Remaining Morecambe & Wise shows to be released on DVD
- The final few series of The Morecambe & Wise Show are being released on DVD
- Out in time for Christmas, new box sets will collect together all of the duo's surviving programmes for ITV
- They include two dozen episodes never previously released, most not seen since the early 1980s
The last surviving episodes of Morecambe & Wise's starring television series are to be released on DVD in time for Christmas.
Network Distributing is to release the iconic comedy duo's final three series, plus three Christmas specials, which were produced for ITV broadcaster Thames Television in the early 1980s, on 29th November.
The complete Thames collection of four series and seven specials will be available in Morecambe & Wise At Thames, with six Christmas specials also released separately from 8th November.
All thirty-four Thames episodes will also be available in a new 14-disc Morecambe & Wise At ITV box set, alongside the double act's surviving forty-eight programmes made for ATV between 1962 and 1968.
Many of the programmes have not been seen since their original broadcast, and orders are now being accepted at Amazon.
Together, the ATV and Thames years of Eric & Ernie's output bookend their celebrated BBC shows, which ran for a decade from 1968. Aside from three recently recovered episodes from their earliest BBC work, the November releases will see all surviving Morecambe & Wise shows available to own on DVD.
Network has previously released all of the ATV programmes, as well as the first four specials and Series 1 from Thames.
Having made a number of false starts with unsuccessful television series of their own during the 1950s, Morecambe & Wise experienced continued and growing popularity in guest spots on television, as well as on stage and on radio, and were lured back to TV by ATV in 1961.
Their first series for the Midlands-based ITV broadcaster, The Morecambe And Wise Show, was a hit but is now entirely missing, believed wiped. Their second series was hit by strike action, forcing a change of name and a rejigged format: running for two series, Two Of A Kind marked the duo's break-out hit as television superstars. They then returned to the original title and format for three more series, the final of which was also filmed - by a second set of cameras in the studio - in colour for broadcast in America as Piccadilly Palace.
Next moving to BBC Two for the promise of full-time colour broadcasts within Britain, Eric and Ernie made their most iconic and celebrated series with the corporation, before being lured back to ITV by Thames from 1978, where they stayed until Eric's sudden death in 1984.
Morecambe & Wise At Thames
The best-loved double act that Britain has ever produced, Morecambe and Wise were a staple part of British television for three decades and their festive specials as much a part of Christmas as turkey, tinsel and terrible pop songs!
The shows they made for Thames Television in the late '70s and early '80s were top-flight light entertainment, showcasing their mildly anarchic humour, impeccable sense of timing and keen eye for the absurd. Guest-starring Terry Wogan, Hannah Gordon, Dave Prowse, Deryck Guyler, Gemma Craven, David Frost, Glenda Jackson, Donald Sinden, Judi Dench, Leonard Rossiter and Alec Guinness, among many others, these fast-moving skits and musical parodies have lost none of their warmth and humour over the decades.
This six-disc set contains all 26 editions of The Morecambe And Wise Show alongside all seven specials made for Thames Television, most unseen since their original transmission.
First released: Monday 29th November 2021
DVD- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 6
- Minutes: 1,030
- Catalogue: 7956165
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Morecambe & Wise - Xmas At ITV
The best-loved double act that Britain has ever produced, Morecambe and Wise were a staple part of British television for three decades and their festive specials as much a part of Christmas as turkey, tinsel and terrible pop songs!
Families across the country gathered around the box for these legendary shows - with Eric and Ernie aided by an array of guest stars, including David Frost, Hannah Gordon, Glenda Jackson, Leonard Rossiter, Frank Finlay, Robert Hardy, Diana Dors, Des O'Connor, Gemma Craven and Alec Guinness.
This two-disc set contains all six Christmas specials made for Thames Television, half of them unseen since their original transmission.
First released: Monday 8th November 2021
DVD- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 2
- Minutes: 300
- Catalogue: 7956219
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Morecambe & Wise At ITV
Undoubtedly the best-loved double act that Britain has ever produced, Morecambe & Wise first came to fame in the mid-1960s with Two Of A Kind, their hit comedy series for ATV. Showcasing their mildly anarchic humour, impeccable sense of timing and keen eye for the absurd, its success propelled Eric and Ernie towards television superstardom in no uncertain terms.
By the late 1970s Morecambe and Wise were in residence at Thames Television, where their festive specials were as much a part of Christmas as turkey, tinsel and terrible pop songs! The Morecambe And Wise Show was massively popular with the public and its fast-moving skits and musical parodies have lost none of their warmth and humour over the decades.
This 14-disc set contains all 48 editions of ATV's Two Of A Kind (plus a wealth of special features from that era) alongside all 26 editions and seven specials of Thames Television's The Morecambe And Wise Show.
First released: Monday 29th November 2021
DVD- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 14
- Minutes: 1,332
- Catalogue: 7956208
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