Morecambe & Wise: The Whole Story

The concluding part of this heartfelt tribute celebrates the superstar years of Eric and Ern: the monster ratings, the game-for-anything guests (Bassey, Previn, Jackson, Keith) and vital collaborators. We're treated to sketches last seen in the 60s, discover important inspirations and hear the honest thoughts of writer Eddie Braben, Eric's son Gary and dance-mad producer Ernest Maxin.

People forget that Morecambe and Wise were a quartet on TV - writers Dick Hills and Sid Green appeared with the boys on screen, even after their move from ITV to the BBC. But after Eric's first heart attack in 1968, Hills and Green left and Eddie Braben took over. It was a marriage made in comedy heaven.

Looking for a way forward, the duo remembered what had made them in the first place, and brought the warmth of the theatre to the cold technical space of a TV studio.

There's a priceless story about a fretful Morecambe convinced the Nothing like a Dame routine wouldn't work - Maxin's mime of Eric's face as he watched the final edit is especially moving. "He turned around," adds Maxin, "he put his arms around me, gave me a big kiss and the glasses filled up with tears... with relief that it had worked!"

There are some fabulous memory-joggers, too. Remember Janet Webb, the mystery woman who took all the applause at the end of their early 70s shows, even though she'd done absolutely nothing to earn it? "Goodnight, and I love you all!"

You'll be gripped by every step of the story, and look around you at the end to see if you can spot a dry eye.

Barry Cryer on writing for Morecambe & Wise

Eric Morecambe was very shrewd. The first year I worked on their Christmas show, he said, "I don't want any Christmas trees and reindeers and cotton wool beards and Father Christmas." I said, "Why is that Eric?" He said, "We won't get a repeat." And sure enough the Christmas show that year was repeated at Easter.

Morecambe and Wise: The Whole Story review

Morecambe and Wise: The Whole Story's high point is covering the early years.

What's the secret to Morecambe & Wise's staying power?

With a new tribute on the West End and a BBC1 documentary, Eric & Ernie rival comedy duos Laurel & Hardy or the Marx Brothers for their afterlife. Why do they continue to inspire?

No great revelations or surprises in Morecambe and Wise: the Whole Story (BBC Two, Sunday). Just a fond and thorough look back at Britain's greatest double act, a ray of sunshine in a dark age of cynicism ... shush. Lovely though, obviously.

Morecambe & Wise: The Whole Story, BBC Two, review

The first instalment of BBC Two's Morecambe & Wise: The Whole Story hit all the right notes - just not necessarily in the right order, says Michael Hogan.

Today's BBC would have rejected Morecambe & Wise

The rise of the managerial class is killing off mainstream BBC television comedy.

Eric and Ernie have never gone out of fashion, especially around Christmas. But as last year's Bring Me Morecambe and Wise on G.O.L.D. and a BBC tribute by Miranda Hart in March both proved, there's almost a yearning for the Sunshine boys' celebratory, good-natured humour in today's world of cynicism-driven comedy - even among today's funny men and women.

The first of two in-depth programmes charts the origins of the partnership, when John Eric Bartholomew and Ernest Wiseman first trod the boards, the moment they met and their early days in television that were almost as hairy as Ern's legs. Using archive interviews, family memories and superb black-and-white stills, this thoroughly researched programme explains the chemistry that would lead to 28 million watching the twinkly twosome.

Double-act profiles tend to focus, unkindly, on the funny man over the straight man. This one doesn't. As comedy guru Barry Cryer once said, "Eric and Ernie were a four-legged animal - they needed each other."

See the dance routines, hear the catchphrase "[cough] Arsenal!" in context and learn how far back their association went with unwanted harmonica player Arthur Tolcher. "Not not, Arthur... not now."

Christmas seems to be arriving earlier and earlier every year, but it's still somewhat surprising to find the BBC firing off a two-part, three-hour documentary on the nation's favourite festive funsters in mid-November. A shame, as dropping it into the Yuletide schedules might attract more people's attention to what is a fascinating look back at Eric & Ernie's long, winding career.

You might think that there's little more to be said, and you might be right, but even for those in the know, The Whole Story offers valuable insight - not only into the duo's formative years, but also into the fading days of vaudeville and the early days of television. There is no attempt to psychoanalyse or unearth anything especially revelatory, but the run-time (which flies by) allows the film to take a leisurely approach, neither rushing ahead nor dwelling unduly.

Celebrity talking heads are kept to a minimum and family entanglements are kept to a respectful minimum. But with the majority of the pair's career taken up by this first part, the second episode (airing next Sunday) would appear to have nothing left to ponder but their later BBC output. Hard to see how they'll mine another 90 minutes from that but, on the strength of this opener, we shouldn't be too worried.