News

We are pleased to announce that the the paperback of More Than Likely will be published in the UK on Sept 17th.

The gentlemen have been in the UK promoting the release of their book (and audio book!!) for the last week with appearances at the Cheltenham and lkley book festivals and last night at a How To Academy event in London. Just before that they were spotted signing books at the Waterstones in Garrick Street. You can now buy the audio book of More Than Likely at Amazon as well as the hardback and Kindle editions.

Dick and Ian look back at their career and discuss their memoir, More than Likely,  as Steve Wright’s Big Guests. They feature in the second half.

They also feature as Robert Elms’ guests on BBC London, 10am, 19th Sept.

Our memoir, More than Likely, is out on September 19th. More info at Orion.

We will be appearing at Cheltenham and Ilkley Literature Festivals to celebrate the book’s publication.

Alan Samson, Chairman & Publisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, has acquired world rights excluding the USA and Canada from Jemima Hunt of The Writers’ Practice on behalf of Tarquin Gotch at Serious Comedy to the memoir of legendary screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, MORE THAN LIKELY.

Essex-born Clement teamed up with Geordie La Frenais in the early 1960s and scripted a series about two young pals from Newcastle, The Likely Lads, which became one of BBC Two’s first hits. The duo went on to create the classic comedies and dramas Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Lovejoy, The Commitments, Henry IX (winner of the Rose D’Or 2017) and Chasing Bono (recently adapted for stage in the West End)

They have been writing partners for more than five decades: longer than Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan, Laurel and Hardy, and Morecambe and Wise. Their career has covered writing, directing and producing for movies and the theatre as well as for television. They have written comedy set in factories, prisons and building sites; dramas set in shabby London streets and the corridors of power; musicals about bands coming together and bands breaking apart. Along the way they have had some memorable encounters with Hollywood stars like Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Daniel Craig; not to mention poets, prima donnas, politicians and rock stars. This is their story.

Alan Samson said: “Dick and Ian have long been recognised as pre-eminent writers for the screen, large and small. For the first time they are stepping out in front of the camera to describe their creations with immense flair, wit and insight, and the truly famous people they have worked with.

They are writers of genius, and it is an honour – and great fun – to be publishing this book on the Weidenfeld list.”

Ian’s mother said: “Writing’s all very well but it’s something you do once you’ve settled into something worthwhile.”

Dick and Ian said: “We feel privileged and blessed to have been storytellers almost all our adult lives – and even more so that we are still telling them.”

Tarquin Gotch said: “When the ‘Angry Young Men’ changed British film in the 1960s, Ian and Dick did the same for television, bringing regional working-class comedy to our national black-and-white screens for the first time. They have continued to make us laugh through all of TV’s changes: colour, cable, hi-def and now streaming.”

Sir Michael Caine said: ‘I’ve known them for years and they haven’t stopped making me laugh’

MORE THAN LIKELY by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in hardback on 19 September 2019, £20.

Last night at The Prince Charles Cinema in London, Ian and Dick did a Q&A about the writing of The Likely Lads. This was organised to promote the release on April 1st of the DVD of The Likely Lads feature film, and 2 lost episodes of the TV series. The moderator was Matthew Sweet. The feedback from the event has been just great and the interviews which they’ve done will be trickling out now until the release date.

You can order the DVD now at Amazon.

Last Saturday morning (09/03), Ian La Frenais was a guest on the Danny Baker show on BBC Radio 5 live – a really funny half hour, and still available on their catch up. Listen now.

• Two missing episodes of 1960s sitcom The Likely Lads have been recovered
• Another missing edition of Till Death Us Do Part has also been identified
• All three editions will be released on new DVD and Blu-ray editions of the shows’ respective feature films

Find out more at British Comedy Guide.

In a new article in The Spectator, James Walton talks to Dick Clement about how he’s always thought the word ‘retire’ a miserable word…..

READ NOW