JAMES BOLAM ON RODNEY BEWES...

It was good to see JAMES BOLAM, in an interview, state that he has nothing but happy and fond memories of the recently-departed RODNEY BEWES, saying that his erstwhile colleague's death has hit him pretty hard.  He explained that the pair not speaking for 40 years wasn't due to a fall-out, but was simply down to them having separate lives and careers after the end of The LIKELY LADS in 1976, with the release of the movie based on the hit TV show.

He said:  "This is what happens in acting.  You work with people, you get to know them, you like them, we have a great time and the job finishes and you go off and it all starts again with other people and you can't keep contact with everybody that you know."  This seems entirely credible to me.  I think that Rodney so loved The Likely Lads that he wanted to believe that, just as in the show, he and James were the best of pals.  And so they probably had been, but it certainly won't have been the first time that a workplace friendship fizzled out after one or both parties departed for pastures new.

Bewes wanted to make more episodes of The Likely Lads, and always hoped that the show would be revived, right up until his death.  Bolam, on the other hand, though proud of the show, seems to have regarded it as just another job and had no great sentimental attachment to it - at least not the the extent that his colleague did.  In the ensuing years, Bolam was never short of high-profile TV work in various series, whereas Bewes didn't fare quite so well in that department.

I must confess I found it heartwarming to hear that Bolam held no animosity towards Bewes, and regards him fondly, but it would've been good if Bewes had known that before he died.  I must say that I have mixed feelings about there being only two series of WHATEVER HAPPENED To The LIKELY LADS.  On the one hand, it would have been good to see further episodes, but on the other, we might not then have had Bolam playing FIGGIS in his other excellent comedy series, ONLY WHEN I LAUGH.

Enjoy the brief clip of Bob and Terry below.

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