Trivia

After a nine year run at the BBC various cutbacks meant that their expensively mounted TV shows came under fire. The duo refused to cut corners or compromise resulting in them being asked to be released from their contracts. The BBC did this and Morecambe and Wise took their talents to Thames Television, who were part of the ITV network. Thames had offered the duo a decent deal which they picked up on. The show on ITV did well enough although many people consider their best work to have been in their BBC days. The show ran until the early 1980s at which point Eric was in poor health and was told to slow down. He went into semi retirement, made one TV movie with Ernie (Night train to Murder) for Thames Television and died in May 1984 shortly after filming had been completed. The movie was shown on ITV during Christmas 1984 and was dedicated to him.