The Likely Lads at 60 – how lost radio episodes of the classic sitcom were recovered

"They are neither Mods nor Rockers, thugs nor intellectuals; they fit into none of the neat pigeon-holes of the sociologists. They are not types but normal human beings who have an exceptional propensity for getting themselves into funny situations."

Whilst the series was set in the North, many people living in the region it portrayed would have struggled to see it, as the new BBC2 network which carried the show was initially only relayed from Crystal Palace and Sutton Coldfield transmitters.

This was put right in time for the second series in March 1965 when the comedy switched to BBC1. Soon after the third and final series in 1966, James Bolam adapted the scripts for radio and these were broadcast in two series between 1967 and 1968.

The combination of 21 television episodes and another 16 on radio had evidently gone into the public psyche. In January 1973, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais created a sequel, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, in which the characters, now a little older, could be seen in colour. Once again, radio adaptations followed and even a feature film in 1976.

But what happened to the recordings of the original Likely Lads series? Like many programmes of the period, not all were retained in the BBC archives and only 10 of the television episodes survive. For devotees of the show, the prospect of discovering the missing shows generates considerable interest, and so it goes for the radio series which were largely missing until recently.

Happily, the Radio Times Treasure Hunt, launched in October 2022, was contacted by Geoff Honeyball from Enfield with the offer of some recordings of the show.

"I grew up in the late 1950s listening to my brother laughing to a lot of comedy programmes on a Sunday afternoon," Geoff recalled. "I didn’t start recording until the early 1960s when I could buy a few tapes. As far as I remember they were quite expensive then. My recordings were all made on an HMV three speed reel-to-reel recorder, with proper connections."

Geoff’s last point is important as some home recordings were made by placing a microphone in front of the wireless speaker, which never produced such a good result.

His tapes were digitised by Keith Wickham of the Radio Circle, our partners for sound recordings recovered through the Radio Times Treasure Hunt.

"Geoff’s tapes were really rather good, and replaced a lot of inferior copies we already had," explained Keith. "Although some needed repair, the sound quality and condition of the tapes was far better than most we have to deal with.

"Retrieving any series is always good, but this one has a particular place in the comedy landscape. We are lucky people like Geoff spent their hard-earned money on tape machines and receivers, and held on to the tapes for 60 years!"

The recovery of all 16 episodes, and the 60th anniversary of the first television series, has given Radio 4 Extra the perfect opportunity to schedule the first radio series for re-broadcast, starting on Monday 20th January at 7:30am.

Our thanks to all those who have responded to the Radio Times Treasure Hunt to date. We're hopeful that there are more lost gems just waiting to be unearthed, so if you have old recordings of TV or radio programmes from the 1980s or before, please contact us at treasurehunt@radiotimes.com.

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