[3] Bewes was born in Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire,[4] to Horace, an Eastern Electricity Board showroom clerk, and Bessie, who was a teacher of children with learning difficulties.

[9] Bewes began appearing in repertory theatre and obtained parts in the television drama series Dixon of Dock Green (1962) and Z-Cars (1963).

The two men shared a flat at the time; Bewes, having seen Courtenay's script, independently and successfully approached the casting director for the part.

[5] In The Likely Lads, Ferris was the more ambitious of two Newcastle factory workers, with Terry Collier (James Bolam) being his lazy and more cynical friend.

[11] He also appeared in the film Spring and Port Wine (1970) which starred James Mason, and played the Knave of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972).

Although better known for his comedy and light entertainment roles, viewers were given an opportunity to see Bewes's serious acting ability in a made-for-TV film adaptation of John Ford's 17th century play, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1980).

[8] On the West End stage, Bewes appeared in the play Middle-Age Spread and Funny Money, a farce by Ray Cooney.

[16][17] Bewes remained active as a stage performer in the 1990s and later with one-man versions of Three Men in a Boat and Diary of a Nobody, both of which shows he toured extensively in the UK.

Bewes final appearance on television was in 2009 when he played retired bank manager Edward Walton in the Heartbeat episode Ties That Bind.

[7] In the autobiography, and on Michael Parkinson's BBC Radio 2 show in 2005, he stated that his Likely Lads co-star James Bolam had not spoken to him for the past 30 years.

Bewes repeated this story, thinking it was already public knowledge; but then, on realising he might have crossed a line, phoned Bolam to forewarn him of the article, and got a frosty reaction.