Eric and Ernie is a 2011 British television drama film based on the early career of the British comic double-act Morecambe and Wise.[1] The film was produced by BBC Wales, completed in 2010, and premiered on BBC Two on 1 January 2011.[2] It was watched by 6.65 million viewers. Since then, it has been repeated several times on Gold.

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Eric and Ernie
DVD cover
Genre	Drama
Based on	An idea by Victoria Wood
Written by	Peter Bowker
Directed by	Jonny Campbell
Starring	Daniel Rigby Bryan Dick Victoria Wood Reece Shearsmith Jim Moir Emer Kenny Hannah Steele
Music by	Ilan Eshkeri
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Piers Wenger Beth Willis Victoria Wood
Producer	Tim Bricknell
Cinematography	Tony Slater Ling
Editor	Jamie Pearson
Running time	89 minutes
Production companies	BBC Wales Blue Door Adventures
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Original release	1 January 2011 (2011-01-01)

Plotline

Several years before World War II, Ernie Wiseman, a precocious and confident child performer, is signed up by influential impresario Jack Hylton. In Morecambe, pushy stage mother Sadie Bartholomew drags her slightly reluctant son Eric, an eccentric dancer, from one audition to the next until he too is employed by Hylton. At first glance the boys do not initially get on but Sadie sees a way to use their cross-talk to form a bantering double act, originally known as Bartholomew and Wise. But as time goes on, Sadie comes to the conclusion that their name is stopping them from getting noticed, so after reading the local newspaper, The Morecambe Visitor, she suggests that they should change their name to Morecambe and Wise.

After war service they become successful on stage and on radio but their attempt to crack the new medium of television is a disaster because they have been forced to accept a script which will make their Northernness acceptable to Southern viewers. As a result, the duo go their own ways and split up. However, Sadie knows that their formula will work and pushes Eric, now married to dancer Joan, into contacting Ernie, who is married to dancer Doreen. They decide to reform, and to completely rewrite their own act that would become one of the most successful performing duos ever in British comedy.

Cast

In credits order:

• Victoria Wood as Sadie Bartholomew, Eric's mother
• Daniel Rigby as Eric Morecambe
• Bryan Dick as Ernie Wise
• Jim Moir[3] as George Bartholomew, Eric's father
• Reece Shearsmith as Harry Wiseman, Ernie's father
• Emer Kenny as Joan Bartlett, Eric's wife
• Hannah Steele as Doreen Blythe, Ernie's wife
• Josh Benson as Little Ernie
• Thomas Atkinson as Little Eric
• Thomas Aldersley as Club MC
• Ted Robbins as Jack Hylton
• Jonah Lees as Young Eric
• Harry McEntire as Young Ernie
• Ria Jones as Boarding House Landlady
• Pam Shaw as Lily
• Esmé Bianco as Naked Showgirl
• Andrew Greenough as Gordon Noval, Eric and Ernie's manager
• Marcus Taylor as Stage Door Keeper #1
• Lee Oakes as Stage Door Keeper #2
• Fine Time Fontayne as Stage Door Keeper #3
• Robert Willox as Doug, Glasgow Empire stage door keeper
• Ian Ross-Henderson as Glasgow Empire Heckler
• Julian Wadham as Ronnie Waldman
• Alex Price as Nigel, BBC writer
• Stephen Aintree as Vernon Arnold
• Martin Walsh as Fishmonger
• Angela Curran as Edna, Sadie's friend
• Peter Gunn as Billy Crackers, warm-up comedian
• Carolynne Good as Girl from Vasaria, in TV sketch
• Clara Darcy as Theatre Usherette
• Nicky P. Smalley as audience members

Filming locations

Amongst the locations used for filming include:-

• Stockport Plaza and New Mills Art Theatre for the various theatre interior shots
• O2 Apollo Manchester as Shepherd's Bush Empire for the filming of their first TV series Running Wild (1954 TV series)
• Stockport for the various outdoor shots
• Stockport Air Raid Shelters[4]
• Morecambe
• Morecambe Winter Gardens where Ernie performed his solo tap dance routines
• East Lancashire Railway
• Victoria Baths

Awards

Daniel Rigby won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor at the 2011 BAFTAs for his performance as Eric Morecambe.[5]

References

External links

• Eric and Ernie at IMDb
• TV review: Eric and Ernie on The Guardian
• TV review: Eric and Ernie on The Independent