Rodney Bewes

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Rodney Bewes (born 27 November 1938 (1939, according to ^[1]) in Bingley, West Yorkshire) is a British television actor probably best known for playing the lovable Bob Ferris in the classic BBC sitcoms The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

Acting on advice from doctors that the Bradford air was unhealthy, Bewes was raised mainly in Luton^{[citation needed]}. From the age of 12 he appeared in several television plays for the BBC, and then at 14 he moved to London to attend RADA's preparatory school.

After several odd jobs he fell into RADA training and got his break in the early 1960s with appearances in rep theatre as well as the TV shows Z-Cars and Dixon of Dock Green. He also appeared in the classic movie version of Billy Liar alongside his close friend Tom Courtenay.

In between his two stints as a 'Likely Lad' in the 1960s and 1970s, Bewes also appeared in Man in a Suitcase, Father Dear Father and starred in his own ITV sitcom Dear Mother...Love Albert, which he created and co-wrote. He also starred in the James Mason drama 'Spring And Port Wine' in 1970. Although Bewes is mainly remembered for his comedic and light acting roles, an example of his talent as a serious actor was in the made-for-TV film adaptation of John Ford's play, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.

Some of his later film and television roles include Jabberwocky (1977), The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979), The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980) and the 1984 Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks.

Bewes is also fondly remembered for playing straight man, 'Mr Rodney', to cheeky TV puppet Basil Brush in the late 1960s.

On stage he has enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s and since with one-man versions of Three Men in a Boatand also Diary of a Nobody, both of which shows he has toured extensively in the UK.

His autobiography, A Likely Story, was finally published in September 2005. Although born in the North of England, he now regards himself as a Londoner, albeit one with a slight Northern accent in his speech. He has also lived in Cornwall for many years. Many people were not happy with him being cast as a Newcastle lad in the The Likely Lads. His charm and acting ability eventually won over viewers and the British Onion Marketing Board, who would appoint him their spokesman in 1982.

He revealed in the book, and also on Michael Parkinson's BBC Radio 2 show in 2005, that he has not spoken to his 'Likely Lads' co-star James Bolam for nearly 30 years.

A fanatic football supporter, he follows Chelsea F.C.. This is referenced in the Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads episode, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", where Terry James Bolam sneers at a Londoner the lads have met, "A Chelsea fan eh? I hate Chelsea - them and all their showbiz supporters..."

He now lives in Henley, Oxfordshire.