Inside Likely Lads James Bolam and Rodney Bewes ‘feud’ as star speaks out

Likely Lads stars Rodney Bewes and James Bolam might have starred together for decades in the hit comedy show and its spin-off, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, but in real life things were apparently much more tense than they appeared on-screen. Rodney claimed he hadn’t spoken to his co-star in 40 years – leaving fans to wonder just what was going on.

The pair starred together in the original series from 1964 until 1966, then in its sequel in 1973 and 1974 – as well as a feature film in 1976. But in 1977, Rodney Bewes spoke about his co-star in an interview with the press in a move that would reportedly end their friendship.

He told journalists that James’ wife Susan Jameson was pregnant at the same time as his own wife Daphne, who was having triplets. She reportedly said: “You know Daphne had three babies at once… Well, I’m just having the one.” Telling her husband in the car, he was so shocked he almost crashed into a lamp post.

But when the story was printed in the papers, Rodney realised that James – who was intensely private – likely wouldn’t want it revealed to the world, and immediately phoned him to say sorry. According to Rodney, James listened silently and then slammed the phone down, never speaking to him again.

Things went from bad to worse. In 2010, Rodney explained that their long-running feud meant James had refused to let repeats of the Likely Lads air, meaning he didn’t receive any money from fees – up to £4,000 an episode.

In his 70s, he was left with a mortgage and an overdraft, which he argued could have been cleared with a single run of the 26 episodes. He argued: “To stop other people earning money is cruel.”

It was only when Rodney died in 2017 that James broke his silence, stating: “There was no fall-out at all, as far as I was concerned. We worked together very happily and very well, enjoyed each other's company, and when we finished, we finished.

“This is what happens in acting. You work with people, who get to know them, you like them, we have a great time and the job finishes and you go off and it all starts again with other people and you can’t keep contact with everybody that you know.”

He previously hinted in an interview: “Just because one played great friends, it doesn’t meant mean that you are great friends.” When fans would shout to him in the street, “Hey Terry, where’s Bob?” he reportedly “snarled” at them: “He’s dead!”