The Likely Lads - 'The Other Side of the Fence'

[Mike S]

The 'It's cheap so we can't complain' defence drives me up the wall. There's no connection between the absence of the episode and the price tag - if all eight had been included, it would still cost £7.99.

The price is completely separate issue. This is about The Likely Lads getting the DVD respect it deserves, and about the custodians of the material doing the job we pay them to do.

[Clive Shaw]

Mike said:

The 'It's cheap so we can't complain' defence drives me up the wall. There's no connection between the absence of the episode and the price tag - if all eight had been included, it would still cost £7.99.

Unless of course there was not enough room on the disc for the extra episode. A two disc set would have cost more than £7.99.

[nicholas cook]

Have the bothered to restore them as steptoe series one is well not the best.

[Ian Beard]

[quote author=cliveuk board=general thread=1140211235 post=1140897674
Unless of course there was not enough room on the disc for the extra episode. A two disc set would have cost more than £7.99.[/quote]

It's most likely a complete cock-up on the part of 2Entertain. There doesn't seem to be anything obvious with regard to any copyright problems with OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, and all eight existing episodes could very easily fit onto the one disc, (series one and two were made up of 25 minute episodes).

It's annoying to all of us that want to replace a VHS tape, and it is misleading advertising-wise.

The best way to deal with the absence is a polite letter to 2Entertain explaining why we are disappointed, and point out that the best way to correct the error is to include the missing episode, (and the Christmas insert), on one of the forthcoming WHATEVER... releases.

Just to cheer people up, the seven episodes on the disc do run to the "correct" timings.

[Ash Stewart]

All I expected was the episodes - all 8 of them, all surviving episodes; as advertised.

Other bits; commentaries, interviews. documentaries, that sketch, would have been a bonus (esepcially the sketch), but as long as the episodes were there, which for the price tag was all that was realisically to be expected, that was the thing that mattered.

And they are not all there. Thus the product is not as they have advertised it, and anyone that choses to complain is well within their rights to do so.

It's that simple.

[Mike S]

cliveuk said:

Unless of course there was not enough room on the disc for the extra episode. A two disc set would have cost more than £7.99.

Are you saying you'd prefer to buy a cheap disc with a absent episode, rather than pay a few pounds more and get all of them?

It's not a mediocre sitcom which deserves shoddy treatment and a budget pricetag. It's The Likely Lads - one of the best sitcoms ever made. We should be prepared to pay the thick end of £20 for it. So long as all the episodes are on there.

[Clive Shaw]

Mike said:

Are you saying you'd prefer to buy a cheap disc with a absent episode, rather than pay a few pounds more and get all of them?

Nope, I was just questioning your view that there was no connection between the absence of the episode and the price tag. I made no mention of what people would be willing to pay.

[BOB TARBUCK]

...I Think Its Either A Copyright Problem..Or Just Lack Of Research..Maybe They Think These Are All The Remaining Episodes..After All The Original Listings Had ALL The Episodes Listed..On One Disc...Then It Was All The Surviving Episodes..And maybe The Radio Shows..Now its One Episode Missing From The Surviving Shows..It Is A Cock Up.
Why did"nt The Beeb Contact fans Of The show, There Seems To Be A Lot More Care Taken with other Vintage Tv Releases Like Dr Who.

[Stephen Doran]

on the bottom of the dvd sleeve the tx dates are mentioned from 1964-66 the episodes on the dvd seem to be selected or the only ones archived.

[Modular]

stephendoran said:

on the bottom of the dvd sleeve the tx dates are mentioned from 1964-66 the episodes on the dvd seem to be selected or the only ones archived.

Huh?

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

[Andy Henderson]

I always thought the b/w LL seem a world apart from the 70s editions. The b/w episodes also had (by comparison) an unmemorable theme tune. Having said all that, it was a fresh idea in 1964 and that freshness cannot be recaptured.

[Clive Shaw]

'Whatever Happened...' is the key series, but it could never have been done without the earlier 'Likely Lads' I always thought 'The Likely Lads' was a bit dry, but rewatching some of the episodes over the weekend and the writing is alot better than I'd remembered. It is a shame that the 'Christmas Night with the Stars' sketch is missing, as this is a real gem.

It was one of the first realistic, Northern based comedy/dramas. It was first shown on the new BBC2 wasn't it ? I guess they were allowed to be more experimental than the mainstream BBC1.

Incidently, I read an interview with Rodney Bewes a few years back where he was all in for a 'Likely Lads' remake but James Bolan was having non of it. I got the impression they never really got on that well.

[Stephen Doran]

i heard that about rodney bewes too;iwatched "rocker"&"goodbye to all that" last night,good stuff all in all i found the set very good and spotted a few well known faces in the episodes

[Ash Stewart]

Not just Bewes: Clement & La Frenais have said in the past that they've considered revisiting Bob & Terry in their later years. IIRC it would involve Terry having come into a lot of money - either by winning the lottery, or getting a wodge of compensation from a "work" related incident - with Bob still nose to the grindstone complaining that it was all "so unfair" and so on. There was talk of their kids being a part of it as well, IIRC.

Bolam won't have anything to do with it, though; and without him...

[bobtarbuck]

Check Out Richard Webbers Book..What Ever Happened To The Likely Lads..Tiz Fantastic!