In the run-up to World War Two Ernie Wiseman,a precocious and confident child performer is signed up by influential impresario Jack Parnell. In Morecambe pushy stage mum Sadie Bartholomew drags her slightly reluctant son Eric,an eccentric dancer, from one audition to the next until he too becomes a client of Hylton. The boys do not get on at first but Sadie sees a way to exploit their cross-talk and they form a bantering double act as 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. They split up. Sadie,however,knows the formula that once worked and pushes Eric,now married to dancer Joan,into contacting Ernie. They decide to reform,on their own terms,into the act that would become one of the most successful television pairings ever.
| Release Date: | Jan 2011 |
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| Genre: | Drama |
| Cast: | Victoria Wood (Sadie Bartholomew), Daniel Rigby (Eric Morecambe), Bryan Dick (Ernie Wise), Vic Reeves (George Bartholomew), Reece Shearsmith (Harry Wiseman), Julian Wadham (Ronnie Waldman), Ted Robbins (Jack Hylton), Emer Kenny (Joan Bartlett), Hannah Steele (Doreen), Josh Benson (Little Ernie), Thomas Atkinson (Little Eric), Thomas Aldersley (MC), Jonah Lees (Young Eric), Harry McEntire (Young Ernie), Ria Jones (Landlady), Pam Shaw (Lily), Esmé Bianco (Showgirl), Andrew Greenough (Gordon Noal), Marcus Taylor (Stage Door Keeper 1), Lee Oakes (Stage Door Keeper 2), Fine Time Fontayne (Stage Door Keeper 3), Robert Willox (Doug), Joshua Henderson (Heckler), Alex Parks (Nigel), Stephen Aintree (Vernon Arnold), Martin Walsh (Fishmonger), Angela Curran (Edna), Peter Gunn (Billy Crackers), Carolynne Good (Girl from Vasaria), Clara Darcy (Usherette) |