History
In 1954, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise had starred in their first television series, Running Wild on the BBC. This had proven to be a failure, which saw the duo initially return to the variety circuit, before slowly making a return to television, with guest spots on The Winifred Atwell Show and Double Six. [2] Their increasing success eventually led to an offer from Lew Grade, the managing director of ATV, for a second attempt at a television series of their own. [3]
John Eric Bartholomew,, known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the award-winning double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. Morecambe took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe in Lancashire.
Ernest Wiseman,, known by his stage name Ernie Wise, was an English comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, who became a national institution on British television, especially for their Christmas specials.
Running Wild was a comedy sketch show originally broadcast by BBC television, the first TV series by English comedy double-act Morecambe and Wise. The first attempt by the pair at a television series, it aired for a single series of six episodes in 1954. Running Wild was Morecambe & Wise's first collaboration with Ernest Maxin, who subsequently worked with the duo on their second BBC television show.
With memories of their previous attempt still in their mind, the duo said that they would accept the offer from Grade if they could obtain the services of the writing team of Dick Hills and Sid Green, as well as producer Colin Clews. [4] Once these were in situ, work could begin in earnest on the new show.
Richard Michael Hills and Sidney Green, informally known as Sid Green and Dick Hills, were a British partnership of television comedy writers, at their highest profile during the 1960s.
Initially, there were problems in the working relationship between the two duos; the first scripts were, to Morecambe and Wise, too crowded with people for they, as the stars of the piece, to stand out. The reception for the first shows was described by Eric Morecambe as "lukewarm to say the least". [5] In spite of this, more of the same came, until a strike by Equity saw the television schedules decimated. However, Morecambe and Wise were members of the Variety Artistes Federation, and therefore unaffected by the strike. [5] As a consequence, Hills and Green were forced to write sketches that were more along the lines that Morecambe and Wise were looking for. Additionally, the writers were occasionally added to the situations as "Sid and Dick", the new, general-purpose stooges. [5]
The series introduced several catchphrases (such as "Get out of that!"; "That's not nice"; "I'll smash your face in"; and "Tea Ern?") which would stay with them throughout their careers - as well as Morecambe's famous paper bag trick - as well as an original opening segment which saw the pair parody other series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , Dixon of Dock Green and Take Your Pick . [6] It also attracted special guests such as Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson and The Beatles; performances of "This Boy" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand", along with a comedy skit involving the group, were released on the Anthology 1 compilation album in 1995. [7] The celebrities were generally humiliated by the pair, and especially by Morecambe's playful insults, undermining the status of the celebrities, joking that they were "rubbish" and pretending not to recognise them. Generally, the higher the status of the celebrities, the greater the humiliation.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy-fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. It follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. The series premiered on September 22, 1964, completing its run on January 15, 1968. The series led the spy-fiction craze on television, and by 1966 there were nearly a dozen imitators. Several episodes were successfully released to theaters as B movies or double features. There was also a spin-off series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., novel and comic book series, and merchandising.
Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series about daily life at a London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. The central character was a mature and sympathetic police constable, George Dixon, played by Jack Warner in all of the 432 episodes, from 1955 to 1976.
Pearl Lavinia Carr and Edward Victor "Teddy" Johnson were an English husband-and-wife team of entertainers, popular during the 1950s and early 1960s.
The sixth Morecambe and Wise series for ATV was planned from the start to be aired in the United Kingdom as well as exported to the United States and Canada. It was taped in colour and starred international guests, often American. Prior to its British run, it was broadcast in North America by ABC as a summer replacement for re-runs of The Hollywood Palace under the title The Piccadilly Palace from May 20 to September 9, 1967. [1] The duo had appeared in the U.S. on a number of editions of The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS, and had hoped that the opportunity of a series on American television might lead to a breakthrough in their status there. However, negotiations for a longer run broke down when the show's ratings, although strong in Canada, proved disappointing in the United States. Lew Grade, who represented the comedians in the negotiations, said in his autobiography that the disappointing American ratings were a result of the comedians' refusal to slow down their fast-paced act. [8]
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of Walt Disney Television, a subsidiary of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, California on Riverside Drive, directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building.
In 1968, Lew Grade began negotiations for a new deal to retain Morecambe and Wise at ATV for another three years. However, at that time, the duo were anxious to take advantage of the technological advancements that were coming through in television, most notably the advent of colour. ATV at the time were not in a position to offer this and so, in spite of the financial package offered, Morecambe and Wise instead accepted an offer to return to the BBC. [6]
Beginning in 1993 a Best Of compilation of VHS videos totalling six volumes were released comprising material from all series, these omitted advertisement breaks and musical guest stars and did not always feature chronological sequences.
The first complete series titled Morecambe & Wise - Two Of A Kind : The Complete First Series on Region 2 was released on 18 August 2011 leading to some conjecture that it is in fact the second series (see above) but this is in fact the first series of Two Of A Kind.
The second complete series titled Morecambe & Wise - Two Of A Kind : The Complete Second Series is scheduled by Network DVD for official release is unknown.
Network released a DVD in 2016 of The Complete Series of the Two of a Kind canon containing 48 episodes from the first 4 series. The last series is mostly lost but two of the episodes, that were originally transmitted in colour, exist but in black and white and are featured on the 8th disk of this 8 DVD set which is full of extra appearances of the boys on various variety shows in the 50s and 60s.
