If I had The Kenneth Williams Diaries at hand, would re-read his comments on Bewes. A poster on Cookd and Bombd mentions Williams found Bewes' jokey banter increasingly irksome.
RIP Rodney Bewes Page 2
Quote: Lazzard @ 22nd November 2017, 10:47 AMHad the pleasure of working with him once, albeit very briefly.
Charm personified.
RIP
And Bolam? 
To paraphrase Bob Ferris- "So unfair, so terribly unfair" RIP
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 22nd November 2017, 11:11 AM
Was it really worth falling out over?
Quote: Kenneth @ 22nd November 2017, 12:12 PMIf I had The Kenneth Williams Diaries at hand, would re-read his comments on Bewes. A poster on Cookd and Bombd mentions Williams found Bewes' jokey banter increasingly irksome.
Kenneth Williams found everybody irksome! 
Quote: John M @ 23rd November 2017, 12:47 AMWas it really worth falling out over?
I believe that they already had a difficult relationship before that. Remember when Clement and Le Frenais proposed the idea of Whatever Happened to that James Bolam's initial response was, "Not with Rodney, no." He was talked around based on the quality of the idea.
Quote: John M @ 23rd November 2017, 12:47 AMWas it really worth falling out over?
I get the impression that James Bolam is/was not a very nice person.
All very well, if a bit late and skirting around issues, and no comment on the main bone of contention (from the Graudian article) :-
"Bolam refused to grant permission for Likely Lads re-runs. This hit Bewes, who was struggling financially, hard - he could have earned up to £4,000 per episode. "To stop other people earning money is cruel," Bewes said at the time."
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 22nd November 2017, 3:39 PMAnd Bolam?
Did a voiceover with JB once - but not the two together - sadly.
Quote: Lazzard @ 23rd November 2017, 11:55 AMDid a voiceover with JB once - but not the two together - sadly.
Thank you for that, but I was looking for the nitty-gritty. 
So Mr Bewes, lovely bloke and the other one??? 
Bolam was a little taciturn - but you'd get that with advertising voice-overs.
Not exactly art, is it love?
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 23rd November 2017, 11:04 AM"Bolam refused to grant permission for Likely Lads re-runs. This hit Bewes, who was struggling financially, hard - he could have earned up to £4,000 per episode. "To stop other people earning money is cruel," Bewes said at the time."
Bewes was earning £250,000 a year back in his day, which in the report I read was the equivalent of £2 million in today's money. I would estimate he easily brought in over £8 million (in today's money) in his life time. Birds Eye ads etc.. He was quoted to say "The tax man stole it all" that is only possible if he was caught evading tax, he would have had plenty in his pocket. So his bellyaching over his lack of money suggested as sense of entitlement. My guess is it was self induced. But on the face of it he seemed like a nice chap. RIP.
Tax was very high when he was earning - up to 85% in the 70s (98% on invested income)
I doubt he'd have got more than 40k for an advert.
Repeat fees keep a lot of the old-timers going.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 23rd November 2017, 11:04 AMAll very well, if a bit late and skirting around issues, and no comment on the main bone of contention (from the Graudian article) :-
"Bolam refused to grant permission for Likely Lads re-runs. This hit Bewes, who was struggling financially, hard - he could have earned up to £4,000 per episode. "To stop other people earning money is cruel," Bewes said at the time."
Equally there's various threads discussing this and quoting the BBC saying there was no refusal. I've seen a lot of repeats of WHTTLL? so not sure I believe it. Similarly the few repeats I've seen of The Likely Lads are poor quality and of their time.
I've never met either of the actors but RB never quite achieved the same success as James Bolam and I can't help but see some sour grapes coming through in the interviews. Most of which seem to be about his falling out with Bolam.
One of the few interviews I've read with Bolam had him talking about how you work closely with people, spend time together and then move on and how it's not possible to remain in close touch with everyone you worked with.
I feel that if Bolam was so difficult to work with why has he remained in continuous employment on our screens for 50 years?
I am biased though as the Beiderbeck series is one of the few programmes I rewatch on a regular basis.