Editing Eric Morecambe (section)

==Career==
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===Morecambe and Wise===
After the war, Morecambe and Wise began performing on stage and radio and secured a contract with the [[BBC]] to make a television show, where they started the short-lived show ''[[Running Wild (1954 TV series)|Running Wild]]'' in 1954, which was poorly received. They returned to the stage to hone their act, and later made appearances on ''[[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]]'' and ''[[Double Six (TV series)|Double Six]]''.<ref>{{IMDb title |id=tt5280068 |title=Double Six}}</ref>

===''Two of a Kind'': 1961–1968===
In 1961, [[Lew Grade]] offered the duo a series for the London-based [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] station [[Associated Television|ATV]]. Entitled ''[[Two of a Kind (UK TV series)|Two of a Kind]]'', it was written by [[Dick Hills and Sid Green]]. An [[British Actors' Equity Association|Equity]] strike halted that show, but Morecambe and Wise were members of the Variety Artists' Federation, then a separate trade union unaffiliated with Equity. Green and Hills later appeared in the series as "Sid" and "Dick".

The sixth Morecambe and Wise series for ATV was planned from the start to be aired in the United Kingdom as well as exported to the United States and Canada. It was taped in colour and starred international guests, often American. Prior to its British run, it was broadcast in North America by the ABC network as a summer replacement for re-runs of ''[[The Hollywood Palace]]'', under the title ''The Piccadilly Palace'', from 20 May to 9 September 1967. All but two episodes of this series are now believed to be lost, with the surviving two episodes existing only as black-and-white copies, bearing the UK titles.

The duo had appeared in the US on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. In 1968, Morecambe and Wise left ATV to return to the BBC.

===With the BBC: 1968–1978===
While Morecambe was recuperating from a heart attack, Hills and Green, who believed that Morecambe would probably never work again, quit as writers. Morecambe and Wise were in [[Barbados]] at the time and learned of their writers' departure only from the steward on the plane. [[John Ammonds]], the show's producer, replaced Hills and Green with [[Eddie Braben]]. Theatre critic [[Kenneth Tynan]] stated, Braben made Wise's character a comic who was not funny, while Morecambe became a straight man who was funny. Braben made them less hostile to one another.

Morecambe and Wise did annual [[BBC]] Christmas shows from 1968 to 1977, with the 1977 show having an estimated audience of 28,385,000, although at a time when there were only three UK television channels.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/17/eric-morecambe-son-gary "Eric Morecambe: Growing up with a comic legend"], ''The Guardian'', 17 October 2009</ref> They were one of the most prominent comedy duos in [[British popular culture]] and in 1976 were both appointed [[British honours system|OBEs]]. (Morecambe's wife, Joan, received an OBE in 2015 for her work with children's charities.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/news/local/royal-nod-for-eric-morecambe-s-widow-1-7232756|title=Royal nod for Eric Morecambe's widow|publisher=thevisitor.co.uk}}</ref>

===With Thames Television: 1978–1983===
The pair left the BBC for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in January 1978, signing a contract with the London station [[Thames Television]].

Morecambe suffered a second heart attack at his home in [[Harpenden]], [[Hertfordshire]], on 15 March 1979; this led to a [[heart bypass]] operation, performed by [[Magdi Yacoub]] on 25 June 1979. At that time, Morecambe was told he only had three months to live.<ref>TVAM interview with Morecambe, 18 April 1984</ref>

Morecambe increasingly wanted to move away from the double act, and into writing and playing other roles. In 1980, he played the "Funny Uncle" in a dramatisation of the [[John Betjeman]] poem "Indoor Games Near Newbury", part of an ITV special titled ''Betjeman's Britain''. Produced and directed by Charles Wallace, it spawned the start of a working relationship that led to a follow-up in 1981 for [[Paramount Pictures]] titled ''Late Flowering Love'' in which Morecambe played an [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] major.{{cn|date=April 2023}} The film was released in the UK with ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''. In 1981, Morecambe published ''Mr Lonely'', a [[tragicomedy|tragicomic novel]] about a stand-up comedian. He began to focus more on writing.

They also appeared together recalling their music hall days in a one-hour special on ITV on 2 March 1983, called ''Eric & Ernie's Variety Days''. During this time Morecambe published two other novels: ''The Reluctant Vampire'' (1982) and its sequel, ''The Vampire's Revenge'' (1983). Morecambe and Wise's final show together was the 1983 Christmas special for ITV.

Morecambe and Wise worked on a television movie in 1983, ''[[Night Train to Murder]]'', which was broadcast on ITV in January 1985. Continuing his collaboration with Wallace, Morecambe also acted in a [[Short film|short]] comedy film called ''[[The Passionate Pilgrim (1984 film)|The Passionate Pilgrim]]'' opposite [[Tom Baker]] and [[Madeline Smith]], again directed by Wallace for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA]]. It was released in the cinema with the James Bond film ''[[Octopussy]]'' and later with ''[[WarGames]]''. Wallace and Morecambe were halfway through filming a fourth film when Morecambe died. It was never completed.