Having achieved record breaking ratings for their last BBC Christmas Special, Morecambe and Wise's first Thames outing on Christmas Day 1978 was always going to find it difficult to match what had gone before.
It starts well. The opening sketch is good fun, and there's a nice dance number with a newsreader to follow up.
Unfortunately then things tail off, with Leonard Rossiter nearly upstaging Eric and Ernie (as Thames seem to want to refer to them as, rather than Morecambe and Wise), proving why Eddie Braben (Morecambe and Wise's long-time writer, who had not yet moved across with them to Thames) rarely pitted them against other comedians, and a long-winded sketch with Frank Finlay, in which the pay off is funnier than the set-up.
There's some lovely moments along the way, but you have to fast forward to them, through a few weaker sketches (the doctors surgery), not to mention a really poor theatre based sketch, unfortunately too. Worryingly there's also some material being rehashed from BBC days at this early stage too.
Morecambe and Wise were stars, and while this special isn't overly great, there are enough moments that allow these stars to shine.
It starts well. The opening sketch is good fun, and there's a nice dance number with a newsreader to follow up.
Unfortunately then things tail off, with Leonard Rossiter nearly upstaging Eric and Ernie (as Thames seem to want to refer to them as, rather than Morecambe and Wise), proving why Eddie Braben (Morecambe and Wise's long-time writer, who had not yet moved across with them to Thames) rarely pitted them against other comedians, and a long-winded sketch with Frank Finlay, in which the pay off is funnier than the set-up.
There's some lovely moments along the way, but you have to fast forward to them, through a few weaker sketches (the doctors surgery), not to mention a really poor theatre based sketch, unfortunately too. Worryingly there's also some material being rehashed from BBC days at this early stage too.
Morecambe and Wise were stars, and while this special isn't overly great, there are enough moments that allow these stars to shine.
