Death of a Likely Lad
R ODNEY Bewes, star of the classic Tyneside-set sitcom The Likely Lads, has died. The 79-year-old actor - best known for his role as Bob Ferris in the 60s BBC sitcom and its 70s sequel, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? - died yesterday.
His agent Michelle Braidman described him as a “true one off”, in a statement on Twitter.
She added: “It is with great sadness that we confirm that our dear client, the much loved actor Rodney Bewes, passed away this morning. We will miss his charm and ready wit.”
Bewes would have turned 80 next Monday and is survived by his four children, Billy, Joe, Tom, and Daisy, and two grandchildren Oscar and Eliza.
As Bob, he would often ponder the merits of beer and birds opposite James Bolam who played loveable sponger Terry Collier in the sitcom and its sequel which drew audiences of up to 27 million. But off-screen the pair fell out and did not speak for decades.
The Likely Lads, which ran from 1964 to 1966, and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, which ran from 1973 to 1974 with a 1976 spinoff film, were the high points of Bewes’ career and he struggled to match it in later years.
In 1984 he earned a Doctor Who credit during Peter Davison’s run as the Time Lord.
Bewes was born in Bingley, Yorkshire, and childhood asthma meant he was confined to the house until the age of 12 but two years later he secured his first professional role and went to drama school.
In 2002, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly remade a classic 70s episode of Likely Lads, with Dec taking the Bob Ferris role and Bewes appearing in a cameo.
Last night, Ant & Dec – in Australia for I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here – tweeted: “We are very sad to hear of the passing of Rodney Bewes, a fine comic actor who we had the honour of meeting and working with. He will live on through Bob Ferris and the brilliant Likely Lads. RIP.”