ERIC SYKES. Born in Oldham, England, 4 May 1923. Served in British Army, World War II. Married: Edith. Began career as performer in military service; radio and television writer, 1950s; star of comedy series, Sykes Versus TV; star of short films based on television character. Recipient: OBE, 1986.

TELEVISION

1958-65, 1972-80 Sykes Versus TV

TELEVISION SPECIALS (selection)

1971 Sykes and a Big, Big Show
1978 Sykes and a Big, Big Show
1979 The Plank
1980 Rhubarb, Rhubarb

FILMS (selection)

Watch Your Stern, 1960; Invasion Quartet, 1962; Kill or Cure, 1962; Heaven's Above, 1963; One Way Pendulum, 1965; Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, 1965; Rotten to the Core, 1965; The Liquidator, 1966; The Spy with the Cold Nose, 1966; The Plank, 1967; Shalako, 1968; Monte Carlo or Bust, 1969; Rhubarb, 1970; The Alf Garnett Saga, 1972; Theatre of Blood, 1973.

RADIO

Entertaining Archie (writer)

 

 

   

Eric Sykes, who cultivated his talent for comedy whilst serving in the Army in World War II, worked as a writer on radio and a writer/performer on television all through the 1950s before having his greatest success, the long running BBC sitcom SykesVersus TV which debuted in 1960. The services had proved to be fertile ground for aspiring entertainers and many of Britain's favourite stars of the 1950s had discovered their performing kills whilst on wartime duty. Following the end of hostilities, these talents found themselves taking their acts on stage before getting the chance to do radio or television. Sykes was one such talent. He wrote comedy scripts as well as performing and eventually scripted one of radio's most popular comedies, Entertaining Archie which was a prolific breeding ground for comic talent. His many appearances on TV were usually comedy-variety specials and he developed a format for such one-offs which featured himself as a harassed producer struggling to put on a show and meeting with various obstacles.

But it was in 1960 that Sykes enjoyed his most enduring success. Comedy writer Johnny Speight collaborated with Sykes on the idea of a sitcom based loosely on Sykes existing stage persona. In the idea, Sykes would live in suburbia with his wife, getting involved in simple plots centering on everyday problems. However Sykes soon realised that by making his partner his sister, rather than his wife, he would have more scope in storylines, with either or both of them able to get romantically entangled with other people. Comedy actress Hattie Jacques, who had worked with Sykes on the radio, was chosen as the sister and the first series, written by Speight, proved to be a success. The second series written by Sykes and other writers from storylines suggested by Speight, consolidated that success. Subsequent series were all written by Sykes alone. The TV character Sykes was a proud, rather work-shy individual with somewhat childish habits, as if part of him hadn't grown up. His sister Hattie was formidable in stature but timid by nature, and was easily inveigled into her brother's schemes. It was a departure for a big woman to be portrayed on TV in this way but it was probably Hattie Jacques' radio career which had allowed her to formulate such characters, as her gentle voice belied her size allowing her to portray, on radio, small, timorous women.

The format was simple but enduring. Each week a single idea would be taken and every possible comedic situation of the theme would be exploited. For example: in one episode Sykes gets his toe stuck in the tap whilst having a bath and the entire programme revolves round efforts to free him; in another, highly memorable segment, Sykes and his sister accidentally get handcuffed together and spend the whole episode trying to do cope with ordinary domestic situations whilst remaining connected. By concentrating on this technique, Sykes was able to come up with seemingly endless storylines in which to place his characters.

The series was called simply Sykes Versus TV but each week bore a subtitle which began with "and", for instance Sykes ..and a telephone, Sykes.. and a Holiday with the subtitle referring to the particular theme to be milked in the episode. Sykes became the longest running sitcom of its time, continuing, with one notable seven year break between 1965 and 1972, for 127 episodes until Hattie Jacques' death in 1980.

During the run of the sitcom Sykes also made a series of short, dialogue-free films for the cinema, utilising the same structure as the TV show: that is one idea exploited to the limit, comedically. Most famous of these was called The Plank (1967) and just focused on the mishaps caused by a man carrying a large plank around-incidentally one of the Sykes episode also used this concept. Later he re-made two of these short films, The Plank and Rhubarb (1969) for television: The Plank (Thames 1979) and Rhubarb, Rhubarb (Thames 1980). Subsequently Sykes, now a huge comedy star due to the success of the famous sitcom, appeared in specials and the odd series but never managed to recreate the popularity of Sykes. His long lasting top flight career is even more remarking considering he has been dogged by hearing problems since 1952. The problems increased with the passing of time, eventually leaving him completely deaf in one ear and with very poor hearing in the other.

-Dick Fiddy