The flat sketches was brilliant. All of Eric and Ernies routines was gr8 but there routines in the flat was the best. There will not b another Eric and Ernie. Im sure your up in heaven making them laugh. RIP Guys
The Thames Television era are the ones that most Morecambe and Wise fans just ignore. There were nuggets of great material, but as Gary Morecambe, Eric's son said you had yo wade through a lot of terrible material, a lot of it rehashed from old BBC scripts to get to the nuggets, whereas when they were at the BBC most shows were solid and had some brilliant material. I remember the two 1978 Thames specials were actually excellent with very little rehashed material. It was from 1979 onwards that it went downhill, just after Eric's second heart attack and Eddie Braben their writer not joining the duo until late 1980.
@@vincentharriman3283 Their partnership never ended - Eric's death in 1984 ended the partnership - in fact according to Gary Morecambe, his dad was preparing to "reclaim Christmas Day back with their Christmas Show" - as Thames would control the networking of schedules for Christmas Day 1984 and they were preparing to do "occasional specials" during 1984, so there was no hint of them quitting.
Eric and Ernie were dissatisfied with the material they were given which, together with ongoing concerns over Eric's health, I believe caused them to decide to end their partnership.
@@vincentharriman3283 Not according to Gary Morecambe, son of Eric, who knew his dad better than anyone else - Gary said Ernie was fit and healthy and raring to go for regular specials in 1984. In fact after Christmas lunch in 1983, when he was sitting with his dad having a drink and chatting, he spoke to his son about the future. And Gary recommended they just did occasional specials, something which Thames Television actually had asked them for in their initial contract in 1978 - their first Thames contract was to do 4 specials during 1978 to 1979, they did two before Eric's massive heart attack. Eric liked the idea and Ernie would agree as it meant they would be working together, but less work. Instead of seven half hour episodes and a one hour Christmas show which amounted to 220 minutes of material per year, they would do three one hour specials a year, amounting to around 135 minutes of material per year.
Is this from a Thames show? The credits at the end have the 1980s 'neon' look. I have an episode from 1970 with Deryck Guyler, also eventually playing his washboard, though can tell this is a different one. IMDB don't seem to have this info either. Thanks for posting
This is from a 1970 episode shown on BBC2. It was the fourth episode of series 3. The other comedy guest star was Frank Thornton who would go on to appear in Are You Being Served? and the last few series of Last of the Summer Wine.
+Jade Rabet That's what two heart attacks and heart surgery does to you. He had chronic heart disease by this time, and sadly Eric would die only four years after this sketch aired.
His heart disease would take its toll on him though. Take a look at Eric say only 3 years before this in the 1977 Christmas Show and you can see how much has changed for him.
He had an enlarged heart during recording a 1983 sketch he had to go to hospital. He had a grey complexion and had gained weight all symptoms. God bless him he knew by then time was short
