Concept and creative process
Titles for a sitcom series starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes as Terry and Bob, two young Northern men working as apprentices. The opening sequence was filmed on a rostrum camera, establishing the lads’ personalities with a series of specially shot monochrome photographs of them relaxing in the pub and at the workplace, clocking on, having a tea break and doing a bit of work. The show by the successful and prolific writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, ran to 20 episodes broadcast between 1964-65, of which only a few have survived in the BBC Archives. A two-series sequel in colour followed in 1973 with the title ‘Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads’, which picked up their story of the intervening years apart and explored their relationship in their changed social circumstances.