Eric & Ernie (2011)

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

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 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

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

Morecambe

Morecambe Winter Gardens where Ernie performed his solo tap dance routines

East Lancashire Railway

Victoria Baths

Freemasons Hall Manchester

Awards

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

References

External links

Eric and Ernie at IMDb

TV review: Eric and Ernie on The Guardian

TV review: Eric and Ernie on The Independent