Actor and star of The Likely Lads
Born: November 27, 1937;
Died: November 21, 2017
RODNEY Bewes, who has died aged 79, was one of the most familiar and best loved sitcom actors of the 1960s and 1970s in his role as one of the The Likely Lads, forever bickering and making up with his old schoolmate, played by James Bolam, though in real life their disagreements were much longer lasting.
They appeared together in 20 episodes of The Likely Lads (1964-66), 27 episodes of the follow-up Whatever Happened to the The Likely Lads? (1973-74) - which many regard as even better - radio adaptations and a 1976 feature film. But they had not spoken in the last 40 years, after the famously sociable Bewes shared an anecdote about the famously grumpy Bolam in a newspaper interview.
And while Bolam went on to further success and acclaim in When the Boat Comes In (1976-81), Grandpa in My Pocket (2009-2014) and New Tricks (2003-2013), Bewes struggled to escape the character of the lovable, slightly bewildered Likely Lad.
In later years Bewes worked largely in theatre. He was a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe, with several one-man shows, including a dramatisation of Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, which supposedly won the Stella Artois Prize in 1997 – an award which is mentioned in countless articles, but which Bewes simply invented.
In 2015 he presented an hour of reminiscences entitled Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad? and there was a sequel last year. The title hinted at his self-deprecating sense of humour and the show mined his great ability as a storyteller.
He was born Rodney Parkinson Bewes in Bradford in 1937. His father was an electricity board clerk and his mother a teacher. He missed much of schooling because of asthma, but showed early promise as an actor.
In the early 1950s he narrowly lost out on the role of Billy Bunter on television, but did play Joe, the fat boy who was forever falling asleep, in a 1952 BBC adaptation of The Pickwick Papers.
Bewes did his national service in the RAF, briefly attended RADA before being kicked out for lack of talent and appeared in small roles in the likes of Dixon of Dock Green (1962) and Z-Cars (1963).
Around this time he was sharing a flat in London with Tom Courtenay – stories of their high jinks would later feature prominently in his one-man shows, shows in which Bolam was rarely if ever mentioned.
Courtenay enjoyed success on stage in the title role of Billy Liar and was set to reprise the character in a 1963 film version. Bewes read the script that Courtenay brought home and applied for and landed the role of Billy’s friend Arthur Crabtree.
His involvement in Billy Liar and his authentic Northern background helped land him one of the leading roles in The Likely Lads – his affable, aspirational optimist Bob Ferris contrasting with the cynical pessimist Terry Collier.
Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais blended elements from the new strain of working-class, social-realist drama, with beautifully observed character comedy, revolving around beer, women (pursuit of), work (or in Terry’s case lack of work) and football (one of the most celebrated episodes has the boys going to enormous lengths to avoid the result of a match … which has been postponed).
A huge hit, The Likely Lads attracted 27 million viewers a week – half the population of the UK, unthinkable now in these days of multiple channels.
The third series ended with Bob being dumped by his girlfriend Thelma (Brigit Forsyth) and deciding to join the Army. Terry enlists too. But Bob is turned down because of flat feet, while Terry finds himself committed.
In between the original three series and the revival, Bewes made four series of Dear Mother … Love Albert. He starred in it, produced it, co-wrote it and sang the song. It was a hit, but his character seemed like a variation of his character in The Likely Lads and did nothing to expand his range.
The friendly bickering of Bolam and Bewes on-screen also masked growing animosity off-screen. Bewes and his wife had triplets. Bolam was driving with his own wife when she announced that she was not having triplets, but she was expecting one baby. Bolam almost crashed the car. Bewes thought it a nice, light-hearted story and shared it with a journalist. Bolam was furious and cut off all contact.
Bewes attempted to renew their friendship without success. And he was keen on plans to revive The Likely Lads, which would have brought him a lot more cash than his stage shows, but Bolam was not interested.
Bewes’s first marriage was brief and ended in divorce. His second wife Daphne died in 2015. He is survived by their four children.
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