I'm looking forward to it.
Considering the affection they're held in it should be a cut above previous comedy biopics made by the Corporation.
Eric & Ernie
With Victoria Wood, Reece Shearsmith and Vic Reeves in the cast it's bound to be good.
What day it is on?
Saturday 1st January 2011.
9pm, BBC Two.
Ta!
On now... It's excellent so far.
Agreed!
Very good.
I never knew Eric's mum was so involved in their success!
That was brill 
Forgive me but whilst it generally flowed well it REALLY came off as a Victoria Wood vanity project. Less a romanticised drama based on the double act and more Wood's self insert fanfiction about the pair. Good example- Eric becoming a father gets only a single sudden scene, which itself is quickly devoured by Wood's portrayal of his mother.
Well they only had an hour and a half. They had to focus on certain things. Which I think was mainly the double act, rather than the mum, overall.
The girlfriends/wives didn't get much screen time either. Maybe they'll make another drama about Eric and Ernie's families, but this wasn't really it.
Quote: zooo @ January 1 2011, 10:58 PM GMTWell they only had an hour and a half. They had to focus on certain things. Which I think was mainly the double act, rather than the mum, overall.
The girlfriends/wives didn't get much screen time either. Maybe they'll make another drama about Eric and Ernie's families, but this wasn't really it.
I think saying it was about the double act is a bit charitable. I can't claim to be an expert on the facts but it seemed that everything about the pair generally slotted together VERY quickly in a "You already know how this ends" manner to allow Wood's character to gobble up more screen time. We get a bit of awkward half hearted domestic drama involving Eric's father and Ernie's family get a few token mentions before being ignored in favour of him latching onto Eric's mother.
I know there's no way it could cover everything but it really did come across as a mess that Wood pushed for (and we're basically informed of this in the credits) so she could live out some fantasy about being behind one of the nation's favourite double acts.
Well, that's certainly an opinion!
I think it's a bit harsh, though.
Wood obviously (as she said) has wanted to do this for years, but I didn't find it particularly 'mother heavy'. If anything she was pushing us to recognise the real mum's good work, not her own.
Quote: zooo @ January 1 2011, 11:16 PM GMTWell, that's certainly an opinion!
I think it's a bit harsh, though.Wood obviously (as she said) has wanted to do this for years, but I didn't find it particularly 'mother heavy'. If anything she was pushing us to recognise the real mum's good work, not her own.
It came across as if she was saying the drive and comedic ability of Eric's mother eclipsed both himself or Ernie. It would have been one thing if she'd been depicted as encouraging and trying to help and guide her son with what she saw as his true talent. Instead, she comes off like this oracle of comedic & showbiz lore who knows all this with no real explanation as to why.
Haha. It was a *bit* like that, I grant you.
But it didn't feel unbalanced to me, to be honest.
Also, although Wood created it, Peter Bowker wrote it. So you can't blame her for everything!