Morecambe and Wise: the Whole Story

Episode one
Christmas seems to be arriving earlier and earlier every year, but it’s still somewhat surprising to find the BBC firing off a two-part, three-hour documentary on the nation’s favourite festive funsters in mid-November. A shame, as dropping it into the Yuletide schedules might attract more people’s attention to what is a fascinating look back at Eric & Ernie’s long, winding career.

You might think that there’s little more to be said, and you might be right, but even for those in the know, ‘The Whole Story’ offers valuable insight – not only into the duo’s formative years, but also into the fading days of vaudeville and the early days of television. There is no attempt to psychoanalyse or unearth anything especially revelatory, but the run-time (which flies by) allows the film to take a leisurely approach, neither rushing ahead nor dwelling unduly.

Celebrity talking heads are kept to a minimum and family entanglements are kept to a respectful minimum. But with the majority of the pair’s career taken up by this first part, the second episode (airing next Sunday) would appear to have nothing left to ponder but their later BBC output. Hard to see how they’ll mine another 90 minutes from that but, on the strength of this opener, we shouldn’t be too worried.