Sykes (TV Series)

''Sykes'' is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1972 to 1979. Starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques, it was written by Sykes, who had previously starred with Jacques in '' Sykes and a...'' (1960–1965) and '' Sykes and a Big, Big Show'' (1971). Forty-three of the 1970s colour episodes were remakes of scripts for the 1960s black and white series, such as "Bus" based on "Sykes and a Following" from 1964 and the episode "Stranger" with Peter Sellers based on "Sykes and a Stranger" from 1961.

''Sykes'' had the same premise as ''Sykes and a...'' with Sykes, Jacques, Richard Wattis and Deryck Guyler reprising their former identical roles. The series was brought to an end by the death of Hattie Jacques of a heart attack on 6 October 1980.

Cast

*Eric Sykes – Himself
* Hattie Jacques – Harriet (Hat) Sykes
*Richard Wattis – Charles Fulbright-Brown (series 1–3)
*Deryck Guyler – PC Corky Turnbull
* Joy Harington – Melody Rumbelow
*Joan Sims – Madge Kettlewell

Plot

With the same premise as ''Sykes and a...'', unmarried twins Eric and Harriet (Hat) Sykes are now living at an end of terrace house, 28 Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton, two doors down from their house in the previous programme. As before, Eric is childish and accident-prone while Hattie is patient. Their neighbour is the snobbish unmarried Charles Fulbright-Brown, and PC Corky Turnbull is the local policeman. Corky's wife, Elsie, is unseen, except for two episodes, "Caravan", in which she appears with her face covered in porridge during a food fight between Corky and Eric, and "Holiday Camp", when the back of her head is shown going into the Ghost Train ride, and later on asleep and passing wind in bed. Deryck Guyler also played Corky's brother Wilfred Turnbull, a train attendant on the Glasgow to London sleeper train, in the episode "Journey". He also played another relative, bus inspector Norman Burnside in "Bus".

Following the death of Richard Wattis in 1975, a new neighbour, Melody Rumbelow, moves in. The local baker is the widowed Madge Kettlewell (Joan Sims), who appears occasionally, and who fancies Eric. She is first seen in the episode "Football". Eric and Hattie are also the owners of a cuckoo clock, naming the very temperamental bird inside Peter. Both speak to it as if it were a real bird, and a great deal of comedy derives from the antagonistic and sarcastic "conversation" between Eric and Peter.

Episodes

Series 1 (1972)

Series 2 (1973)

Series 3 (1974)

Series 4 (1975)

Series 5 (1976)

Christmas Special (1977)

Series 6 (1978)

Series 7 (1979)

DVD releases

The first series of ''Sykes'' was released on DVD in the UK ( Region 2) in 2004. Several episodes in this set were reassembled from the original studio sessions rather than the broadcast masters. This not only yielded better quality, but also allowed scenes that had been cut for timing purposes to be restored, and for outtakes to be included as extras. Conversely, since the colour videotape of the episode "Journey" had been wiped this episode was taken from a black and white copy. A brief featurette explains some of the restoration techniques employed.

A Complete Series DVD set (containing all 68 episodes) was released on 26 June 2017. Series 1 is represented by the remastered episodes and featurettes from the previous set. The rest of the episodes do not exhibit the same level of remastering, although some of them do appear to be extended versions.

References

;Specific

;General
''Sykes''
at British TV Comedy

External links

*
*{{IMDb title, 0071060

1972 British television series debuts
1979 British television series endings
1970s British sitcoms
BBC television sitcoms
British English-language television shows
Television shows set in London