The Likely Lads is arguably one of Britain's best sitcoms. One of the two stars, Rodney Bewes, is now writing a book about his adventures when making the series. He talks to Viv Hardwick about his current tour, the book and his friendship with that other Likely Lad, James Bolam.

RODNEY Bewes is the Likely Lad who doesn't mind talking about TV's famous The Likely Lads. Unlike Sunderland-born old friend James Bolam, who is notoriously silent on the subject, the man who played Bob Ferris to Bolam's Terry Collier believes he owes his career to one of the best ever British TV sitcoms.

With Bolam refusing to consider a Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads At 60 TV farewell to the characters several years ago, the idea only got as far as Whitley Bay writer Ian La Frenais and Bewes discussing a few thoughts over a lunch meeting.

"I'm sure that the BBC would have loved the idea of Bob being one of the new middle class poor pensioners and Terry becoming a scrap metal dealer driving a Rolls Royce. But there was never a script at all," says 67-year-old Bewes, who has spent the past four years working on an autobiography mainly based around the popular '60s and '70s comedy series.

The lad from Bingley, West Yorkshire, admits that he wasted the first year waiting for someone from the publishers to turn up and write down his thoughts before being told his contract stipulated that he was supposed to have completed the first draft in 12 months.

"Well I told them that I've never read a contract that I've signed in my life and I wasn't about to start doing that now," he jokes.

Having then dashed off 1,277 pages, Bewes calls the final version of A Likely Lad heading for a publishing deadline of September a "pamphlet of 280 pages".

Much of the delay is down to the Henley-on-Thames-based performer constantly touring his one-man version of Three Men In A Boat. He and wife Daphne will be towing his Edwardian skiff to Durham's Gala Theatre, on Thursday and Friday.

He says: "I'm on tour to 40 venues in three months. Oh God."

Bewes claims that the media is never interested in the fact that he and Bolam remain on friendly terms, although the two never discuss acting or their careers.

"Eric Morecambe once told me that it was the same for him and Ernie Wise. People seem to want us to be enemies and not get on and I asked him why. He said, 'There's no story if you and Jimmy meet up occasionally for dinner, but if you loathe each other, that becomes a double page spread in the Daily Mail'.

"Jimmy and I got on really well doing The Likely Lads - we had to because we had 13 episodes to make."

Bewes can dine out on the inventions of the popular press, which turned a jocular offer from the head of 20th Century Fox, Alan Ladd jnr, to take one of his new-born triplet sons back to Hollywood into "Likely Lad to give away son" headlines.

"I had letters from people telling me off because they weren't as fortunate as me with children. I had letters from miners' families, my aunts rang up, my grandfather rang up saying, 'Are you giving away Billy Bewes?'," says the actor who was asked, 'Didn't you give away one of your sons?' years later because some versions of the story are still held in newspaper archives.

All three sons - he has a daughter Daisy plus Joe, Tom and Billy - are now 29 and live together in London where they perform techno trance music financed by "normal jobs".

"They find the interest in me a bit embarrassing, as does my wife who ends up packing away a 25-foot boat at 10.30pm outside a theatre while I'm in the bar with the audience signing autographs... which is quite a good arrangement really," he jokes.

He agrees that Three Men In A Boat is a daft project complete with a dog on wheels called Montmorency "who has as much sawdust coming out of his head as I do".

"But I love doing it even though the travelling is just a pain," adds Bewes, who confesses he's just had to phone a hotel in Colwyn Bay to ask them to send on his alarm clock.

Apparently former Likely Lad Bolam is aware of Bewes's book but he stresses that the ex-Wearsider has moved on in terms of his career.

So has he caught any of Bolam's TV performances in the latest BBC1 TV series of New Tricks?

Bewes, the master single sculler, steers the conversation swiftly away to other waters.

* Three Men In a Boat runs on Thursday and Friday at Durham's Gala Theatre. Tickets: 0191-332 4041.

Published: 16/05/2005