Robert Andrew Scarborough Ferris is a fictional character in British sitcoms ''

The Likely Lads ''The Likely Lads'' is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only te ...

'' and ''

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit '' The Likely Lads''. It was created and written, as was its prede ...

'' and in ''The Likely Lads'' film, played by

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which had a population of 18,294 at the 2011 Census. Bingley railwa ...

-born actor

Rodney Bewes Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...

. He is single in ''The Likely Lads'', marries Thelma Chambers in ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' and is still married to her in the film. He works as an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

and later as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

. Bob is a long-term friend of Terry Collier.

Early life

Bob was conceived in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

(hence his middle name) by unmarried parents, the day before his father was posted to Catterick by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Bob was born on 22 February 1944 into a working-class family. Once he started school, he proved to be an impressionable child, on his own being conscientious, but being easily coaxed into trouble by friends, particularly Terry. At an early age Bob and Terry got into mild trouble, stealing

Dinky Dinky may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dinky Toys, a brand of die-cast toy vehicles * Dinky (film), a 1935 film starring Jackie Cooper * Dinky Bossetti, protagonist of the 1990 film '' Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael'', played by Winona Ryde ...

toys from Woolworths and a hosepipe from a care home. Bob left school to become an electrical apprentice with Ellison's Electrical. While serving his apprenticeship, he also attended night school, eventually becoming a qualified electrician. In the last episode of ''The Likely Lads'', he signs up for the British Army but is discharged for having

flat feet Flat feet (also called pes planus or fallen arches) is a postural deformity in which the arches of the foot collapse, with the entire sole of the foot coming into complete or near-complete contact with the ground. Sometimes children are born ...

. Terry, who only signed up in order to be alongside his friend, is accepted, and goes on to serve in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Personality

Bob is keener than Terry to mask his

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

roots. After marrying Thelma, Bob aspires to be accepted into the middle class, much to Terry's disgust. Bob enjoys playing

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

with Thelma, but equally enjoys drinking with Terry. He often blames his drinking, smoking and poor diet on Terry. Although that is in part true, Bob needs little persuasion to stay out drinking with Terry rather than going home to his wife. Bob is hard-working, conscientious, fairly conventional, and (unlike Terry) ambitious, although he is usually in need of guidance in order to achieve his ambitions. However, he is not particularly assertive, which makes him easily led by his headstrong wife Thelma and equally headstrong friend Terry. Despite Bob's ambition and enjoyment of his new-found status, he has often defended Terry's "down-to-earth" and "unpretentious" ways, on one occasion even offending one of his own and Thelma's friends in order to defend Terry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Bob Television characters introduced in 1964 Fictional engineers Likely Lads series characters