Morecambe and Wise aren't part of my cultural heritage (I guess the equivalent comedy team in my childhood would be Wayne and Shuster) but I had no trouble enjoying this without reference to the originals. Of course comedy is very time and place specific so it's virtually impossible to actually BE funny while playing funny people from another place and time. But Daniel Rigby and Bryan Dick radiate so much charm and energy as Eric and Ernie that I can easily imagine them becoming big stars.It must have been the sequence in the burlesque theater that made me think of "Gypsy." There are certainly parallels between these two dramatizations of the early lives of stars and their stage mothers. Victoria Wood was casting herself very much against type as Mama Sadie, bullying and manipulating her son Eric into a stage career he never wanted. Now I'm thinking of Imelda Staunton's Mama Rose, which captured the monstrous ambition of the character without her seductive charm (I'm sorry but there is no way in hell that Staunton could ever been seen to have made a damn good stripper.) Wood herself would have been terribly cast as Rose--she was a crooner, not a belter. But her own warm, vulnerable persona radiates through Sadie's ruthlessness, and her version of "Rose's Turn"--weeping quietly after Eric and Ernie have informed her they've hired a proper manager and packed her off into a first-class train carriage home--is just as touching as Wood meant it to be.

Morecambe and Wise remain to this day one of the best double acts of all time and this great drama from the BBC shows us their early years. We all know what happened when they achieved fame so it is nice that this drama focuses on the other side of the coin.The casting in this is great. All the actors playing Morecambe and Wise not only look the part but capture the voice and characteristics of the two men and in some places you start to think you're watching the real men.Victoria Wood is also great as Sadie, Eric's mother and her story arc is at the centre of this piece that is beautifully captured by director Johnny Campbell.My only grumble is that much like every other media piece surrounding the comedians this drama is centred more on Eric than Ernie but otherwise this is a great drama.

I'm of that generation that religiously waited for and watched Morecambe and Wise's usually superb BBC TV specials in the mid 70's when they were at their peak (although nowhere near enough credit is given to their writer Eddie Braben) and so was very interested to watch this dramatisation of their formative years.It has to be said that their old employer does them proud with a well written, produced and acted TV movie. In truth I could find little to fault in it, my only complaints being perhaps the limited dynamic arc in the story itself and a little too much screen-time for the inspiration behind the project, Victoria Walters. That's not to say she's not good in the part of Eric's pushy, typical show-biz mother, but she takes too much focus away from our heroes, to the, as I say, slight detriment of the piece.The other main casting credits work very well, with Jim (Vic Reeves) Moir a revelation as Eric's docile dad and the young actors playing Eric and Ern as spot on as they could be with look, voice and mannerisms. They have that essential ingredient for any double-act, chemistry. The script includes some decent gags, but enough of what really matters here, drama, to make it entertaining.The duo's well-known personae are developed naturally and enough signposts are inserted to their future routines and catch-phrases to please admirers of their later work. As I indicated, this wasn't the most essential show-biz bio-pic I've ever watched but it was amongst the more entertaining of them.What did I think of it (so far)? Definitely not "Rubbish!"

A perfectly cast and brilliantly acted TV movie. A funny and moving portrayal of Eric and Ernie's early days together. Victoria Wood and Vic Reeves were excellent as Eric's parents. Daniel Rigby and Bryan Dick were spot on as Eric and Ernie, their facial expressions and mannerisms were excellent, almost to the point that you believed they were them! If it had been slightly longer it would have been interesting to see the relationships with their future wives expanded on a little more.A must see programme for any Morecambe and Wise fan!So why only 9 out of 10? - Because it finished too soon! I would have loved it to have gone on and told the rest of their story.