James Bolam and Rodney Bewes did not get on , why?
James Bolam did not want to do " Whatever happened to the Likely lads " as he could not stand Rodney Bewes. Does any one know why?
shareOnly what i've read on wikipedia so you'll have to make your own mind up if the following is true;
'The autobiography of Rodney Bewes, A Likely Story, was published in September 2005.[4] Bewes revealed in it, and also on Michael Parkinson's BBC Radio 2 show in 2005, that his Likely Lads co-star James Bolam has not spoken to him for the last 30 years, after they fell out over a misunderstanding regarding a press interview Bewes had given.[5] In 2010 Bewes also complained about his former co-star's refusal to allow repeats of The Likely Lads, preventing him earning anything from them; "he must be very wealthy; me, I've just got an overdraft and a mortgage."[6]'
It's strange, isn't it? The version I heard, from Rodney Bewes on a lunchtime TV chat show some years ago, was that James Bolam had told him that when his (Bolam's) wife told him in their car that she was pregnant he nearly lost control of the steering wheel in his surprise. Bewes in all innocence repeated this - possibly in that press interview - and Bolam, apparently regarding it as an unforgivable breach of confidence, tore him off a strip and never - at least until the point where Bewes told the story on TV - spoke to him again.
There have of late been several repeats of WHTTLL on Freeview so at least Bewes has, presumably, been receiving some income from those. Overall, though, I feel it a great shame that they should have fallen out like that after appearing together so brilliantly in one of the funniest shows of all time.