Eric the comedy genius

I WAS pleased that in his review of Eric, Ernie And Me, TV critic Christopher Stevens took umbrage at the depiction of Eric Morecambe.

I was a comedy scriptwriter for Thames TV shows in the Eighties where the last of the Morecambe & Wise shows were made.

Eddie Braben was a brilliant gag writer, but unlike in a sitcom where the writer creates the characters, most of the comedy was down to Eric and Ernie’s comic personalities.

The famous Andre Previn classical music sketch would not have worked with any other comedians.

Eric was a comedy ideas man and was often scribbling down outlines for sketches and routines. He was a perfectionist and instinctively funny, ad-libbing with the best of them.

By the time Eric and Ernie had honed a sketch, it would often have changed from the writer’s original idea. A lot of credit should also go to their producer John Ammonds, who encouraged me in comedy writing.

Eric Morecambe was a comedy genius and in Ernie Wise he had the perfect counterbalance. Eddie Braben contributed to their success, but was not the reason for it.

BILL NAYLOR, Wilsford, Lincs.