Eric and Ernie never failed to disappoint, as this was undoubtedly the most prestigious and lavish BBC production of its given year, with big star names, glossy musical numbers, elaborate production values, and guaranteed fun and entertainment. This was a programme that could turn TV viewing into a genuinely national and communal experience, alongside the other Xmas versions of top BBC light entertainment shows like The Generation Game, The Mike Yarwood Show, amd Top Of The Pops. This would be the proverbial icing on the cake after millions of families celebrated Christmas, giving their presents and enjoying their Christmas meal, where 20 million viewers or more would sit down with virtual tunnel-like vision for just over an hour from around 8 in the evening, expecting if not insisting to be amused and entertained by the nation's favourite funnymen. And we were.
Their final show for the BBC, in 1977, was poignant personally for several reasons. It of course marked the end of a classic era as the final M&W show for the corporation, the final truly happy Xmas I spent with close family as the sands of time began to catch up with my grandfather the following year (he would die in 1980; my grandmother two years later), and perhaps the last great hurrah for mainstream British TV humour, allegedly watched by over 28 million viewers, but the actual number has been disputed in recent years, reducing to as low as 21 million by other sources.The fast talking, saucy, variety-style humour did of course continue throughout the 80's and beyond, but alternative comedy was just round the corner, based more on mordant, anti-establishment, political and satirical elements, mainly performed by public school and university graduates who eschewed racist and sexist attitudes, but employed blatant vulgarity and profanity as a counterpoint. As it turned out, when Eric and Ernie moved to Thames TV, their shows lacked the production and writing quality than that of the BBC, and so began a steady decline, which was not painful to watch as they were still funny, but not as before as Eric's health was deteriorating after a second heart attack, and his timing was clearly less sharp, more blunted than their 70's peak. Other contemporaries such as Dick Emery and Tommy Cooper were also affected by declining health, as both died around the same period as Eric did in the early-mid 80's. Others such as Benny Hill were now looking outdated and anachronistic, and were even being publicly criticised by premier figures in the alternative scene like Ben Elton for deliberately bawdy badinage and stereotyped views of young women.
In the coming year, it will be 35 years since Eric's death, and 20 years since his partner Ernie's; their comic style rooted in the latter 20th Century. Having read various opinions and blogs in recent years, it is now obvious that Morecambe and Wise are still loved and appreciated, but not universally as they were four decades ago. It should be stated that many of their TV shows will appear very dated to Millennial audiences who will be a trifle baffled at the lack of deliberately crude and vulgar material and foul language, as they were never interested in making political or satirical statements, just simply wanting to make people laugh, with a dash of cheeky innuendo but no more allusions to edgier or explicit material, which made them ideal for mainstream, family humour, which has all but vanished from British TV screens in the 21st Century.
The first series they made for the BBC, in 1968, was written by their writers for their ITV series, Hills and Green, and most of the shows were lost until two full episodes were recently found in the African nation of Sierra Leone, of all places. Restored and colourised, they were shown on Boxing Day on BBC2 for the first time in 50 years, and reading the various comments made by reviewers and bloggers, not to universal acclaim, as the shows are more interesting historically than comedically.
Having now watched both, it is obvious that Hills and Green fell below the standards of the writer that would begin working for them the following year, Eddie Braben. Their comic characterisations are rather two dimensional and conventional; Eric is gauche and gormless and Ernie as the disapproving straight man. Another negative is the presence of Hills and Green themselves, who are dull, ineffectual foils and appear in several sketches, such as one set in a flat, where they would have been better being totally absent. The opening crosstalk two-handers aren't too bad, and Eric predictably handles some one liners with his usual aplomb, but this is definitely a case of the comedians in transitional mode as the material is often forced and drawn out (a fault of previous sketches in their ITV days), their characters still not properly developed, with some aimless, slapdash handling and for them, some rather atypical and dubious material, including a joke about a Jewish wedding and a full sketch about the IRA which would appear horribly misguided and outdated barely months later when the troubles began to really take a tragic hold in Northern Ireland. The production values also look very shoddy, as this was a period still before they truly became national superstars, as little money seems to have been spent with some very obvious gaps, and cracks, in the scenery.
One plus point is Michael Aspel, who gives an assured and confident performance in the kind of musical sketch which would be expanded and improved in the 70's; it is affected by the cheesy art direction that afflicts both shows. It is obvious Morecambe and Wise were just finding their feet at this time, as they were plenty of funny moments, but the best was yet to come, although not in a way that they would have liked, as Eric, who is seen to smoke cigarettes on a few occasions, had a major heart attack shortly after the first series finished, and Hills and Green, thinking that Eric would not be able to commit fully to another series, promptly resigned as their writers. Eddie Braben stepped into the fray and deepened their characterisations; Eric became less naive and a bit tougher; Ernie turned into a pompous, affected, egotistical playwright with delusions of grandeur. This led to sharper, more focused scripts, with more emphasis on character rather than jokes (although the latter was still heavily employed). The flat sketches now just had them instead of pointless interjections from Hills and Green, which strengthened the comedy considerably, even sharing a double bed as their inspirational heroes Laurel and Hardy did. Braben was the writer who found them their comic niche, and after a few stumbles along the way, the 1971 series with Glenda Jackson as Cleopatra, plus the same year's Xmas show with Andre Previn (or Preview) and Shirley Bassey had them really hitting their comic stride, and they kept this consistency going to high levels until they departed from the BBC, after the 1977 Xmas Show.
So these two shows from 1968 are an interesting historical document, though not consistently funny as they were still a few years from their artistic and comedic peak, but they are still worth a look with some fine moments, just brought down by the aforementioned disadvantages that would soon be ironed out and discarded by circumstances, some of them lucky but others not so, as Eric's heart trouble would continue to plague him and led to his untimely death in 1984, aged 58.
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