''Eric and Ernie'' is a 2011 British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

based on the early career of the British comic double-act

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, workin ...

. The film was produced by

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

, completed in 2010, and premiered on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

on 1 January 2011. It was watched by 6.65 million viewers. Since then, it has been repeated several times on

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

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 Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), ...

, 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 Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...

as Sadie Bartholomew, Eric's mother * Daniel Rigby as

Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew, (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's d ...

Bryan Dick Bryan Dick (born 1 February 1978Birthdayday (from Twitter)) is an English TV, stage and film actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Ernie Wise in the BBC's BAFTA-winning biopic of Morecambe and Wise, ''Eric and Ernie''. Career Aged 11 ...

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 Edward Michael Robbins (born 11 August 1955) is an English comic, actor, television presenter and radio broadcaster. He has performed as a warm-up artist for numerous pre-recorded comedy shows that have been filmed before live studio audiences i ...

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 Ronald Hartley Waldman (13 May 1914 – 10 March 1978) was a British radio presenter and television executive for the BBC. Biography Born in London, he was the eldest son of Michael Waldman OBE JP, a sometime Mayor of Hackney, and was educa ...

Alex Price Alex Price (born 8 May 1985) is a British actor who has appeared in various television programmes including '' Being Human'', ''Merlin'' and ''Doctor Who''. He starred in feature-length films, such as ''A Horse with No Name'', and in a variety ...

as Nigel, BBC writer * Stephen Aintree as Vernon Arnold * Martin Walsh as Fishmonger *

Angela Curran Angela Curran is an English actress, known for '' Death at a Funeral'' (2007), ''Jane Eyre'' (2011) and '' The Danish Girl'' (2015). In 2003, Curran had her own one woman show, ''Happy Talk'', broadcast on Radio 3. She appeared as security gu ...

as Edna, Sadie's friend *

Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, Edie Hart. The series aired on NBC from September 22, 1958, to 1960 and on ABC in 1960–1961. The seri ...

as Billy Crackers, warm-up comedian *

Carolynne Good Carolynne Willey (née Good; born 5 August 1980) is a British singer-songwriter, actress and former model from Leeds, England. She is a founding member of the Carolynne Good Band, based in Leeds and London. She is best known for finishing in ...

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 New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, south-east of Stockport and from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a deep gorge cut t ...

Art Theatre for the various theatre interior shots * O2 Apollo Manchester as

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...

for the filming of their first TV series '' Running Wild (1954 TV series)'' *

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

for the various outdoor shots *

Stockport Air Raid Shelters The Stockport Air Raid Shelters are a system of almost 1 mile of underground air-raid shelters dug under Stockport, six miles south of Manchester, during World War II to protect local inhabitants during air raids. Four sets of underground air r ...

* Morecambe Winter Gardens where Ernie performed his solo tap dance routines *

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

Victoria Baths Victoria Baths is a Grade II* listed building, in the Chorlton-on-Medlock area of Manchester, in northwest England. The Baths opened to the public in 1906 and cost £59,144 to build. Manchester City Council closed the baths in 1993 and the buildi ...

Awards

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

References

External links

*
TV review: ''Eric and Ernie''
on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

TV review: ''Eric and Ernie''
on

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

{{Victoria Wood 2011 television films 2011 films BBC television dramas British biographical films Films scored by Ilan Eshkeri Films set in 1938 Films set in 1940 Films set in 1941 Films set in 1942 Films set in 1943 Films set in 1946 Films set in 1954 Films set in Glasgow Films set in Lancashire Films set in London Films set in Manchester Morecambe and Wise Biographical films about entertainers Cultural depictions of comedians Cultural depictions of British people Films shot in Greater Manchester 2010s British films