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THE GENIUS behind Eric and Ernie
Eddie Braben’s gags turned the duo into comedy legends, but a new drama shows how it took its toll
Morecambe and Wise weren’t just on TV at Christmas – they were TV at Christmas. A staggering 28 million viewers saw their festive special on BBC1 in 1977 and the Queen, a big fan, supposedly delayed supper at Sandringham so she could watch it.
But those memorable Morecambe & Wise shows of the 1970s wouldn’t have been the classics they were without the third member of the so-called Golden Triangle. He was shy, never appeared on screen and almost paid the ultimate price for transforming our heroes into Britain’s favourite double act, as new drama Eric, Ernie & Me reveals. Eddie Braben suffered a nervous breakdown as he tried to keep the gags coming for Eric and Ern. ‘He was a perfectionist who realised the boys needed to change their act if they were going to find major success,’ says Stephen Tompkinson, the former Wild At Heart star who plays Eddie. ‘He worked on making their performances more about their friendship. He gave people a fly-on-the-wall view of their lives together and turned them into the nation’s favourite uncles.’
Eric, Ernie & Me covers the trio’s relationship from its faltering start in 1969 through to that triumphant 1977 Christmas show. In 1969 Eddie was unemployed after ending his 14-year association with Ken Dodd, while Eric and Ernie had just parted company with regular writers Sid Green and Dick Hills. Bill Cotton, the BBC Head of Light Entertainment, suggested they work together, but Eddie had seen them perform in Liverpool when he was just 17 and thought they were terrible. ‘Eddie didn’t rate them,’ says Stephen, ‘and Eric and Ernie weren’t convinced Eddie was the person for them either. So they proceeded on a show-by-show basis, with all three uncertain how long the relationship would last.’
Eddie realised that subtle changes to Eric and Ernie’s onstage relationship could be their key to success. ‘Eddie noticed the genuine warmth between the pair,’ says Mark Bonnar, who plays Eric opposite Humans star Neil Maskell as Ernie. ‘He wanted to bring that friendship to the scripts and to have Ernie play a more important part in the act.’ The ultimate symbol of this was the classic sketches of them in their pyjamas in bed together, an idea of Eddie’s that Eric had been reluctant to do until Eddie pointed out that their comedy heroes Laurel and Hardy had done precisely that.
The drama recreates a number of Eddie’s memorable Morecambe & Wise moments, such as the exchange between classical musician André
Previn and Eric from the 1971 Christmas special when André is fed up with Eric’s poor piano playing. ‘I’m playing all the right notes,’ retorts Eric, ‘but not necessarily in the right order.’ But there’s sadness too as Eddie becomes overwhelmed by his workload trying to keep up with Eric and Ernie’s need for gag-a-minute scripts. ‘This put a huge amount of pressure on Eddie, and eventually it started to tell,’ says Stephen.
Viewers will see Eddie drawing a TV set on the wall of his home and imagining Morecambe & Wise on the screen in front of him, a technique that resulted in many of his most inspired scripts. But later, when he becomes more exhausted, Eric and Ern look hopelessly down from the wall, silenced by Eddie’s lack of ideas as he suffers a nervous breakdown. Yet the drama’s writer Neil Forsyth insists the pair – who became friends with Eddie – were never aware of his fragile state. ‘They were obsessed by the work and didn’t realise the pressure Eddie was under,’ he says. Eventually the boys visited Eddie in Liverpool as he recovered to try to persuade him to come back to work – and the result was the Christmas show of 1977. ‘They really did appreciate him,’ says Neil. ‘There’s a scene at the end with the three of them in a dressing room before that Christmas show. Ernie says to Eddie, “You made us, Eddie.” And he did. Without him, Morecambe & Wise wouldn’t be the comedy heroes they are today.’