BBC2 Eric and Ernie's Home Movies - and BBC4 Eric, Ernie and Me

[Lat-Literal]

It wasn't in any doubt what I would be watching on TV tonight.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09kslkg/eric-ernies-home-movies

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09ksz61/eric-ernie-and-me

I found both programmes very "emotional" as well as informative.

That 1977 Christmas special on the BBC marked the end of post war Britain.

[Stanley Stewart]

I, too, watched the two documentaries last night, Lit-Lat; recorded both along with the Christmas 1977 show, t'other day.
As you say, it marked the end of an era. Not at all interested in Eric & Ernie's Home Movies, obviously a close-knitted
endearing community but it gradually became a bit naff as I wanted to know more about Eric & Ernie and the technique
of their partnership but the tinkling piano underscoring throughout became unbearable. However. the main feature Eric, Ernie & Me
mitigated with a most perceptive take on their years of triumph, along with the cost! Stephen Tompkinson as writer, Eddie Braben,
clearly ready to enter a new phase in a distinguished career. Heartbreaking to watch.

Memories for me, too, of my years as a thesp. I met Ernie Wise casually in the lift at the BBC North Acton block and when
the same thing happened next day we both broke into a a 'well, did you evah' routine as if we'd known each other for years.
We continued at ground floor level. I wanted to hear about his years on the road but he was more interested in my early years
in weekly rep until interrupted by a summons for both of us to go to our respective rehearsal rooms!

All set to watch "All About Eve", BBC 2, 15.20hrs, for the umpteenth time since 1951 when I first saw it.

[Lat-Literal]

I, too, watched the two documentaries last night, Lit-Lat; recorded both along with the Christmas 1977 show, t'other day.
As you say, it marked the end of an era. Not at all interested in Eric & Ernie's Home Movies, obviously a close-knitted
endearing community but it gradually became a bit naff as I wanted to know more about Eric & Ernie and the technique
of their partnership but the tinkling piano underscoring throughout became unbearable. However. the main feature Eric, Ernie & Me
mitigated with a most perceptive take on their years of triumph, along with the cost! Stephen Tompkinson as writer, Eddie Braben,
clearly ready to enter a new phase in a distinguished career. Heartbreaking to watch.

Memories for me, too, of my years as a thesp. I met Ernie Wise casually in the lift at the BBC North Acton block and when
the same thing happened next day we both broke into a a 'well, did you evah' routine as if we'd known each other for years.
We continued at ground floor level. I wanted to hear about his years on the road but he was more interested in my early years
in weekly rep until interrupted by a summons for both of us to go to our respective rehearsal rooms!

All set to watch "All About Eve", BBC 2, 15.20hrs, for the umpteenth time since 1951 when I first saw it.

I really like your Ernie Wise story........it says a lot of good things! Knowing you were in Croydon for a while, you might be interested to hear that so was Eddie Braben - or close - for he did his National Service at RAF Kenley. I didn't know a lot about Braben before yesterday's drama but had always felt that his role was underrated. The pressure he had felt was something of a surprise and difficult to watch. On the plus side, he lived until his early eighties which might not have been predicted. I thought Tompkinson was very good in the role.

[jean]

...The pressure he had felt was something of a surprise and difficult to watch. On the plus side, he lived until his early eighties which might not have been predicted...

My thoughts exactly!

I didn't know much about him either. He was born very close to where I now live, but he was never an icon of Liverpool comedy although he wrote so much of it, for Ken Dodd and others. I saw The Play What I Wrote when it was premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse, but did not realise just who the author was. My chief memory of that is of Toby Jones, but I cannot remember the significance of his character.

[Lat-Literal]

My thoughts exactly!

I didn't know much about him either. He was born very close to where I now live, but he was never an icon of Liverpool comedy although he wrote so much of it, for Ken Dodd and others. I saw The Play What I Wrote when it was premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse, but did not realise just who the author was. My chief memory of that is of Toby Jones, but I cannot remember the significance of his character.

Yes indeed, jean. For all of my efforts to claim him in part for Croydon, what came across so clearly was how he was unequivocally a Merseysider. I really feel that he should stand alongside the Liverpool poets, Willy Russell, Carla Lane, and all of the other writers, comedians and musicians from your area who have made such an immense cultural contribution.

From TheBranaghCompendum: The Play What I Wrote: Hamish, the short one, thinks he isn't funny, and wants to leave to be a serious writer. Sean, "the tall one with glasses", in a last-ditch attempt to keep them together, takes up an offer from a West End producer called Mr Pugh to do a Morecambe and Wise tribute show, and persuades Hamish that this is a chance to do one of his plays, with big star names. Assuming he will have no chance of obtaining any real stars, he ropes in his friend Arthur from the pub to impersonate them instead.

Arthur is played by a terrific comic actor, Toby Jones, a shrunken version of his actor father, Freddie Jones, and an ideal foil. His wounded, defiant embarrassment while impersonating Daryl Hannah earns him a huge response at the curtain call. Among the real stars included in various performances: Richard Wilson, Sue Johnstone, Richard E. Grant and Ralph Fiennes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The drama was greatly enjoyable - but a few facts "embellished" for the sake of a good story, so not really a "documentary". The suggestion that he wrote the last Christmas special as an elegiac farewell was a nice conclusion to the story - but not true: Braben, M&W, and ITV expected Braben to be writing the scripts for the new ITV series, but the Beeb (understandably annoyed that their finest light entertainment "product" was being lost to their then only rivals) refused to release Braben from his BBC contract, in which he wasn't allowed to write comedy scripts for any other television company. Panic at ITV, and the hasty employment of Barry Cryer and John Junkin to produce the M&W ITV scripts - which amply demonstrated that for the M&W magic to fully work, they needed Braben. (As, indeed, did he them - none of his work for other acts is as fresh these decades later as those '70s M&W scripts.)

Great story about Ern, Stanley - many thanks.

[jean]

...but a few facts "embellished" for the sake of a good story...

Was there really a sleeper between Liverpool and London as late as the 1960s?



[edit] It says here There used to be a Liverpool/Manchester to Euston sleeper which attatched and detatched at Stafford, I have some pictures of it taken after alighting at Lime Street as recently as 1990.

I had no idea so many of them survived so long!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There was a sleeper between Durham (possibly from Edinburgh) and London in June 1982 - I used it to get to an interview. I wish that there was a sleeper between London and Leeds now - I'd use it to get back from quite a few events in the Capital.

[jean]

I wish that there was a sleeper between London and Leeds now - I'd use it to get back from quite a few events in the Capital.

I never needed the sleeper when I lived in London and visited my parents in Liverpool, or more recently after I moved back North but still had lots of friends in London - but now that so many have moved or, sadly, died, and London hotels are so eye-wateringly expensive, I really could do with it!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

London hotels are so eye-wateringly expensive

- even those "hostels", with (at most) a curtain between you and the snorers in the beds on either side!

[BBMmk2]

Loved this programme! Why were they not knighted?

[Lat-Literal]

Loved this programme! Why were they not knighted?

Morecambe and Wise were awarded OBEs in 1976. Arguably the standards have slipped in recent years for the awarding of higher honours. But a part of it in the area of entertainment may well simply be about being in the public eye for a very, very long time. That could explain, for example, Ringo Starr being knighted when Harrison wasn't and Ronnie Corbett receiving a CBE while Barker only received an OBE, ie Starr has lived longer and Corbett did live longer. I think our idea of "national treasures" has changed. Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, light entertainment was seen as here today and gone tomorrow. The principal interest was in achieving success in the moment. The idea that many of these people were having a substantial national role would have been considered preposterous. With hindsight, the quality and the longevity culturally are obvious. Today they are a history lesson on Britain.

New citizens and young people enjoy them and use them as reference points more than we think they do. Plus, more of the key figures of those times should rightly be considered of national significance compared with those in their prime today on the basis that there was very little television or radio and the numbers tuning in were such that they could feel connected with most other people in this country. Beyond the papers, media often reinforced cohesion. It's a pity Braben didn't get anything but then the giving of awards to comedy writers was slow - Galton and Simpson 2000, John Sullivan 2005 - and he might not have wanted one. Carla Lane returned hers to Tony Blair, opposing policy on the welfare of animals.

[Stunsworth]

I watched both programmes and enjoyed both.

André Preview, has there ever been a funnier comedy sketch? I know exactly what’s coming next, but it cracks me up every time - and it cracked up the orchestra too. Somehow I think Herbert von Caravan wouldn’t have been so self deprecating.