[Inspector Abberline]

With the sad passing of Rodney Bewes, I had to revisit the tv series Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? the sequel to the 1960's tv series.Of course, I had to then watch the film version of the show made in 1976.In the plethora of movie adaptations made out of 1970's British sitcoms, The Likely Lads is right up there with the best of them, that includes the Steptoe and On the Buses movies and the rather good Porridge adaptation.While its not exactly breaking any new comedy ground,it is very in touch with the 1970's tv series and its basically a new plot rather than stringing together old storylines from the series, which is what the rather maligned Rising Damp movie did,(although it has many critics i still love the Rising Damp film).And like the tv show the main thrust of the story is James Bolam as Terry Collier influence over his long-suffering friend Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris, and the angst this causes Bob's wife Brigit Forsyth as Thelma Ferris.Of course being a very 70's style tv show you would expect a string of smutty innuendo in the movie, but it is a far cleverer written script than most of the British comedy output in that period.This is down to the comedy writing talents of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who are responsible for writing Hannibal Brooks (1968), Villain (1971) and of course Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.On top of this, the three main leads of Rodney Bewes , James Bolam and Brigit Forsyth are pretty much pitch perfect.they have a true chemistry (even if this was'nt always so off screen).While it may seem all very dated to a modern generation,any body for a fondness of 1970's comedy and the show in general will not be disappointed,a nice reminder of Mr Bewes talent as a comedy actor.