Running Wild With Morecambe And Wise

Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise used to carry around clippings of the reviews from their first TV series as a reminder that they needed to do better. So the story goes. One said ‘the definition of TV: the box they buried Morecambe and Wise in last night’ – or words to that effect.

Running Wild was the show, which aired fortnightly in April and May of 1954. On its off weeks, Panorama was broadcast instead.

Here’s a review of the first show, by James Thomas, that appeared in the London Daily News on April 22nd.

Pretty scathing, but it reserves its ire for the production, not the cast, noting that Eric and Ernie are much better than the scripts they have been given.

A similar sentiment was expressed the same day in the Daily Record.

This distinction though, escaped Emery Pearce in the Daily Herald.

, ,
Buy My Books
  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

Follow
Most Read
  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

From The Archive

Sign up for my FREE newsletter