Morecambe & Wise - Songs and Dance
On the television...
Penelope Keith
Song and dance
Introduced by Penelope Keith, the programme focussed on the song and dance routines often seen in the Morecambe and Wise shows, ranging from little dance numbers in one of Ern’s plays, to the full-on Busby Berkeley (look it up!) numbers that delighted audiences.
Penelope’s hosting was very insightful and full of anecdotes about her time working with the boys and some stories of other celebrities that encountered the pair. This mixed wonderfully with the numerous clips on offer.
The clips themselves covered the full expanse of the shows from ATV, through BBC and into the Thames years. A huge thumbs up to the production team here, for showing most of the clips in full. Something many ‘clip shows’ completely fail at.
We don’t want to see a two second splinter of a routine followed by someone talking about it and then switch back to the end of it. It loses all sense of direction and the viewing public don’t get to see the brilliance of a well worked out and patiently rehearsed piece of entertainment.
Another plus point, although this could be debatable, was the aspect ratio used for the clips. Instead of stretching them or using Pan and Scan to fill our widescreen televisions, the clips were presented in the correct 4:3 ratio. This meant we got borders down each side, but then again we got the full picture with no clipping.
This show gave us, for the most part, the full routines in their native aspect ratio, which was why in our opinion, it scored higher than many shows of the same ilk, even the recent GOLD series.
The show contained many great routines that remind us just what great movers Eric and Ern were, not to mention the guest stars.
Overall a great show, very well put together by the BBC.
© morecambeandwise.com 2012