Three episodes from classic British television comedies The Likely Lads and Till Death Us Do Part have been recovered and restored, and are due for release alongside re-mastered versions of their feature film spin-offs.
Thought lost for over five decades when master tapes were erased at the BBC archives (as was the policy at the time), these exciting finds from private collectors, technicians stores and even skips, bring hope that further episodes from classic television series of the era can be found – mirroring recent finds of episodes from Dad’s Army and Doctor Who.
Network Distributing, and their in-house studio, have tracked down and restored these materials so they can exclusively present them here.
Starring Rodney Bewes and James Bolam from comedy writing legends Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais The Likely Lads (1964-66) was a phenomenally successful series following Bob and Terry as life-long friends with vastly different outlooks on life. The BAFTA winning sequel series, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973-74) aired ahead of the feature film spin-off, The Likely Lads in 1976.
The film charts Thelma’s (Brigit Forsyth) continued annoyance at her husband Bob’s (Bewes) disruptive friend which shows no sign of abating. But when Terry (Bolam) lands himself a new girlfriend Thelma sees her chance to finally get Terry married off and out of her and Bob’s life forever! Her solution of touring the north of England in a caravan, however, leaves a lot to be desired…
Now receiving its first ever release on Blu-ray on April 1 this presentation includes High Definition re-masters of two episodes from the original series which have been recently discovered on 16mm telerecorded prints.
Of the 21 episodes from the three original series, only eight episodes were known to exist prior to 2016, at which time two previously lost examples resurfaced together on 16mm telerecordings from a private collection. These two ‘lost Likely Lads’ – A Star is Born and Far Away Places – are presented here for the first time in over fifty years, unseen since the series’ final repeat run in 1967:
Created by Johnny Speight, the hugely controversial – and popular - character of Alf Garnett (brought to life by Warren Mitchell) was used to caustically satirise the less acceptable aspects of entrenched working-class culture in the form of his highly opinionated, true-blue bigot ideals.
Debuting in the 60s TV series, Alf made the leap to film alongside series regulars Dandy Nichols, Una Stubbs and Anthony Booth. Set in 1939, Till Death Us Do Part begins with the declaration of war. But Alf has got bigger problems on his plate – he’s only been married to Else (Nichols) for four weeks and they’re already sick of the sight of each other!
The film spin-off Till Death Us Do Part receives its first Blu-ray release and includes an episode from the original series long since thought lost when following their original transmissions, practically all the first three series of the original series were wiped. Only now, with the recent discovery of telerecording 16mm prints, can this episode which originally aired in 1967 finally be presented here for the first time on blu-ray.
Till Death Us Do Part and The Likely Lads are part of Network’s recent launch of The British Film: Phase II home-entertainment label. Pre-order here and here.
