Morecambe & Wise: The Lost Tapes

Having grown up watching repeats of them,I was happy to read that the lost first episode of The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968) had recently been found,and that ITV were airing a special dedicated to it,leading to me playing the lost tapes.

View on the doc:

From the handful of clips shown,Morecambe & Wise reveal that even at this early stage they were already masters of comic timing,with Eric Morecambe diving straight into hilarious physical Comedy,and Ernie Wise delivering his dead-pan one-liners with glee.

Billed as a celebration of the duo, director Simon Harries instead tries to make this special a tribute to the Celebrity Gogglebox series, via cutting away from the sketches, (broadcast for the first time in decades) in order to cutaway for extended periods to celebs laughing at the sketches,or most surprisingly,complaining how they are so not suitable,from a "2021 perspective" (yuck!)

Thankfully, along with the timeless quality of the original sketches, interviews with Eric Morecambe's family (Gary Morecambe looks so much like his dad) highlights the magic and the passion the duo put into their act for the audience,in order to bring them sunshine.