The BEST episodes written by Ian La Frenais

#1 - No Hiding Place

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 7

Bob and Terry are desperate not to know the result of the England v Bulgaria football match, but with eight hours to go will they succeed in their mission?

#2 - End of an Era

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 13

The day of the wedding dawns and the women are racing around getting ready for the big event. Meanwhile, Terry has his hands full looking after a nervous Bob.

#3 - Conduct Unbecoming

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 12

When faced with a fight, Terry has a golden rule: 'Do unto others as they would do unto you - but do it first'.

#4 - Episode 2

Spies of Warsaw - Season 1 - Episode 2

Warsaw 1938. French military attache Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier is also a spy on a mission, one which takes him undercover to Czechoslovakia on the trail of the elusive Chaika, a man who can lead him into the heart of the Nazi war machine. Back in Warsaw, his erstwhile mistress Anna Skarbek is devastated by news of her ex-lover and political refugee and journalist Max Mostov. Heartbroken, she flees to Spain on a League of Nations mission of mercy. As the Nazi storm clouds gather over Europe, dashing Polish Colonel Anton Pakulski undertakes his own mission, a mission that goes to the heart of protecting the very future of Poland itself.

#5 - Part 2

Archangel - Season 1 - Episode 2

Kelso is led unwittingly through murder and intrigue towards his own personal "Holy Grail" - Joseph Stalin's secret legacy - a legacy that could change the face of Russian history forever.

#6 - Episode 1

Spies of Warsaw - Season 1 - Episode 1

A German engineer arrives in Warsaw. Tonight he will be with his Polish mistress, tomorrow at a workers bar in the city's factory district to meet with Colonel Mercier in a backstreet cafe. Information is exchanged for money. Mercier loathes the niceties of ambassadorial lunches, cocktail parties and banquets of a world not yet at war, but one in which the drums of war can be heard ever more insistently in the background. However, they take on an altogether more interesting dimension when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful Anna Skarbek. While secretly observing panzer exercises in the Black Forest, Mercier sees a simple trick performed with a length of pipe strapped across a car and draws his own conclusions about exactly what it is the Germans are planning. When the Nazis find out what he's been doing, his own life becomes their target.

#7 - Last Tango in Lavenham

Lovejoy - Season 6 - Episode 10

In the last episode of Lovejoy, our hero gears himself up to marry Charlotte, and his old life begins to splinter. Jane Felsham returns with a splash, and without Alexander in tow - will Lovejoy have to choose between her and Charlotte?

#8 - The Great Race

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 5

Bob and Terry argue about fitness over a pint and challenge each other to a cross-country cycle race to see who's the fittest.

#9 - Bridge over Troubled Water

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - Season 3 - Episode 3

There is trouble all round and the deal to sell the bridge falls through but help arrives in the most unusual form, a native American! Oz finds out his son is a 'pillow biter' (gay) and has to deal with it in his own way. And a hit man is sent looking for Moxey.

#10 - Some Day We'll Laugh About This

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 6

Terry suggests he look after the house when Bob and Thelma go away to Scotland for the weekend. Bob is reluctant at first, but agrees to hand over the keys when Terry promises to do some much-needed DIY. But Terry has an ulterior motive for making such a generous offer.

#11 - Storm in a Tea Chest

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 9

Terry helps Bob move his most treasured possessions from his old house to the new one, but Thelma refuses to have his junk in their home.

#12 - Bridging the Gap

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - Season 3 - Episode 1

The lads reunite in Middlesbrough for Oz's funeral, only to be approached by the man himself and he has an 'Irresistible offer' of work at home and abroad. They of course still have their problems and most with their lack of money. With Barry its problems with his marriage to beautiful wife Tatiana, and for Moxey, getting himself on the hit list of a Liverpool gangster called Mickey Startup hasnt really made his day, but things don't get much better.

#13 - Part 1

Archangel - Season 1 - Episode 1

A historian doing research in Moscow discovers a potential secret about Stalin which leads him into danger as there are those who do not want the secret revealed.

#14 - In Harm's Way

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 7

Bob is in so much pain from the injury caused by Terry's shoddy DIY that he goes to the hospital. Terry is working there as a porter, a fact he tries to hide from his friend, even going so far as to don a disguise. But his attempts to help Bob only cause him more harm.

#15 - The Old Magic

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 10

Terry is disappointed that Bob has asked someone else to be his best man at the wedding, but eventually agrees to go out for a meal with his friend before he gets hitched. After a few drinks at the restaurant, they start to chat up a couple of pretty girls who are also eating there.

#16 - Affairs and Relations

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 8

Bob takes time off from marriage to join Terry on a quiet weekend's fishing. He's racked by guilt, but he's not the guilty party.

#17 - The Expert

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 9

Thelma has gone back to her mother, leaving Bob to bemoan his fate.

#18 - Home Is the Hero

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 2

Thelma isn't happy that Terry and Bob have rekindled their friendship and she's worried that Terry will cause Bob to have second thoughts about their wedding. Terry starts to feel homesick for the army as his family don't exactly welcome him back with open arms.

#19 - I'll Never Forget Whatshername

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 5

Terry tries to track down some of his old flames, but probing into the past produces embarrassing results.

#20 - The Shape of Things to Come

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 13

The death of disreputable old Uncle Jacob is received by the Collier family with a mixture of regret and relief. The funeral gives Bob an insight into his future.

#21 - Strangers on a Train

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 1

Five years have passed. Bob has travelled to London to buy a wedding present and Terry has returned from Cyprus after a spell in the army. By chance, they meet on the last train home and the events of the past few years flood out.

#22 - Heavy Metal

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - Season 3 - Episode 2

The foreign workforce arive and immediatley there are problems as half are Serbs and half are from Kosavo, who have been at war for years! The boys start their roles as gaffers and the bridge begins to come down!

#23 - Boys Night In

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 12

Terry is horrified when Bob refuses to go on a stag night and insists on a quiet night in instead. But pre-wedding nerves mean Bob's plan to celebrate his nuptials sober goes awry.

#24 - Friends, Romans and Enemies

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 4

A robbery at the local museum seems to be connected with the death of a local forger, and Lovejoy goes on the trail of a hoard of Roman coins in the Isle of Man. Two Americans are also after the coins.

#25 - Just Desserts

Lovejoy - Season 2 - Episode 1

At the beginning of series 2, Lovejoy has just come out of prison after serving a sentence for theft. He believes he was set up and returns to Suffolk hoping to find the villain and get even.

#26 - Moving On

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 4

Appalled by the changes in Newcastle, Terry considers leaving to get a job in Berwick. Meanwhile, his friend's wanderlust sets Bob thinking.

#27 - Birthday Boy

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 6

Terry feels depressed when everyone, even his mother, forgets his birthday. To make up for it, Bob throws a surprise party, but preparations for the bash don't go according to plan.

#28 - Another Country

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - Season 3 - Episode 5

The lads find themselves united once more as workers, with a grim little hut for their new home. Barry begins to go off the rails whilst awaiting trial on drugs charges, Neville falls in love with a prostitute on the road to Las Vegas, and Oz is forced to make a heroic act of bravery to rescue the bridge project from ruin. Granger finds out about the bridge project and threatens revenge. Wyman goes missing after Oz almost comes to blows with some guys in a local pub.

#29 - The Judas Pair

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 5

The wife and brother of a man killed with a fabulous pair of Regency duelling pistols engage Lovejoy to find them and thus bring about the downfall of the murderer. In the process, Lovejoy puts Jane's life at risk and challenges Dr La Grange to a duel.

#30 - Death and Venice (2)

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 10

In Venice, Lovejoy gets a job working for Caterina and Lavinia, with a view to busting their scam, and meets a Scottish forger called 'Lucky' Luciano. Lovejoy and Lucky together unravel the mystery of the Island of Rats.

#31 - Count Down

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 11

Mrs Chambers has grandiose plans for Thelma's wedding to Bob that leaves the men feeling overwhelmed, so they decide to rebel.

#32 - Highland Fling (2)

Lovejoy - Season 3 - Episode 13

#33 - Death and Venice (1)

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 9

Lovejoy travels to Venice to investigate the murder of a friend. The dead friend had bought a painting Lovejoy believed was a fake. In Venice, he is drawn into an ambitious art swindle, and identical twins Caterina and Lavinia are behind the scam.

#34 - The Sting

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 3

Lovejoy sets out to help a young woman to trace a pair of Meissen figures which she sold to raise cash for a drug habit. When he comes across evidence of a double-cross by Charlie Gimbert, he decides to get even.

#35 - The Firefly Cage

Lovejoy - Season 1 - Episode 1

Having hired Eric Catchpole as an apprentice, Lovejoy sets out to unravel the meaning of a Japanese firefly cage.As Lovejoy and Eric are in hot pursuit (on Eric's motorbike) of a lovely lady with something they want, they hit a pool of water in the road and give a drenching to Jane (Lady Felsham), who is busy unveiling a plaque. When, later, Lovejoy rings the doorbell at Felsham Hall, complex chemistry begins, and Jane is soon showing Lovejoy around her attic...

#36 - The Go-Between

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 11

Bob becomes more and more depressed by Thelma's absence and Terry's housekeeping. Finally, Terry can take no more and leaves him as well.

#37 - Cold Feet

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 3

Bob is deeply involved in preparations for his forthcoming wedding to Thelma, completing a period of courtship that started in form 4B at Park Junior School. But Terry's return has caused Bob to have doubts, especially when Terry teases him that his fate was sealed long before their 11-Plus.

#38 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 1 - Episode 8

Bob thinks Terry needs new friends, but inviting him to Alan and Brenda's trendy dinner party might not be such a great idea.

#39 - Between Ourselves

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 10

Thelma has left Bob and is still with her mother, leaving Terry to soothe Bob's furrowed brow. Bob is anxious in case people talk.

#40 - The Ant and the Grasshopper

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 3

Bob's married life promises work, worry and wallpapering. Terry wastes the days away in the pub and the bookies, as happy as ever. Bob wonders who has the right answer.

#41 - Heart to Heart

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 2

Bob comes back from his honeymoon to find that Terry is off his beer and is going out with Thelma's sister Susan. Is Terry in love?

#42 - Absent Friends

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 1

Bob and Thelma are on a Norwegian honeymoon, far away from the influence of Terry - or so they think. Terry is striving to get to know Thelma's sister Susan a lot better.

#43 - One for the Road

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - Season 2 - Episode 4

According to Bob and Shakespeare, 'wine is a gentle stimulant and good companion' and so is Terry on the night Bob gets breathalyzed.