After the broadcast of the pilot, Guardian critic Gareth McLean wrote, "the likeable James Nesbitt turned in a strong, extremely watchable central performance, though rarely did he look taxed by his efforts, and his chemistry with [Claudia] Harrison was promising and occasionally electric".
His penultimate book, Mister Stimpson and Mister Gorse (1953), a sound but unexceptional novel, which suffers for the lack of a single likeable character, was turned into a TV series called The Charmer in 1986.
In recent weeks it has been the likeable Mr Cain's turn to lead the field, buoyed up not only by his oratorical skills and folksy charm but also by his snappy plan to reform the tax system.What is it that turns Republicans off Mr Romney?
"We're plankton on the high-school food chain... ...... Yup, welcome back the McKinley High School glee club, whose meteoric rise to third place in the regional championships won the hearts of millions last year, and turned a likeable, if inconsistent, high-school drama into a global phenomenon spawning hit records and (last night) endless commercial breaks on E4.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw criticised the film as "strained, desperately self-conscious and replete with unconvincing and unearned emotional crises" at Cannes in May but praised Laurence for her turn as the likeable Skunk.
As it turns out, a likeable shtick is worth something in football management, even if your win percentage is almost exactly the same as that of your predecessor.
His shock therapy in 1992 gave Estonia free trade, sound money, privatisation and flat taxes, all in less than two years.Mr Ansip is a likeable fellow with a pleasantly sardonic turn of phrase.
To their horror, he turned out to be likeable too.
Broken Age does a reasonable job of weaving an interesting story with twists and turns and two generally likeable protagonists.
Inspector Bordelli (charmingly translated on the author's website as Commissioner Brothels) turns out to be likeable, idiosyncratic, compassionate and conscientious, though with his pragmatic attitude to petty villains he wouldn't last five minutes in the modern UK force.
