For that times it has good script. I like the idea about very regular life ( especially in 60's to understand that times and people, how they were thinking). I m watching every detail; clothes, furnitures, kitchen wear, plates, cups. I cant say anything about jokes cause not like our days british shows at all, i didnt understand any joke in the show. They play very very very boring regular people in 60's alright.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' 'The Likely Lads' was one of the BBC's biggest sitcoms of the 1960's yet nowadays is barely remembered, possibly due to very little of it still being in existence as it fell foul to the BBC's spring cleaning of the archives. Whilst indeed it is lucky that some has still managed to survive, it is not unfair to say that 'The Likely Lads' has not stood the test of time.'The Likely Lads' were Bob Ferris and Terry Collier, two young Northerners whose main sources of pleasure are drinking, gambling and womanising. Rodney Bewes played the moon faced Bob, whilst James Bolam played the outspoken Terry. They caught the public's imagination straight away and soon ''eee!'' and ''by the cringe!'' could be heard on the streets, in the pub, in the workplace and in the playgrounds. They were so well liked that they even appeared in a specially filmed segment for an edition of 'Christmas Night With The Stars'.Bewes and Bolam did as well as they could considering their previous lack of experience in comedy. Fortunately, they soon matured into fine actors. Sheila Fearn plays Terry's hairdresser sister Audrey, though she would later be seen to better comic effect in Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke's 'George & Mildred' as their neighbour Ann Fourmile. The late Don McKillop and the late Bartlett Mullins were impressive as Jack and Cloughy, who both worked at the same factory as Bob and Terry.After three series, 'The Likely Lads' went their separate ways when they both joined the army. However, they were reunited in 1973 for the superior sequel - 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads' - which saw the aftermath of their time away. 'The Likely Lads', as I said before, has not aged well and overall is pretty second division stuff. Nonetheless, it is worth a look if mainly only to coo over the lovely Sheila Fearn as the sexy Audrey.

I got the DVD of the surviving episodes from series one to three and was a bit disappointed, in truth.I am a great fan of "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?", which I would rank alongside "Steptoe & Son" and "Till Death Us Do Part" as the best British situation comedies, so I was curious to see whether the forerunner to "Whatever Happened ..." was any good.The good news is that even at this stage of Clement & La Frenais's career, their ear for realistic dialogue was clearly well developed. You can watch the programmes as light drama and enjoy them without worrying about the fact that the scripts aren't that funny, although modern audiences might find the shows a bit slow.As hinted above, however, the scripts aren't that funny, though the later episodes are better than the early ones, which suggests that the writers were getting to know their characters better and exploit the tension that exists between sensible, open-minded Bob and wild, bigoted Terry.Even more surprisingly, the acting is only middling to good, whereas in "Whatever Happened ..." it was top notch. I was resigned to Rodney Bewes being a bit wooden (in fact he's not bad, if one assumes he is deliberately underplaying) but James Bolam was a bit disappointing, doing a bit too much mugging for the camera and fake laughing.Worth renting but not buying if only for the shock of seeing Wendy Richard in her dolly-bird days (also Wanda Ventham).