| A sitcom that ran for two series in the mid-Seventies written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes. A follow-up to the Sixties sitcom The Likely Lads, which was before my time, and was either wiped or deemed too old and knackered to repeat by the BBC. (Although they still show Dad's Army all the bloody time. Weirdos.)
Bob and Terry are two blokes in their thirties, who have known each other most of their lives. Terry has recently returned from the army, and finds Bob in the process of settling down. He's about to marry Thelma, who's not to keen on Terry barging back into their lives. With this tension in place, the two friends encounter all sorts of scrapes, all very low-key and firmly grounded in reality. Well, 1970's TV reality at least.
The most commonly repeated episodes are the one about the football scores (No Hiding Place), where Brian Glover torments the duo by threatening to reveal the score for the England v. Bulgaria match before they can get home to watch the highlights, and the one with the bike race (The Bike Race).
All in all a pretty cool show by the standards of the day, and enjoyable to watch in spite of / because of the rampant overacting. The show also serves (slightly) as a portrait of Newcastle life in the 1970's. And as an uncanny portrayal of my life when I go back home to my parents' in the holidays. "End of an era...." | 
