Eric and Ernie (2011)

Another of those BBC biographical dramas, Eric and Ernie told the (dramatised) account of Morecambe and Wise's youth, showing them as child performers, then their first meeting as young men, on to the development of their double act and the failure of their first TV vehicle. I've seen several Morecambe and Wise shows over the years, but I don't really know anything about them. This comedy-drama I assume has all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order... 

If the main thrust of the drama is true, then Eric's mother had a lot to do with their success, encouraging the boys to bunk together during the War, then pushing them to 2nd billing in the West End. Played lovingly by Victoria Wood, Sadie is a formidable woman, some would say overbearing and perhaps even bullying poor Eric into showbusiness. She's only doing it for his own good though, since he's useless at everything else - and his father (Jim Moir a.k.a Vic Reeves) is happy to let her have her way. Ernie is left on his own in London early on as he became a big child star, famous before pairing up with Eric. The young boys and then the men playing the pair are great, particularly Bryan Dick as Ernie and Daniel Rigby as Eric, who you'd swear was dubbed by the man himself, his vocals are so spot on. 

Whether or not there's much real or invented for the film, I enjoyed it and it was fun to spot the references to the pair's later success, particularly when Eric's father comments that it's odd not seeing Eric and Ernie for Christmas, a reference to their massive Xmas specials of later years. One thing this did do was make me want to watch more of the original Morecambe & Wise shows.