More Than Likely: A Memoir - Hardcover

Clement, Dick; Frenais, Ian Le

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1474611532 ISBN 13: 9781474611534

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019

Synopsis

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are the creators of some of British television's most beloved comedies. Essex-born Clement teamed up with Geordie insurance salesman 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 sitcoms Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge starring Ronnie Barker, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

Together and separately they have worked as writers and script editors for some of the most famous TV programmes ever made, and with stellar performers that include Billy Connolly and Tracey Ullman. Clement and La Frenais have been 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; drama 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 movie stars like Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Marlon Brando; and with poets, prima donnas, politicians and rock stars. This is their story.

About this title

About the Author

Ian La Frenais OBE and Dick Clement OBE have enjoyed a long and successful career embracing films, television and theatre. Their recent television includes Archangel (starring Daniel Craig) and The Rotters' Club, which they adapted from bestsellers by Robert Harris and Jonathan Coe respectively. They live in California.

From the Back Cover

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are still enjoying a unique writing partnership in television, movies and theatre that has lasted over fifty years.
The first characters they created in the sixties were Bob and Terry, factory hands from the northeast, whose lives were portrayed in The Likely Lads. When they returned in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? a few years later, their creators' reputations were secured. They never looked back - until now.
Their acclaimed careers have included writing, directing and producing: iconic TV programmes like Porridge, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Lovejoy and The Rotters Club. Feature films include Otley, The Commitments, Still Crazy, Flushed Away, The Bank Job and Across the Universe. Along the way, they have had some unforgettable encounters with movie stars like Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, and Sean Connery; not to mention stellar performers as widely varied as Billy Connolly, George Best, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Ronnie Wood and Tracey Ullman.
This dual memoir is told with predictable flair, unexpected happenings, and immense humour: plus rogues and rock stars, prima donnas, plots and panic.

Edition details

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474611532
• ISBN 13: 9781474611534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304