St James’ Park a likely stop for TV writers
IT was July 1972, and a new BBC television comedy series was in the offing. Called Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? it would be set on Tyneside and pick up on the original series (simply titled The Likely Lads) which had been a hit in the mid 1960s. Starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes as lifelong pals Terry Collier and Bob Ferris, the rebooted, all-colour ‘70s sequel would chart the humorous scrapes of the two best friends, now slightly older and more careworn, as they dealt with life in a new rapidly changing decade.
Our photo taken this month 50 years ago shows Bewes and one of the show’s two creators and writers, Whitley Bay-born Ian La Frenais, standing on the Gallowgate End terraces at St James’ Park.
The pair were checking out a number of potential outside locations for the new show.
Thirty-five-year-old La Frenais said: “I’ve persuaded the BBC to shoot the outside scenes actually in the North East this time. The new series will show the lads several years older, having been through marriage and divorce, and other life situations.”
The tour of the area would take in Newcastle, Blaydon, Gateshead, Whickham, Killingworth and the Quayside. La Frenais and Clement would go on to create other TV comedy masterpieces such as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Porridge.
Once completed, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? would be a huge hit, running between January 1973 and December 1974.
Sadly, St James’ Park failed to make an appearance in the new show, though there were frequent Newcastle United references throughout.
There were a handful of BBC Radio 4 episodes in 1975, before Bolam and Bewes reunited one last time for a spin-off, shot-onlocation feature film a year later. Soon after, a misunderstanding led to a fall-out between the pair and sadly they never spoke again.
Rodney Bewes died in 2017, a week before his 80th birthday. Ian La Frenais, now 85, lives in California, United States. James Bolam, now 87, lives in South East England.