Eric Morecambe

Following previous docs delving into the hidden worlds of comedy greats Eric Morecambe and Spike Milligan, this profile of the Up Pompeii star promises a number of undiscovered gems. Taking in previously unseen footage, from home movies to live stand-up material, this profile celebrates the life of the comic actor whose career stretched all the way from Variety Bandbox to 1990's The Craig Ferguson Story (playing The God Of Comedy, no less). Also, a peek at Howerd's extensive correspondence, including exchanges with the likes of Laurence Olivier and Paul McCartney.

Shirley Bassey getting into big boots, Andre Previn (or should that be Mr Preview?) watching in horror as Eric Morecambe murders Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Glenda Jackson being a remarkably convincing Ginger Rogers... We've seen these clips time and again, yet somehow they never cease to raise a smile. Penelope Keith, who took part in Morecambe and Wise's 1976 Christmas special, presents the best of the pair's musical routines from the archives.

BBC told Morecambe to dump Wise if he wanted to make it

BBC chiefs initially believed Eric Morecambe would have a much better chance of TV stardom if he dumped Ernie Wise and went solo.

Eric & Ernie's preview of Mr Preview

Rare footage of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise is to be aired tonight for the first time in 50 years.

Gary Morecambe interview

With new material, classic clips and observations from Eric Morecambe's family and well-known faces, Bring Me Morecambe & Wise is a heart-warming series about one of our best-loved comic duos. TV Choice spoke to Eric's son Gary, 56, about what it was like growing up chez Morecambe.

I laughed many, many times during The Sarah Millican Television Programme (BBC2). At first glance, Millican's is a warm, unthreatening world of gentle comedy about nanas, nighties and nature programmes but, in fact, she's an iron fist in a Marigold glove. Her deadpan asides and sudden glances to camera have a touch of Eric Morecambe and her sudden shut-downs ("You've got to be tolerant of all life," says Chris Packham. "No," she replies simply) are things of beauty impossible to reproduce in print. The format's not right yet, but once it is, hopefully television will become Millican's world and we can live in it.

Amid the wealth of entertainment on TV today, a reminder - if ever it were needed - of one of the great double acts of British comedy and a reminder too of a time when humour came in gentler form. These days stars are made overnight, but Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's success was hard-earned, the result of many years of apprenticeship. Eric's wife, Joan, once said there was never a moment when her husband became famous, it was more a gradual process. The Greatest Moment runs through some of the pair's finely honed sketches, including a musical number featuring Angela Rippon.

Ernie Wise was one half of the most popular British comedy duo of the last century but rarely got his due credit, with most of the critical acclaim going to his partner Eric Morecambe. Using previously unseen footage and photos this documentary redresses the balance, revealing a man familiar with fame from an early age, for whom life off the stage was more important than the limelight.

Radio Times' pick of the week: Warhorses of Letters

Stephen Fry and Daniel Rigby (who won a BAFTA for his portrayl of Eric Morecambe on BBC2 this year) play the corresponding horses of Napoleon and Wellington. The series is written by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips], who explain the genesis of Warhorses of Letters - PM.

Miranda Hart: I'm proud to be a middle-class comidienne

Comic Miranda Hart kept her ambition to be the "next Eric Morecambe" a secret from her parents for 20 years, she revealed yesterday.