Eric Sykes (1923-2012)

Eric Sykes died on Wednesday following a short illness. He was 89. Sykes was one of the last surviving writers of the Associated London Scripts group who helped create the golden age of British radio comedy - The Goons, Hancock's Half Hour, etc. - and some of television's finest moments. A good outline of Sykes' career can be found on Wikipedia.

Sykes, unlike some of the people he wrote for, did not appear widely in British comics. The above article is from TV Express, which also ran a 4-part biography of the comedian in 1961 around the time that Sykes began appearing on the TV in Sykes and A..., the sitcom co-starring Hattie Jacques. The series ran for 59 episodes between 1960-65 and was revived as Sykes, which ran 68 episodes in 1972-79. Sadly, only one series of the latter has appeared on DVD.

The story of Eric's early life was drawn by Bill Mainwaring. For the full story, it is well worth tracking down a copy of Eric's autobiography If I Don't Write It Nobody Else Will – see the Amazon link below.

 

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)

 

TV Express Scrapbook: Tony Hancock and Sid James

More features on the stars of yesterday from the pages of TV Express, these two relating to the comedians Tony Hancock and Sidney James.

The two had been working together for years on Hancock's Half-Hour and had made the successful switch to television together. But with the end of the TV show's sixth series, James was dumped by Hancock who feared that he and James would be seen as a double act. Hancock went off to star in the film The Rebel and James was left to his own devices. But Sid was already an established film actor with about 150 movies under his belt and would have no trouble finding more work, including the launch of a new star vehicle on TV, Citizen James. The show was in effect Hancock without Hancock, Sid playing much the same character as he had on the radio, with support from Bill Kerr, another star from Hancock's Half Hour. The series was created by Galton & Simpson, although later episodes were by Sid Green & Dick Hills, better known for working with Morecambe & Wise.

Citizen James ran for three series and 32 episodes in 1960-62, during which time James also established himself as the leading star of the Carry On movies. He went on to star in a number of TV series, including Taxi!, George and the Dragon, Two in Clover and the long-running Bless This House.

Hancock, meanwhile, had successfully transitioned to solo player in Hancock, but his follow-up to The Rebel, The Punch and Judy Man, which was at attempt to get away from the character of Anthony Aloysius Hancock and prove he could tackle a more dramatic role, was not so well received. His film career on hold, Hancock split from Simpson & Galton and made two more TV series in 1963 and 1967 but eventually left for Australia where he hoped to relaunch his career with Hancock Down Under. He managed three shows but committed suicide during the production in 1968.

 

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)

TV Express Scrapbook: Gerry Anderson

Today's scrapbook pages are a couple of features about Gerry Anderson shows, Four Feather Falls and Supercar.

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)

TV Express Scrapbook: No Hiding Place

'No Hiding Place' was based on the long-running TV series which was broadcast between 1959 and 1967, a total of 236 episodes. The show starred Raymond Francis as Det. Chief Supt. Tom Lockhart and Eric Lander as Det. Sgt. Harry Baxter, who were also the stars of the comic strip. After 140 episodes, Lander was replaced in 1964 by Johnny Briggs as Det. Sgt. Russell.

The strip version of 'No Hiding Place' also had a reasonable run of 81 episodes between 1960-62, drawn initially by Mike Western but later handed over to others when it switched to complete stories. In its latter days it introduced a spot-the-clue feature by which time Gerry Embleton had taken over the artwork. Below are a few episodes by Mike Western, along with the preview published a week ahead of the strips' debut.

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)

TV Express Scrapbook: Col. Pinto

More art by Ron Embleton following up yesterday's 'Biggles' strip. The strip actually makes an error from the very beginning -- Oreste Pinto's rank was Lieutenant-Colonel, not Colonel as ascribed by TV Express, although I learn from Wikipedia that Lt.-Col. is often shortened unofficially to Col. You can find out more about Pinto if you scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)

TV Express Scrapbook: Biggles

Here are a couple of scans from the pages of TV Express from 1960 introducing the Biggles strip that began running in 1960. The artwork is by Ron Embleton and followed on from his work on 'Battleground' and 'Wulf the Briton' (which came to an end on the rear cover of issue 306, hence 'Biggles' appearing only on the front). Embleton was working at the top of game at this time -- was he ever off his game? -- and his every contribution he made to Express Weekly and TV Express would be worth reprinting. Thankfully we now have one strip (Wulf) reprinted in its entirety. Maybe one day we'll see more.

(* © TV Publications Ltd.)