British Comedy Guide

The Likely Lads Page 4

Quote: Jack Massey @ June 24 2008, 4:06 PM BST

Very annoyed about the DVD boxset. I bought the DVD with all the 'surviving' episodes of 'The Likely Lads' when it came out. When the big box set came out with 'The Likely Lads' and 'Whatever Happened', they put another episode of 'The Likely Lads' which they 'forgot' to put on the original DVD titled 'The Other Side of the Fence' What's going on. As a 'Likely Lads' completist, I find it outrageous the only way I can see the episode is to pay £25 on the box-set of 35 episodes when I have 34 of them, so I'm not doing it.

Hey, I managed to watch The Other Side of the Fence today at the TV Museum in Bradford. Such a pleasure to watch, I really enjoyed seeing it.

Quote: Ian G @ November 2 2008, 3:43 PM GMT

What theme tune?? :)

Wasn't it Mike Hugg who used to be in Manfred Mann?

Oh what happened to you
Whatever happened to me
What became of the people
We used to be

Yep, it was the Huggster all right.

Tomorrow's almost over, today went by so fast,
It seems the only things to look forward to, the past.

Just watching Whatever on UK Gold. It's fantastic.

And a great theme tune which helps.

Quote: Ben @ November 2 2008, 1:09 PM BST

And let us never forget that unforgettable theme tune to WHTTLL.

It must be one of the few theme tunes to be released on single. 'Whatever Happened To You' by Highly Likely made 35 in April 1973.

Great theme tune. Great opening titles as well.

I liked the way what happened at the end of the film was a reversal of the events of the end of the original series.

One of the very few film spin-offs to do justice to the TV series.

I have just watched the episode where Terry is up before the beak for fighting in public. Sublime.

That one episode alone (and there were 26 gems I think in both series plus a great Christmas special) shows Clement and LaFrenais at the peak of their powers. Brilliant story and a script honed to perfection. Not a second of flab to be seen.

To me each gag (and there were 100s) flowed naturally form the situation and conversation, and was not an exercise in crow-barring in gag after gag in a somewhat unnatural, feed-line pay-off sequence, so favoured by a lot of today's shows.

This post probably confirms that I am in fact a sad old fart but... what the hey?

I recently watched the episode where the boys go to the pub for "a quick one" and end up staying until closing time. Bob doesn't want to drive and he won't let Terry drive his car. Terry takes the forklift from work and drives Bob home in it. Bob has no key and Thelma is asleep, so Terry uses the forklift to deliver Bob to the upstairs bedroom window... Thelma wakes up and sees drunken Bob at the window...classic :D

Thelma looks pretty sexy to me now... though I remember thinking she wasn't that hot back in the day. Oh well, just another indicator that I have become an old git.

That's the Christmas special you're talking about there. Great ep too!

WHTTLL - Yes great theme tune for a great TV series, full of class, this is one of the very best made sitcoms of all time, probably the best - has great writing, great acting and is full of depth, unlike the vast majority of sitcoms. And it had lots of great location shoots - It is almost perfection the way it all blends together and works. I'm sure we will never see a TV sitcom as well made as this one again, no one could afford to make it now!

Quote: Aaron @ June 24 2008, 12:11 PM GMT

Erm. Not really. Comedy is subjective. I'm saying that I didn't think I'd like it, but have enjoyed it a lot. Football players are either good or bad. It's not open to opinion. You can kick a football and play in a team, or not.

Haha - That made me laugh. I can kick a football and play in a team, but that's not as far as it goes. Some would say there's an element of skill involved. Comedy is more subjective; but football is in no way black and white.

Quote: Aaron @ June 24 2008, 12:11 PM GMT

Some people won't have seen the show, so I'm recommending it. Think of the young 'uns who are members, some of whom don't even post in this forum very often

I'd fall into that category, and to your original point, I really liked it and didn't think I would. So, cheers.

Over Christmas I got to see 'Rocker' for the first time - astonished to see so much location filming on a show of that vintage. Fantastic episode, amazingly fresh and sparky for a show forty-five years old.

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