The Likely Lads

The film opens with a Second World War air raid, hinting at the events that lead to the conception of Bob and Terry. This prologue establishes the long bond between the two men and roots their later misadventures in a shared wartime origin.

After the opening titles, Bob and Terry are seen as men in their thirties playing football with local kids on rough ground. Bob is rescued from a high roof by a fire engine during the game, foreshadowing their knack for trouble and camaraderie.

Bob and Terry visit the Fat Ox pub, which is about to be demolished along with surrounding working-class housing. Bob mourns the loss of the old neighborhood while Terry embraces redevelopment and a more modern city life.

Terry begins a relationship with Chris, while Thelma pushes to marry Terry to secure her own marriage. The four set off on a caravanning holiday to Northumberland, tensions simmering beneath the surface.

Early one morning, Thelma and Chris are still asleep in the caravan as Bob and Terry hitch up and drive off toward home. They leave the women stranded in front of a church as traffic lights turn red.

Bob and Terry pick up two young hitch-hikers, but at a filling station they realize Thelma and Chris are not in the caravan. They abandon the hitch-hikers and frantically retrace their route to rejoin Thelma and Chris.

The trip drives a wedge between the couples as Terry and Chris split up and Bob and Thelma separate. A heated argument erupts in the back of Terry’s employer’s van, and the PA system broadcasts their quarrel to the neighborhood, costing Terry his job.

Seeking distraction, Bob and Terry head to Whitley Bay for a weekend. Bob dates the landlady’s daughter while Terry is seduced by the landlady herself; both end up wearily leaving, trousers forgotten in the mayhem.

The lads return to Terry’s flat to find Thelma and Terry’s sister Audrey there, and the missing trousers add to the embarrassment. Audrey’s advice nudges Terry toward drastic plans for leaving the country.

Taking Audrey’s advice, Terry signs on as a deckhand aboard a ship leaving Newcastle. The two friends spend his last night in England drinking on board and commiserating with each other before parting.

At the last moment, Terry decides not to disembark, while Bob accidentally falls asleep on board. He wakes to find the ship has sailed, leaving him separated and uncertain about the plan.

Terry explains to Thelma that their real objective is to reveal Bob’s presence on board and drop him off at the first port, Bahrain. The crew remains unaware of Bob’s fate as the voyage continues toward its designated port.