Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973)
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a British sitcom which was broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974 on BBC1. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit The Likely LadThere were 26 episodes over two series; and a subsequent 45-minute Christmas special was aired on 24 December 1974.Since the ending of the original series, in 1966, Bob has left factory life behind for an office job, in his future father-in-law's building firm (something which makes Bob even more desperate to curry favour with Thelma and her family). But what Bob does for a living is not a major part of the show; more important is the simple fact that he is now a white-collar worker, and (at Thelma's urging) is joining badminton clubs, attending dinner parties, and – in all sorts of ways – appearing to Terry as aspiring to join the middle class. Terry sees Bob as a class traitor, and looks upon his own Army experience and solid working class ethos as giving him moral superiority.To a considerable degree, in fact, the comedy is built upon a basis of class warfare – a theme which was very familiar to British television audiences in the 1970s, a period of virtually continuous industrial strife in Bri…