Morecambe and Wise - In Their Own Words

On the television...

Broadcast on New Years Day 2008, this one hour special aimed to tell the story of Britain’s best loved double act through their own words.

Introduced by Jonathan Ross, the now well known story of their rise to fame is told through a series of interview clips and previously unpublished correspondence.

This approach, although difficult to achieve, does at least get away from the familiar method of programmes in which associates tell the story from their point of view.

The prospect of unpublished material and possibly some rare clips was enticing and the programme certainly didn’t disappoint.

There was of course the usual suspects here, the BBC documentary Only Fools Rush In and the Parkinson interviews were both well used through out to get across what ever aspect of their carers was currently being covered.

What was surprising was the amount of rare footage that was used. Although it can be referenced in books and indeed our own database, seeing clips of them in other interviews such as Ask Aspel, was one of the many highlights.

Another interesting clip was the recently unearthed footage from their first BBC series. This was not the footage that was found by Tim Disney and subsequently released on the first DVD set, but footage from the second show. Where this came from and what plans there are for it remains something we shall look into.

Keep an eye out too for the rare colour footage from their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in America.

Back to the show itself; it covers their early days prior to forming the act with both Eric and Ern talking about what they did in clips from Parkinson. Jonathan takes us through their very first television roles on Parade Of Youth in September 1951 and on to subsequently get their very own series.

Running Wild of course famously bombed and so the pair continued to work in radio and theatre, even doing a tour of Australia.

Back from overseas and they got back on Television by appearing as acts on variety shows until they were at last signed up for another try at their own series. Two Of A Kind was a success and the rest is history.

The documents used, although not read out in full (use the pause button) are quite interesting and together with the rare clips, portray the story to great effect.

Overall, a great show, well put together that gives us a glimpse of some of the great material hidden away in the vaults. We can only hope that some kind of DVD box set is in the pipeline with some of these as extras.


© morecambeandwise.com 2008