The boys were
AFTER a break of 16 long years, the boys were finally back in Toon. It was April 2002, and TV audiences were thrilled at the surprise return of the much-loved comedy-drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
The motley crew of builders - led by the Geordie trio of Dennis, Oz and Neville - had first appeared on our screens back in November 1983.
And a wildly successful first series on ITV famously saw them get up to all manner of scrapes on a German building site.
Three years later, they returned for series two, popping up in the Midlands before jetting off to sunny Spain, where again they would dish up more classic television.
And that, it seemed, was that for Dennis (played by Tim Healy), Oz (Jimmy Nail), Neville (Kevin Whatley), Barry (Timothy Spall), Moxie (Christopher Fairbank), Bomber (Pat Roach) and Wayne (actor Gary Holton who sadly died while filming series two) until this month 15 years ago.
Back in 2002, Kevin Whately readily admitted the actors - who had all remained friends - had reservations about reviving the show for a third outing.
He told the Chronicle: “Since the last series, there has been lots of speculation and rumour about the show being revived but, to be honest, I didn’t think it would ever happen.
“What brought it about was when writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais penned three little scenes for us to do at a charity concert called Sunday For Sammy.”
(Geordie actor Sammy Johnson, who had appeared in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and Spender, with Jimmy Nail, had died prematurely a few years earlier).
“We were nervous about doing it,” added Kevin, “but the reaction from the 2,000-strong audience was unbelievable. They roared so much the roof nearly came off. It was great to be back.”
The intervening years, we soon found out, had been kinder to some of the Pet lads than others. Barry was driving a Bentley, Dennis a taxi. Inevitably, marriages had come and gone.
But what had become of Kevin’s Neville, the most sensitive of the bunch? “Well, he’s still married –