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.
Contents
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.