Piccadilly Palace
Feature from 2007
In colour
Rare colour shots of the ATV show
At the time of filming, both ATV and ABC had cameras present. ABC were recording in the American 425 line colour format while the ATV cameras were still using the older 405 line colour format.
ATV, although recording in colour, had no means of transmitting it because the transmitters (owned by the Post Office) were unable to cope with colour, thus all ATV shows in the UK were only transmitted in black and white.
The post office opted to upgrade the whole network to the newer UK PAL 625 line format, but did not complete it until 1969, by which time Eric and Ern had joined the BBC.
As was the usual case when this happened (it happened on quite a few other shows as well), the American colour cameras always got precedence. This meant they got the best angles and shots, meaning that the UK recorded what could be considered as a less superior version.
Being American, they switched the broadcast dates around and extended the show by a further 4 episodes that did not feature Morecambe & Wise. Amongst their stand ins were Bruce Forsythe and Millicent Martin.
Still remaining a bit of a mystery, the colour shows have not been seen in a long time, either the American or the ATV ones. A few colour photos do exist however, several being printed in the TV Times at the time of of the show.
Below is a full show listing, collated from various sources, and as far as we know, the most accurate to date.
All of these details are also in the show database.
| US Episode: 1 | US Date: 20 May 67 | UK Episode: 10 | UK Date: 31/03/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The Dave Clark Five, Cliff Richard |
| Sketches: | Peter and the Wolf, East Side Story |
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| US Episode: 2 | US Date: 27 May 67 | UK Episode: 3 | UK Date: 12/11/1967 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The Hollies, Tom Jones |
| Sketches: | A pie throwing demonstration, The problems of the nearsighted |
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| US Episode: 3 | US Date: 03 Jun 67 | UK Episode: 2 | UK Date: 22/10/1967 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The Small Faces, Bobby Rydell |
| Sketches: | A parody of Adagio dancers, A spoof of a popular soap opera |
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| US Episode: 4 | US Date: 15 Jun 67 | UK Episode: 5 | UK Date: 31/12/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The New Vaudeville Band, Frankie Avalon |
| Sketches: | Grieg's Concerto, Samson and Delilah, Julius Caesar |
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| US Episode: 5 | US Date: 17 Jun 67 | UK Episode: 1 | UK Date: 01/10/1967 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, Freddie and the Dreamers, Jimmy Rodgers |
| Sketches: | Pantomime table tennis |
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| US Episode: 6 | US Date: 24 Jun 67 | UK Episode: 9 | UK Date: 17/03/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, Georgie Fame, Bobby Vinton |
| Sketches: | An Arabian sheik's first impressions of London, A parody of pop singing groups (Boom Oo Yatta-ta-ta?) |
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| US Episode: 7 | US Date: 01 Jul 67 | UK Episode: 4 | UK Date: 10/12/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, Manfred Mann, George Maharis |
| Sketches: | Greek vase, English village life |
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| US Episode: 8 | US Date: 22 Jul 67 | UK Episode: 6 | UK Date: 14/01/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The Moody Blues, Tommy Leonetti |
| Sketches: | Spoof of Hollywood westerns, Spoof of musicals |
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| US Episode: 9 | US Date: 05 Aug 67 | UK Episode: 8 | UK Date: 25/02/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, Eric Burdon and The Animals, Gene Pitney |
| Sketches: | Gladys Whitred joins Morecambe and Wise for a selection of arias, Millicent Martin does an apache dance with Morecambe and Wise |
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| US Episode: 10 | US Date: 24 Aug 67 | UK Episode: 7 | UK Date: 04/02/1968 | | Guests: | Millicent Martin, The Tremeloes, Peter Nero |
| Sketches: | Parody silent films, Eric Morecambe joins Peter Nero for a piano duet. |
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