It's sad (and hard to believe), watching repeats of this terrific series, that James Bolam and Rodney Bewes haven't spoken to each other for over 30 years.
"Make me a baby!
Make me a star!
Leave my coffin slightly ajar!"
- Lesley Gore
The "unreasonable" Bolam always gets the blame for this falling out but I suspect there is much more to it than that. Rodney Bewes does come across as a bit self- pitying and frankly as a bit odd in his behaviour in some recent interviews. I suspect that Bewes is much closer in personality to Bob, than Bolam was to Terry and it has been noted that Bewes could be "difficult" to work with by other actors.
There's no reason to assume that just because you play friends in a show you must be so in real life as Bolam pointed out; its just a job and you move on.
I used to work with someone who'd met Rodney Bewes and said he was the most arrogant person she'd ever seen.
"Make me a baby!
Make me a star!
Leave my coffin slightly ajar!"
- Lesley Gore
It was said that at least part of the falling out was due to RB fluffing his lines but after watching recent reruns of WHTTLL it's JB who constantly gets tongue tied and messes up his delivery.
And on a slightly different subject.
Poor old RB looks dreadful at age 77 in his latest pics.
We all get old but sadly, the guy has not aged well at all.
I sincerely hope that they patch things up before long.
I don't think JB gets tounge tied, I think what he's doing is related to his portrayal of Terry.
RB on the other hand at times does seem to repeat as much if not more, and you feel he's running through the line far more than JB who's delivery feels like it's done as meant to
Oh he does, I wTch this all the time cos I have the complete set. James bolam does get his lines mixed up but he recovers well.
He stumbles on dates, saying dates that hasn't happened yet in the series. He starts to say e.g. 77 instead of 67.
He does stumble quite a bit.
The series ended too soon. I wish there had been a reunion in the late 1970s or early 1980s. At least we got the film in 1976.
You keep on reminding me of a darkness only I can see
I believe the falling out was over Bewes going to the papers with news of the birth of Bolam's twins, which Bolam wished to keep private. Bewes' autobiography is incredibly self-serving on the subject. Having said that, I have huge sympathy with him and hope he is making a living somehow. A reunion would have been a dream come true for all of us, including Rodney, I'm sure, but Bolam seemed to want to punish the fans as well as Bewes.
On the subject of stumbling over lines, possibly the most prominent one is Bolam's "Why don't you invent that one-legged news vendor and have a party!" in No Hiding Place. I thought these slips added realism and charm to terry's character - they were just the kind of thing the frustrated, put-upon "victim" would blurt out. Bob, as his character demanded, was far more measured and calculating in the way he spoke - "smug" would be the best word! I thought both played their character to perfection.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.
Bolam strikes me as arrogant and vindictive- refusing to appear on Bewes'This is Your Life and blocking repeats.
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