Review of The Likely Lads

Terry is not a natural Bridge player.Arguably the funniest line in "The likely lads" is spoken by Thelma his despairing partner when he leaves the caravan and all too audibly begins to urinate against the side. Apart from that it's pretty desperate stuff.Mr James Bolam's lovable Geordie rogue schtick gets a bit wearing and Mr Rodney Bewes irritates no end as the whingeing social aspirant. This is a man with a Vauxhall Cavalier.....need I say more? These two make Ant and Dec seem like Fry and Laurie. Miss Brigid Forsyth plays Bob's wife Thelma , a woman of such thin-lipped ferocity as to render Bill Clinton impotent yet we are asked to believe that her husband,a man with all the charisma of a dried up tin of paint,would try to bed any woman who retains eye contact with him for more than 3 seconds. Miss Mary Tamm plays Christina,Terry's girl-friend who presumably sees behind the surface superficiality to the real superficiality underneath. She looks remarkably like the beautiful and talented Miss Sylvia Sims. Unfortunately that's as far as the resemblance goes. There is a scene where Terry unknowingly gets into bed with Bob,a scene where our heroes run around minus their trousers.So "The likely lads "is clearly aimed at a fairly sophisticated audience . Mr Alun Armstrong plays the milkman and his scenes with Mr James Bolam are thought-provoking for the more philosophical amongst us who see them doing more or less the same double act 30 years down the line in "New Tricks".