Television series
The Likely Lads
Two Newcastle mates, one factory job, and a running argument about whether getting on in life is worth the bother. The Likely Lads is early, unpolished proof that Clement and La Frenais could write blokes talking rubbish and make it feel like philosophy. Half-hour episodes, black and white, gentle pace — best watched as the rougher first draft of something even better.
If you liked this
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?1973
The direct sequel, reuniting Bob and Terry a decade on, and honestly the better show — funnier, sadder, sharper about what happens when friends grow up at different speeds.
But It's the same characters again, no fresh discovery, just watching the joke deepen. If you want something new, skip it.
Porridge1974
Same writing duo, transplanted from a Newcastle factory floor to a prison wing, with the same genius for making two men trapped together endlessly, hilariously funny.
But No female characters, no outside world at all — it's claustrophobic by design, which some viewers find wearing after a few episodes.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet1983
Clement and La Frenais again, following seven British brickies to Germany for work — same class anxieties, same laddish banter, but bigger scope and real pathos underneath.
But Seven leads instead of two dilutes the intimacy that made the original work; some episodes sag under the ensemble.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning1960
Same industrial working-class Britain, same young man chafing against a life mapped out for him — The Likely Lads is this story's comedy twin.
Made four years earlier, this is the kitchen-sink drama that the sitcom was quietly answering — a young factory worker in the Midlands drinking, fighting, and resenting every fence around his life.
But No jokes to soften it; this is the same world played entirely straight, and it can feel bleak rather than funny.
More like this (7)
Rising Damp1974
A grim boarding house, a landlord clinging to fake gentility, and dialogue so precise it barely needs the laugh track. One of British sitcom's sharpest character studies.
But Leonard Rossiter's Rigsby can be genuinely unpleasant, and some of the era's attitudes toward race haven't aged well at all.
Steptoe and Son1962
The one that arguably invented this kind of comedy — a father and son bound by poverty and love, tearing chunks out of each other every single episode.
But It's bleaker and angrier than The Likely Lads, with almost none of the warmth — more tragedy than sitcom some weeks.
Only Fools and Horses....1981
Del Boy and Rodney chase the same escape from working-class London that Bob chased from Newcastle, just with dodgier merchandise and much bigger studio-audience laughs.
But Broader, warmer, and less interested in class discomfort — if you liked the show's edges, this sands most of them off.
Men Behaving Badly1992no page yet
Two flatmates, endless pub time, and comedy built entirely on male friendship refusing to grow up — a direct descendant of Bob and Terry's dynamic, just cruder.
But Thinner on class politics and social observation; it's mostly just blokes being idiots, charmingly, for half an hour.
Gavin & Stacey2007
A gentler, more romantic take on regional friction and lads who don't quite fit their own ambitions — modern, warm, and just as regionally specific, right down to the accents.
But Far sweeter and less cynical; anyone who liked Terry's bite might find this comparatively soft-hearted.
Seven Up!1964
Both are asking, at the exact same historical moment, whether an ordinary British life is something you can escape or something that's already decided.
Started the same year as The Likely Lads first aired, following real fourteen-year-olds across the British class system — then returning to them every seven years for the rest of their lives.
But It's real people, not jokes, and the format demands patience — one episode barely means anything without the ones that follow.
Trainspotting1996
Underneath the drugs and the darkness sits the exact Bob-and-Terry argument — is staying loyal to where you're from worth staying stuck there?
Swap Newcastle for Edinburgh and beer for heroin, and you've got the same engine: one friend desperate to get out and better himself, one who can't or won't follow.
But Genuinely harrowing in places, with addiction and its consequences shown unflinchingly — a long way from half-hour sitcom comfort.
People
Cast
Recommended by
Porridge, Hancock's Half Hour, Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Geordie Shore