Sykes
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Sykes was a long-running BBC television sitcom of the 1960s and 1970s, starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques.
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[edit] Sykes and a...
The original black and white series (1960-1965) was entitled Sykes and a..., followed by the subject of the episode (e.g. Sykes and a Bus). The first series was written by Johnny Speight, better known as the creator of Til Death Us Do Part; the second series saw two episodes each written by Sykes, John Antrobus and Spike Milligan, and the remaining seven series were written solely by Sykes.
Originally Johnny Speight had intended for Sykes and Hattie Jacques to play husband and wife, but Sykes disagreed, thinking more comic situations could arise from having the two play brother and sister. Moreover, he decided to seize on his and Jacques' very different physiques by having them play identical twin siblings. So it was that Eric and Hattie Sykes were created.
The basic situation is fairly simple. Eric and Hattie are both unmarried, and live together at 24 Sebastopol Terrace, in the London suburb of Acton. Each week a simple domestic problem escalates into an increasingly absurd situation which is exacerbated by Hattie's scatterbrained attempts to resolve matters and Eric's increasing impatience. Classic examples include the two accidentally handcuffing themselves to each other in the episode Sykes and a Haunting, and Eric trapping his toe in his next-door neighbour's bath in Sykes and a Bath. The snobbish neighbour in question, Charles Brown, was played by Richard Wattis. Mr. Brown was also unmarried, and he and Eric forever frustrated each other due to their differing social statuses - Mr. Brown thought himself extremely cultured, while Eric was jobless and enjoyed watching television. Hattie would often act as mediator between the two. After the third series was broadcast in 1961, Mr. Brown was said to have emigrated to Australia, Richard Wattis having decided to leave the series for fear of being typecast. Another recurring character was a local policeman, played by Deryck Guyler, although the character was relatively undeveloped during the black and white series.
These black and white episodes proved so popular that in 1963 Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques performed, in character, at the Royal Variety Show. But in 1965, the series came to an end.
[edit] Sykes and a Big, Big Show
In the early months of 1971, Sykes appeared on the BBC as star of a combination sitcom/variety show. Again co-starring Hattie Jacques and with Ian Wallace providing musical assistance, the series lasted for 6 episodes, although half of these are currently missing from the BBC archives.
[edit] Sykes
Then in 1972, the series returned, now broadcast in colour and simply entitled Sykes. Eric and Hattie had moved to number 28 Sebastopol Terrace, but the format of the show remained the same - indeed, many of these colour episodes were at least partial remakes of black and white episodes. Richard Wattis reprised his role as next-door neighbour Mr. Brown, and Deryck Guyler's role as the policeman was expanded into PC Wilfred Turnbull, more commonly referred to by his nickname, 'Corky', who - like Mr. Brown - was constantly visiting the Sykes' household and interfering, much to Eric's annoyance. 'Corky' also has a twin (a brother, also played by Deryck Guyler in the episode Journey), who is a guard on board a train. 'Corky' is also the only starring character to be married - to Elsie, an unseen character (although she does appear onscreen, albeit totally covered in porridge, in the episode Caravan, and is occasionally heard - voiced by Eric Sykes). Another addition to the colour series was Peter the cuckoo, who pops out of his cuckoo clock at odd times as if to comment on the proceedings, with Eric shouting 'Shut up, Peter!' to the wooden bird.
Joan Sims also had an occasional role as Madge Kettlewell from the baker's, who had an unconsummated flirtation with Eric, whom she nicknamed 'Ricky' and lavished with free doughnuts.
After the death of Richard Wattis in 1975, Mr. Brown was said to have left Sebastopol Terrace following the third series. This forced Eric Sykes, who again was writing as well as starring in the series, to change the format of the show slightly during the fourth series. With no new character brought in as a next-door neighbour, the part of 'Corky' was increased and the episodes - which had hitherto centred on the Sykes' house, were increasingly set in other locations (Eric, Hattie, Corky and Elsie holidayed twice in the fourth series alone - in Germany in the episode Skiing, and in the English countryside in Caravan).
However, in the final episode of the fifth series, Eric and Hattie acquired a new next-door neighbour, Miss Melanie Rumbelow (played by Joy Harington), a Justice of the Peace who played the cello and whose father had been a high-ranking army officer in Africa. Again, Eric had a posh neighbour to contend with. Following the fifth series (1976), the show went off air for a year, though the following year Sykes and Hattie Jacques again played their roles of brother and sister in The Eric Sykes Show for Thames Television. Sykes returned to the BBC in 1978 for two further series.
Eric Sykes has always claimed to be proud of the fact that his show made audiences laugh without ever resorting to profanity or crude sexual innuendoes. However, popular as the show was, it was forced to end permanently following the seventh series in 1979, when Hattie Jacques died on 6th October, 1980. According to Sykes - interviewed for a 2002 Heroes of Comedy documentary about Hattie Jacques - the BBC had wanted the show to continue (it would have entered its twentieth year in 1980), attempting to persuade Sykes to bring in another female relative to live with Eric, but he refused. Poignantly, the last episode broadcast in 1979, The BBC Honours Sykes, had seen Eric and Hattie reflecting on their antics in Sykes and a... and Sykes, and looking forward to their twentieth anniversary.
[edit] The Test of Time
Despite its original popularity, the series has not been repeated as frequently as contemporary shows like Dad's Army or Steptoe and Son, and has been cut for timing reasons for repeats on satellite.
Of the 59 episodes of Sykes and A... originally filmed, 37 episodes have been 'lost' - wiped from the BBC's archives. Only three episodes have ever been made commercially available on VHS video - Sykes and a Bath, Sykes and an Ankle and Sykes and a Haunting. A fourth, Sykes and a Plank, later to inspire a short film (The Plank (1967)), and later TV remake (The Plank (1979)) appears on the BBC's Best of Eric Sykes compilation DVD.
However, the first series of Sykes was released on Region 2 DVD in 2004 in a fully-remastered version. Almost all of the episodes were reassembled direct to digital video from the original studio sessions, thus giving better quality than the broadcast master tapes which were at least one analogue generation removed from the studio recordings. Six of the remastered episodes even incorporate additional footage that was originally cut for timing and never broadcast. Outtakes from the recordings are featured as bonuses. One episode has only survived as a black and white telerecording, but even that has been cleaned up to a very high quality and VidFIRE'd. There is as yet no indication as to when the later series will be released. The final episode, The BBC Honours Sykes, also appears on the Best of Eric Sykes DVD.
