Morecambe and Wise top the bill in this Christmas edition of the long-running BBC music hall series, recorded at the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds. Also appearing: Betty Jumel, Cardew Robinson, Smoothey & Layton, The Manton Brothers, Patricia Bredin, The Great Norberti
Acker Bilk
Pen and Paper, Alcoholics Anonymous, Boxing Match, Cossack dancing, Pilbroch bla - folk singers, Solid door
The Flintrocks, Scientific lecture and paper bag, Soccer Players, Fear of flying, Alice in wonderland
Dr Kildare, Tape recorder, Shocking version of Granada, Snooker, Impressions, Battering ram.
Supercar, Eric's dictionary, Chinese restaurant, Julius Caeser, More of Eric's impressions, lots of doors
Pick Your Luck, Who should start the show - double headed coin, Snap, Zoo Quest - Eric back from South America, One man black and white minstrel, Train behind door
Dick of Doxon Green, Magic Moments with doves, Eric at the piano - Honeysuckle Rose, Pick of the ladies. Illusionist - Sawing a woman in half and levitation, Door and magic lamp
Candid Snaps, The Twist, Scottish Soldiers, Cleopatra in modern dress, Escapology, Drawbridge door
76 Sunset strip, After the party and songs, Boom Oo Yatta-ta-ta, The Sheik - silent film, Charles Laughton in Mutiny On The Bounty, Revolving door
Naked Village, Stunt acting, Telstar link to America, Wearing glasses, Lincoln impression. Ladies toilet door. Episodes 10-13 were recorded after episode 9 but transmitted before, to extend the series. Production 9 has moved to Episode 13 in Broadcast and Production 10-13 moved up one.
Mystery Tales, Glasses (no glass), Pas de Deux Ballet, Cards - Carlotta, Abraham Lincoln, Automatic door
Y Cars, Pruning rare plant, East of West Side Story, Party Games Hide and Seek, Folk Singers - Frederik and Nina, Long drop
Face to Face, Eric's Pipe, New Talent, French Film - naked girl under caot, Hollywood song medley - Eric gets wet, Waterfall
Juke Box Judges, Eric's acting bits, Latin-American music, Courtroom drama, Open door. This was recorded before episodes 10-13 but transmitted last
Coming on Together, Xylophone Duet, Washing Machine, Samson Morecambe
Stop Smoking, Puppet Theatre, Peter and the Wolf, Samsons Haircut
Ventriloquist, Card Shark, Singing with a Radio Mike
Holiday Slides, Inconvenient Phone Call, Hamlet, Dance of Six Veils
Fat Lady in the Audience, Battle of Wellington, Come Dancing, Flying Doctor
Eric's Glasses, Louis XIV glasses, Putting on the Ritz, General Custer's Last Stand
Matchstick Tower, Roulette System, Grieg Piano Concerto, Alice and the Cheshire Cat
Roy Castle intro, Three blind mice, Roy admires Ernie's act, Artist's model, Roy in the act
Newspaper test, String quartet, Macbeth, In a cell for 40 years
Inland revenue, European trade, Seven brides for seven brothers, Nero fiddles while Rome burns
Eric at a cocktail party remembering names, The Blues, Beau Gest, Snow White
Dogs, Eric's new suit, Wunderbar song, Gunga Din
Door to door sales, Juggling, Boating song, Isaac Newton
Japanese stick dance, Chess, Sleeping
Pickpockets, 'Touch Of Your Lips' routine, Twenties medley, Childhood
Sketches: Purple ogled warbler, Film sketch, Food connoisseurs The Beatles sing I Want To Hold Your Hand, All My Loving and This Boy, plus Moonlight Bay with Morecambe and Wise.
Seance, Eric's Yo-Yo, Battery hen, Great composers
Eric's wig, Piano, More wigs
Eric's Invention, Sand dance, Custard pies
Garden and the nudists, Missing sausage, The Mounties
Eric has a Cold, Merrie Olde England, Decimal coins, Wrestling
DJ Record / desert island, Railway dinning car
Life in the modern army, Three stools, Acrobatics
Satire, Opera, TV Prize money shows, Camp fire
Wrong suits, Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, Gooseberry, Boom Oo Yattatata
Extras, Eric and Ern dance with Susan, Behind the scenes, Swashbucklers
Adam and Eve, Granny Smiths, Ossie Owl and Furry Fred
Photography, Lilli Marlene, Eric joins the singers
The Man From Uncle, Sunflowers
Guard dog, Moonlight Becomes You, Gravity
How to sue - forgetful witness, Musical act, Famous painting
Talking dog, Spanish dancing, Radio (non-existent camel)
One-Upmanship, Fairy tales, Eric and Ern join the King Brothers
Bells of St Mary's - Musical glasses, Creepy crawlies, Bell ringing
Home from the Wars, School Days, Four Clarke Sisters, Wife home from the Wars. --Herman's Hermits sing This Door Swings Both Ways
Western medley: "Wagon Wheels," "Ol Faithful" and "On Top of Old Smokey" Known as Piccadilly Palace in the USA. Ep05 17 Jun 67 Aired 29-Jul-1967 (US - "Piccadilly Palace" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 1-Oct-1967 (UK - "The Morecambe & Wise Show" ATV, b/w)
Music: --The Small Faces - ""I Can't Make It"" & ""All or Nothing"" --Bobby Rydell - ""The Impossible Dream"" & ""The Joker"" --Millicent Martin - ""The Day the Circus Left Town"" (with the Paddy Stone Dancers) Morecambe and Wise comedy sketches: --A parody of Adagio dancers --A spoof of a popular soap opera Aired 03-Jun-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC, colour) Aired 22-Oct-1967 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --The Hollies - ""On a Carousel"" & ""Stop, Stop, Stop"" --Tom Jones - ""That Old Black Magic"" and ""Detroit City"" --Millicent Martin - ""Fever"" and ""Eleanor Rigby"" Morecambe and Wise comedy sketches: --A pie throwing demonstration --The problems of the nearsighted Aired 27-May-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 12-Nov-1967 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --Manfred Mann - ""Ha Ha, Said the Clown"" & ""Just Like a Woman"" --George Maharis - ""Baby Has Gone Bye-Bye"" & ""All Right, OK, You Win"" --Millicent Martin - ""Singin' in the Rain"" & ""Make It Easy on Yourself"" Morecambe and Wise comedy sketches: --The duo play figures on a Greek vase --A look at English village life Aired 01-Jul-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 10-Dec-1967 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --Frankie Avalon - ""I Could Write a Book"" & ""What Is This Thing Called Love?"" --The New Vaudeville Band - ""If I Had a Talking Picture of You"" and ""Finchley Central"" --Millicent Martin - ""Window Wishin'"" Morecambe and Wise comedy segments: --A version of Grieg's Concerto in A Minor --Impressions of Samson and Delilah, Julius Caesar Aired 15-Jul-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 31-Dec-1967 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --The Moody Blues - ""Fly Me High"" & ""Really Haven't Got the Time"" --Tommy Leonetti - ""Once Upon A Time"" and ""This is the Life"" --Millicent Martin - ""Light Another Cigarette"" Comedy: --Morecambe and Wise spoof Hollywood westerns and musicals. Aired 22-Jul-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 14-Jan-1968 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --Peter Nero (pianist) - ""A Walk in the Black Forest"" & ""Variations on a Theme"" --The Tremeloes - ""Silence Is Golden"" & ""Here Comes My Baby"" --Millicent Martin - ""How Insensitive"" & ""Coronet Man"" Comedy: --Morecambe & Wise parody silent films --Eric Morecambe joins Peter Nero for a piano duet. Aired 12-Aug-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 4-Feb-1968 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --Eric Burdon & the Animals - ""When I Was Young"" & ""Good Times"" --Gene Pitney - ""Town without Pity"" & ""On the Street Where You Live"" --Millicent Martin - ""Something Missing Now"" --Millicent Martin (with the Paddy Stone Dancers) - ""Running Wild"" Comedy: --Gladys Whitred joins Morecambe and Wise for a selection of arias. --Millicent Martin does an apache dance with Morecambe and Wise Aired 5-Aug-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 25-Feb-1968 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Music: --Georgie Fame - ""Sweet Thing"" & ""Funny How Time Slips Away"" --Bobby Vinton - ""Mr. Lonely,"" ""To Life"" and ""Sunrise, Sunset"" --Millicent Martin - ""You're Gonna Hear from Me"" Morecambe and Wise comedy: --An Arabian sheik's first impressions of London. --A parody of pop singing groups (with Morecambe & Wise and the show's writers) Aired 24-Jun-1967 (US - ""Piccadilly Palace"" ABC-TV, colour) Aired 17-Mar-1968 (UK - ""The Morecambe & Wise Show"" ATV, b/w)
Peter and the Wolf, East Side Story. 01 Known as Piccadilly Palace in the USA. Ep01 20 May 67
Music: --The Kinks - "Dandy" & "Well-Respected Man." --Engelbert Humperdinck - "Release Me" and "Country Girl." --Millicent Martin - "Call Me." Comedy: --Morecambe and Wise take a flight in a model airplane and do a ventriloquist act. Known as Piccadilly Palace in the USA. Ep09 29 Jul 67
Guests: Sid Green, Dick Hills, Georgia Brown, Los Zafiros. Sketches: Topical jokes. Old Mexican love song. Gibberish
Very low-res compilation of stills extracted by x-ray from decomposed telerecording. With Acker Bilk, Roy Budd. Sketches: Miming, Bodgers and Hammerhead. Booboo the stripper.
With Trio Athinee, Paper Dolls. Sketches: Party at Harpenden, Boxing, Nudist camp
With Bruce Forsyth, Kenny Ball. Sketches: Bruce Forsyth and the Commissionaires, Backing for Bruce
Instant camera, Irish sketch, Old Donegal
Teaching Eric golf, Shadowgraphs, The Desert Song
Sailing around the world, Eric and the pools, Hollywood musical
With Matt Munro, Kenny Ball. Sketches: Wrong trousers, Road to Gateshead
Robin Catbush and Phyliss Ludicrous, Table Tennis, Lady Doctor, Tortoise after hybernation, Monks, Frankie Vaughan, Introducing Peter Cushing, King Arthur
Ernie's unseen facet, Monks ice cream, Crisps in bed, Leaving the cinema, Richard Wagner at work, Elgar at work, Birdwatching, Complete works of Shakespeare
Palm reading, Monks cutting wood, Ern's Au Pair, Marlene Deiatric tribute, Rosie Morecambe and Fanny Wise, Marlene Deiatric 2, Frankie Vaughan 2, Introducing Juliet Mills, The Tea Planters Wife
Lucky talisman, Monks at the organ, In the drawers of the flat, Monks Hoopla, Peter Cushing wants paying, Danny La Rue unfrocked, Monks down with drink, Introducing Edward Woodward, Murder at the Grange
Ernie gets with it, Cleaning windows, Taking a bath, Monks feeding ducks, Large Xmas tree, Huge ventriloquist dummy, Monks playing pinball, Fenella's flat, Trafalgar
Ern the baggy pants comic, Ticket clipper, In bed: the secret of long life, Monks smoking, The world’s strongest man, Lost voice, Record shop, Ernie is getting married
The permissive show, Edward Chapman introduction, Trouble At Mill, A Shot In The Dark, Whistling at bus stop, Monks: shopping, Princess Anne
Ernie gets with it, Playing in the park, Ernie takes a bath, Window-cleaning, See you at seven, visiting Fenella Fielding, Monks: feeding the birds, Bowling, Nelson And Lady Hamilton. (This is the 1969 Christmas show re-edited with some new material.)
Eric’s wig, Meeting Diane Cilento for dinner, At the cinema, Soaking feet, Play introduction, The Barrats Of Wimpole Street
Ernie’s award, Ernie leaves, Passing the joke, Buskers, Monks: the epilogue, Routine with Nina, Ian Carmichael introduction, Frankenstein’s Monster
Exchanging trousers, Banana boat, Powerful binoculars, Enormous ventriloquist doll
Ernie the scout, The Nose Blowers, Trying to sleep/Richard Greene, Love In A Mist, Pocket radio, Monks: dancing, Richard Greene introduction, The Lost Valley
This Is Your Life, Moon landing, It’s over between us, Eric Porter’s dressing room, Tarzan’s last adventure, Six weeks to live, Bill-posting, The glove puppet, Monks: 007, Wuthering Heights
Fox hunting, Record shop: bird calls, Visiting Eric’s parents, Three in a bed, Boarding house, In the park with baby, Telephone clock, Barbers shop, Frankie Vaughan’s son, Monks: sign posts, Pregnant lady calls for Ernie
Health food, Contagious disease, Underwear shop, Miss Holiday resort, Nina’s cake, Monks: pay day, Writing in bed
Ernie’s ballet Accident, Christening, Fenella Fielding comes to the flat, Directions from a policeman, The big record, Monks: dice, Sing Something Simple, I’ll See You Again
The stool, The diet, Messing up Ernie’s plays/famous guest stars, Ticket collector, The drama critic, Monks: the organ, Barbara Murray introduction, There’s No Business Like Big Business, Politicians
Previously considered lost, a b/w copy of this episode was discovered round 2020 and re-colourised by the BBC. It was transmitted it its restored form at Christmas 2021. Originally transmitted as a curtain-raiser to a repeat run of Morecambe and Wise shows in a new midweek slot on BBC1, it opens with the "moustache seeds" sketch that appeared on a BBC LP released at around this time. Unusually, all the guest artistes are singers and do not take part in sketches. Main guest is Paul Anka.
Christmas presents - musical watch, Legionnaire in washroom, Economy Petrol (1), Sawing Peter Cushing in half, Christmas dinner with Ann Hamilton, Economy Petrol (2), Magic trick/Eric Porter, Economy Petrol (3), Long John Silver, Rabbit shooting, Economy Petrol (4), Not John Wayne, Duck hunters, Edward Woodward introduction, Edward want to sing, Economy Petrol (5), William Franklyn introduction, The Three Musketeers, Following You Around, Economy Petrol (6)
Piano: sixty seconds; Employment office; Shoes; Impressing Flora Robson; Queen Elizabeth The First Of England part one; Draughts; Talking doll
Arthur Lowe meets Janet Webb, Marriage guidance, Ernie Wise sings, Going up to the flat, The facts of life, Out with baby, Piano: whizzing creature, Pulpit: accordion, Play introduction, Monty On The Bonty
Eric’s replacement, Monks; no talking, The Connoisseurs: antiques, Milk, Falling dream, Coming-and-going illness, Jewellery shop, Boarding ramp, The fellow writer
Modelling Ern's body, Wind, Record shop, Love letters, Dracula books a room, Goodbye, Harmonicas and Arthur Tolcher, The Invisible Man, Nasty thing flu
Ernie’s retirement, Train compartment full of vicars, No more lettuce, Glenda Jackson visits the flat, Felling safe, Antony & Cleopatra
Ernie’s education - 23 A leves, The Return Of Sherlock Holmes, Wig shop, Fed-up and listless, Police visit, Hands across the table, Jake The Peg, Ian Carmichael introduction, Murder In Mayfair
Newspaper review, Piano: explodes, Multilingual Hotel, Pulpit: personal prayer, Fishing, The reversals, Going to Hollywood - Bobe Hope's scriptwriter
This episode is misplaced - it should be series 12 ep.7
Eric's new tape recorder; the book shop: The Language Of Birds; The House Of Terror
Doom and disaster; Submarine; Whistling; Bobo the glove puppet; Accident at work; The Legion Of The Lost
Eric buys a painting; ten years hence - life in 1981; Record contract; Gardeners' world
Eric receives a threatening letter; Top Of The Form; Fruitcake; Autographed banana; Escape From Stalag 54
Great Men Of Our Time; Car accessory shop; The Brian Rix Trousers Down Competition; Leg rejuvenating machine; Milkman; Sunday papers and spot the ball
Family tree; Cement buckets; Wife's fancy man; Eric's dog; Dentist; Trying to work; Ernie's memoires
Vintage festive fun from the comedy duo. Guests include Glenda Jackson, Shirley Bassey, Dick Emery and Patrick Moore.
Practical jokes, Reindeers, Impersonations, Backing singers, Dawn Patrol, Memory Lane, Victoria and Albert
Pop star Cliff Richard visits the flat, interrupting Eric's painting of his model Spitfire; the scene concludes with the three appearing as sailors for one of their most memorable routines based on The Fleet's In Town ending with Morecambe stepping off the ship; Playschool parody.
Culture poetry and music, Piano: no hands, Fired from a cannon, Piano; reflection, Finding a guest star, The Curse Of Tutankhamen
The inured bird, Getting a violin for the Harpenden String Quartet, The Harpenden String Quartet, Bully on the bench, Nelson, Lulu introduction, Dance routine with Lulu, Summer in the garden with Percy Edwards / bird calls
Eric’s engagement, Copper’s nark, Eurovision Mucky Poem Competition with Susan Hampshire, Ernie sees a girl home, Eric gets caught in a rope, The Mighty Kong
The Jacobean television set, Frank Finlay introduction, The pipe man, Record shop: anniversary present, Frank Finlay, Lust Over London, Frank Finlay tells a joke
Ernie’s bicentenary, Doing things together at the doctors, On the beach (1), First class rail travel, The gypsy, On the beach (2), The Connoisseurs: chips, Ernie wants to get fit - health shop
Mr Memory, Soap advert, Pretty baby song, Greeting card poetry, Northwest frontier of India 1890
Eric's mucky movie club, Historical tree, Hollywood party impressions, Byron meets Keats, Memories of school, Ernie's legacy - the bank manager
Ernie’s birthday, Cricket, Marriage ceremony, Shopping in the supremarket with Hannah Gordon, Hannah Gordon getting the script, The Moon And 2 1/2p
Eric’s wig, Buying a television, Roy Castle is Ernie’s new partner, Director Ernie Wise/Roy Castle visits, Side By Side with Roy Castle, The poacher, The film set, Call of the Yukon
Eric leaves the rat race, Superior Cigars, The Sooty Show, Car racing, Ernie’s birth certificate, Greek dancing, Eric has nothing to do in the evening, Ernie’s new routine for Eric introduction
Star quality and Ern's autograph, Ernest Wise reads Dickens, Mind-reading act, Peter Cushing arrives for his fee, We’ll Walk Up The Avenue routine, The confrontation (the new partner), Peter Cushing
Kettle drums, Lord Ern of Peterborough, Minute waltz, Andre Previn, John Hanson introduction, ‘Give Me Some Men’ routine, Rudolf Nureyev, Hannah Gordon introduction, Windmills Of Your Mind, Yehudi Menuhin, Draught in the bedroom, Vanessa Redgrave introduction, Spanish dancing, Laurence Olivier, Play introduction, Napoleon And Josephine
Watch for Ernie, Toy football, Mornin Standard, The pound, Elton John arriving, Curtains, Play a simple melody, Singing in the rain, Elton to replace Eric, Mata Hari, Angela Rippon dance
Starkers and Krutch, Names in lights, Eric's puppy, Poldark, Cornshire romance, Moving house, Nothing like a dame, Penelope meets Derek Moron, Cyrano De Bergerac, Penelope Keith on the stairs, Elton and the cleaning ladies
After no regular shows at all in 1975 and no Christmas Show in 1974 the pair made a welcome return with a memorable festive offering penned by Eddie Braben; the opening routine which features the much maligned Des O'Connor is the most repeated piece of material still today, aside from Grieg's Piano Concerto from 1971. The show concludes with the historical romp Nell Gwynne which is a brilliant finale to the show and features the first location shots used for an end-of-show play with Diana Rigg in the title role and Gordon Jackson parodying his own character from Upstairs, Downstairs effectively. The show is interspersed with Robin Day who, over the course of the programme has his "friendly" discussion turned into a brawl, at the end of the programme, as Morecambe and Wise close with the song Positive Thinking, he is seen to stagger past with the aid of a walking stick. The show also features a parody of Big Spender with the two as dancers.
Ern's Gala Night and Impressions, Eric's leaving the hussle of city life, Ern watching TV, Mastermind barber, Songs of the highlands, Special Branch Nun, His tobacco, Wogan in the flat - new record
Intro - Evil Eric - the biker, Introducing Hannah Gordon, Banana Boat Song, Leg Bell Ringing, Flat - fellow writer
Intro - Dave Prowse - rent-a-giant, A life in shoes, TV Shop, Chinese Restaurant, Focus On The Arts, Doctor Sketch - lost voice, Flat - Eric's had a bath and is bored
intro - This Is Your Life, Doctor waiting room, Multi Language Hotel, Police Force Snap, Uncle Eric and his glove puppet, Ping Pong, Flat - Eric and Ern's early days
Intro - Eric buys a Jasper Rawling painting, Marlene Dietrich Story, Neighbours milk note, New Police dog, Marlene Dietrich Story 2, Travel Agent, Suzanne Danielle in the flat playing a fellow writer, Tessa Wyatt in front of the curtains
Intro - Mr Fantastic - Quiz King, Window cleaner, Foreign Legion, Legionnaires in the toilet, Flat - Ern's Au Pair, Gemma Craven in front of the curtains
Carrol singers, Gigantic wallet, Bully on the bench, Introducing Jill Gascoigne, Jill comes for Xmas dinner, Dancing Police, Carrol singers, Eric the Peg, Goodbye to Glenda, Ventriloquist with laryngitis, Peter Cushing wants paying, Double act at the psychiatrist, Carrol singers, Introducing Hannah Gordon and Peter Barkworth, Hamlet, Can Alec sing?, Sunshine - Alec in raincoat, Peter Cushing finally gets paid
Penelope Keith throws a spotlight on Eric and Ernie's passion for music with a waltz through the archives, showcasing the most brilliant Morecambe & Wise routines and unearthing the stories behind them.
A short sketch recorded at the Prince of Wales Theatre on November 6, 1961, and transmitted six days later. With Bruce Forsyth and Arthur Haynes.
Starring David Whitfield
With Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin
Boxing Day Special, "This Particular Shjow", starring Tommy Steele
Complete show, with Paul Robeson, Emile Ford, Max Jaffa
Morecambe and Wise perform their karate sketch at the London Palladium, in the final 1961 edition of this series
