RIP Rodney Bewes (originally published in 2017)

RIP Rodney Bewes 1937-2017, Likely Lad.

The loss of Rodney Bewes this week brought home to me how a classic era of sitcom is that step closer to passing too. His finest moment, pretty much universally regarded as Dick Clements and Ian La Frenais' "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?", is unquestionably one of the greatest sitcoms of the 1970s and one of Britain's finest to boot.

To watch it now makes you realise how the clash of class and aspiration was so central to the finest of sitcoms, from Hancock's Half Hour in the 1950s to Only Fools And Horses in the 1980s. Bewes's character, Bob Ferris, is the panicky, socially-conscious one of the show's leading double act, brilliantly offsetting James Bolam's chippy, proudly working class man's man Terry Collier. The show excellently followed on from the black and white The Likely Lads, weaving nostalgia, regret and 'what if' feelings into the comedy which added pathos and depth like few other programs.

I regret that off-screen the two actors, according to Bewes, allegedly became estranged due to an interview that he gave which at one point covered Bolam's private life (though Bolam denies this, stating that the two simply drifted apart when the show, and subsequent film, concluded). Either way this fractured friendship was sad for two reasons: a) it contrasted with the enduring closeness and terrific chemistry of the two characters on-screen, where Bob and Terry survive the former's marriage to Thelma and Terry's overseas military service, and b) the consistent success of Bolam in sitcoms such as Only When I Laugh and dramas such as New Tricks was not mirrored in Bewes' career, which he admitted, with typical self-depreciation, had not matched that of his former friend.

So I would urge anyone to honour Bewes by watching the role he was born to play. There isn't really a sitcom character quite like Bob Ferris, caught between the unreconstructed, scruffy and sarcastic Terry and the 'keeping up with the Joneses' Thelma and unsure whether to enjoy the simple life alongside the former or indulge the middle class aspirations of the latter. The show stands as a high point of what is arguably British comedy's golden era. To glitter amongst other gems such as Dad's Army, Porridge, Yes Minister, Steptoe & Son, Fawlty Towers et al is truly remarkable, and Bewes' naturalistic, sensitive and big-hearted performance is one of the reasons it still shines today.