was the norm back then. Huge areas disappeared in stages, every 3 years or so. The film 'Get Carter' also catches great views of the old and new sights of Newcastle. Some former terraced areas are left with token pockets of the old housing, probably for nostalgia, but renovated to modern standards. The road where Michael Caine's character in 'Get Carter' stayed is still there, I believe.

[@studebaker4217]

Coburg Street, Gateshead.

[@lasaviation2299]

Very interesting to see those film locations.

[@Jeffybonbon]

RIP Bob I will miss you x

[@nicks4934]

I loved watching this show as a kid. Great comedy, music and so reflective of the 70s.

[@MURDOCK1500]

I live in Holmfirth, where Last of the Summer Wine was filmed. You watch the early episodes from around 1973 and you realise how much the area has changed. But nowhere as much as Newcastle

[@kimsmith4563]

I absolutely love this film,a reminder of all my family on my mortes side who lived there,and there kids still do now,i love northern people

[@oliverdale1027]

RIP Rodney Bewes.

[@kevinbeck6785]

Brilliant video, so many happy memories, of a classic funny BBC show and as they say Don"t Make Them Like That Anymore 😀😀

[@grahamalder5207]

How lovely to see Ian talking about the series - thoroughly enjoyed this brief clip! 👍

[@TheWacoKid1963]

Chippy was at Blaydon

[@djpaul146]

Greatly put together

[@kevinjohnedwards8476]

I know it may look like a coincidence but trust me it isn’t ! Bolam street has been in Newcastle east end area of byker for donkeys years ! Possible one hundred years plus ! I know this for a fact because I was born about 2/3 miles up the road & know the area well ! Sadly most if not all of the locations in the area are now gone & just distant memories of the past ! If the likely lads walked them streets today they wouldn’t even recognise them ! I don’t myself & was born very close to them ! Brilliant show & brilliant brilliant memories ! Written by two brilliant writers ! & one of them is one of our own a Geordie through & through !

[@sg-yq8pm]

So... it may look like a coincidence but trust me it isn’t because it is a coincidence?

[@craigrobinson9826]

Brilliant video. Thanks for uploading:)

[@CreativeTechno]

WELL DONE!! for uploading this wonderful footage, never seen it before!! Bolam Way, surly not a coincidence, most likely a fan at the council who put in a word :) Fingers crossed the missing 60's episodes are found in some collection soon!

[@terryhall6766]

Bolam Way was named from the old terrace of Bolam Street in Byker which like Janet Harbotle and and Kirk Street were all demolished to make way for New Byker Not a great improvement you never saw cockroaches in the old tenements .They only had to spend the money on renervating the old properties but instead decided to take back handlers which eventually ended in Dan Smith Going To Jail.

[@merseydave1]

Very interesting/nostalgic, Iv always thought to myself "what ever happened to those places"

[@keithfrmcov]

Blimey! How time changes things, and not all for the good. I prefered the Likely Lads Series, rather than Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads. I still watch both today on DVD.

[@pete7kcu]

Excellent piece of work ... the city, and the region, were indeed in a state of transition at the time ... following T Dan Smith ambitions from early-mid 60's I guess

[@seanie002]

Across from ‘Bolam Way’ is the old Bolam Street school. It was there decades before the series was even conceived.

[@stanleycraggs8020]

raby street school not bolamstreet

[@seanie002]

@@stanleycraggs8020 I stand corrected, point still stands.

[@johnclarke2412]

Great show

[@DSisterson]

Thanks for that! I was waiting to see if we found out where the bridge and chimney were, and it tells us right at the end :-)

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

It did form part of the open top Tourist Bus Tour going around the city at one stage.

[@keithterry2169]

The location is Ouseburn.

[@sublucky74]

That’s the ouseburn viaduct I think.

[@IanP1963]

That's good that there's a Bolam Way he's a good actor👍

[@PaulRoseGuitar]

The bus stop is at the bottom of the street my mother was born on.

[@schnode8367]

Ah, it's bloody tragic what it looks like now as compared to then. At least it had character back then. What's it bloody got now?

[@VanlifewithAlan]

I lived there then, I think it is much better now.

[@whoflungdung1046]

Alan Heath do you know the name of the street at no8?

[@VanlifewithAlan]

What do you mean by no8? (BTW I am also a camper and you might like to have a quick look at my channel.)

[@whoflungdung1046]

Alan Heath I'll take a look. No8 that house Bob and Thelma lived in, what was name of street. Its just a nostalgia thing and might pop past one day

[@VanlifewithAlan]

I am sorry, I can't remember the name of the street!

[@eugenegilleno9344]

I was married in 1973, and born and bred in the North East, and all the locations are familiar. In the opening shots where Terry puts his hand out to stop the bus, that didn’t, in the background is an Austin J4 van - I had one, the same colour. 🤪

[@garysimpson3900]

You can't get more "same" than row upon row of terraced houses with back yards.

[@chriswatkin5476]

Yes but more character

[@LouishWaltz]

The kids playing on the shell of what's left of houses appears to have been on 'Clumber Street', viewed looking towards the flats.

[@spencerliddicoat4937]

Oh yes - well done: www.google.com/maps/place/Clumber+St,+Newcastle+upon+Tyne/@54.9635725,-1.6389068,3a,75y,72.14h,79.92t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAGcf0SQQiiNfQZIA8Ec1-Q!2e0!3e11!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fmaps%2Fphotothumb%2Ffd%2Fv1%3Fbpb%3DChAKDnNlYXJjaC5UQUNUSUxFEiAKEgnx8NeLRHd-SBGrkFF3uelKfCoKDQAAAAAVAAAAABoECFYQVg%26gl%3DGB!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x487e77448bd7f0f1:0x7c4ae9b9775190ab!8m2!3d54.9635768!4d-1.639129

[@JohnSmith-ng9lo]

Sorry, but it's Gloucester Road, looking towards Todd's Nook flats, etc. My old School mate is the one pulling his trousers up!!!

[@neilwalsh4058]

Terry was more my sort of bloke, proud of his working class background and stubborn to any change. To be proud of where you're from, it's history never lies.....

[@daviddavies2742]

Bobs new house is 8 Agincourt killingworth I think.

[@frogstamper]

A great series that has stood the test of time, its just sad that Bolam's immature attitude to Bewes is still festering after all these years.

[@frogstamper]

***** I totally agree, apparently the pair of them were good friends prior to the fall out, and as you say what a petty fallout. I remember seeing a piece on our local news where a reporter was interviewing Rodney and he was basically doing a one man show all over the country which he towed around with his old car, so he could obviously do with the repeat fees on the BBC. From the outside looking in it appears James Bolan is a very vindictive person indeed....all in all a sad story.

[@Dermot2927]

Who knows what goes on in the hearts of men? Who knows what actually sparked the (one-sided) feud? I love these characters so much that I try not to judge or condemn. If it was as simple as Rodney revealing to the press that James's wife was pregnant, then there has to be more to it than that. Did Rodney get a backhander for the info? Something riled Bolam (despite his protestations on Bewes's death, he apparently did not get in touch when Daphne, Rodney's wife, died - that's plain mean). The whole thing is so sad - Bolam did his best work with Bewes (I think his acting in New Tricks is dreadful). He should have had the professionalism, and the professional pride, to show that he could still do it. All of us Likely Lads fans enjoy imagining what a 21st Century update would have consisted of - now we'll never know.

[@stewsretroreviews]

@@Dermot2927 I agree with you mate, I've just been watching this great series here on KZbin recently, they looked like the best of friends in the characters they played, and they were mates in real life, then they fall out like that over a petty comment like that, madness really, something more to it definitely 👍🏻

[@flipper2392]

@@Dermot2927 He's in good company in New Tricks, they're all crap.

[@scottandrewbrass1931]

@@stewsretroreviews They weren't mates in real life. They were work colleagues playing the part of friends. Once the show finished Bolam moved on something Bewes couldn't do so he got vindictive.

[@dazauto1400]

Such a shame the feud between Bolam and Bewes went on for 40 years. Bewes even holding out an olive branch. Very sad a truce was never made before it was too late. Rip Rodney Bewes.

[@jonsmith20766]

Not sure there ever was any feud. Bolam sees acting as just a job, I'm not lifelong friends with anyone I've worked with. You just move on to the next thing.

[@ysplse]

A new series? Blimey do you remember when the original series was ended by the Beeb amidst storms of protest and how long it took Auntie to be convinced to revisit it?

[@terryjohns3252]

Gloucester road demolished I was there behind camera my sister Sharon is in the red coat

[@IanP1963]

When l wrote about Richard Wattis the council named a street after him👍

[@thomaspridmore106]

I was brought up watching this but how things have changed

[@kc0lif]

i miss rodney. james bolam great actor too.

[@michaelridley4503]

The opening scene where the kids are throwing stones is Elswick not Byker I was there

[@VanlifewithAlan]

I thought the same!

[@fitzjon4628]

Absolutely Brilliant when comedy was actually funny

[@dianewebb3343]

Have you noticed the lack of actual Geordie accent in the series?

[@dianewebb3343]

There wernt that many external scenes really.

[@johnhall4917]

Does anyone know which North Tyneside street Bob lived on?

[@daviddavies2742]

8 Agincourt killingworth I think. Just call me poirot 😂👍🇬🇧

[@jimmyoconnell6167]

My home city Newcastle

[@music4u138]

The video @ 2:02 looks rather like Gloucester Road and certainly the same style of houses, with lintels painted the same way.

[@avz1579]

My grandad is in this stop it x

[@TheWeardale1]

brilliant, but does anyone know where bob lived?

[@Glenn1967ful]

I thought Chapel House on the western edge of Newcastle, but the outdoor scenes were filmed in Killingworth, where a private estate was being built in 1972. However, nowhere is really specified in the show or film, apart from a fake name of Elm Lodge, so it could be somewhere new and lower middle class on the edge of Newcastle.

[@AUFPET1]

I think a new series would work! Come on James Bolam, pick up that phone.

[@brain8484]

ok after 2 years they never got to speak to each other and no a new series wouldnt work because it was based on the past and the now and future the characters are too old now and would just talk about the past .

[@stephenbarton8861]

70s were top..everyone was happy

[@loungejay8555]

Rodney Bewes in the seventies looked a bit like Paul McCartney circa 1969 era.

[@terryjohns3252]

oo

[@zachsmith3322]

Front Desk

[@anicecupoftea8303]

go-go dancers…gone!

[@philiphughes4021]

There's a great deal to be said for sentimentality but we shouldn't carry torches for the insanitary conditions of bygone ages. Shame, too, that so many today just don't realise how damned well off they are compared to those previous generations.

[@MrRgflynn]

I still have a johnny cash in the sink.

[@Lytton333]

That's a laughably un-nuanced view, typical of the social modernist. One could equally make an argument that in material terms, the Victorian era was one of incremental improvement. One could also argue that today there is as much moral squalor- if not more than back then- as there is material squalor. Just because we have inside toilets and plasticised food doesn't mean we live like kings. .Apply your rule to today if you are going to do it to yesteryear. We have drugs, massively increased crime statistics, gun shootings on estates, mass drunkenness in city-centres every weekend, cultural deracination, mass obesity, appalling self-neglect and equally appalling social arrogance, conceit and loss of social politesse, depression is on the rise, hospitals are struggling, civic efficiency is declining into incompetence, political corruption on increased scales, divorce is now commonplace, child abuse, gadget addiction, urban sprawl and hideously ugly zone development.. I could go on. But that's all fine because we can now defecate indoors, drink 40 different types of coffee and watch 250 channels on a 65 inch TV..

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

On orchestrated generational prejudice between each side of the mid twentieth century: raggeduniversitycoukslash2018slash02slash15slashopinion-piece-teaching-how-society-gets-taught-history-by-books-and-media-and-politics-by-maurice-frank

[@iainrobertson1690]

T Dan Smith ruined and vandalized the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, shame on him

[@monkeyblood3848]

Loved it, but there was no Geordie accents, all the actors talked with a Yorkshire accent, shame as it would of gave north east actors employment .

[@ianexcalibur7096]

The “knock it down brigade” hit towns as well as cities, I live in Grimsby on the NE coast and was ravaged 50 years ago by these idiots, one part of Grimsby is now the third worst in England for crime and deprivation. This is a Classic sitcom though…..