Sykes is a
British sitcom that aired on
BBC 1 from
1972 to
1979.
Starring Eric Sykes and
Hattie Jacques, it was written by Sykes, who had previously starred with
Jacques in Sykes and A
... (1960–
1965) and
Sykes and a Big,
Big Show (
1971). Forty-three of the
1970s colour episodes were remakes of scripts for the
1960s black and white series, such as "Bus" based on 'Sykes and a
Following' from
1964 and the episode "
Stranger" with guest star
Peter Sellers based on 'Sykes and a Stranger' from
1961.
Sykes had the same premise as Sykes and A... with Sykes,
Jacques, Richard Wattis and
Deryck Guyler reprising their former identical roles. The series was brought to an end by the death of Hattie Jacques of a heart attack on 6
October 1980.
With the same premise as Sykes and A..., unmarried twins
Eric and
Harriet (Hat) Sykes are now living at an end of terrace house, 28
Sebastopol Terrace,
East Acton, two doors down from their house in the previous programme. As before, Eric is childish and accident-prone while
Hattie is patient. Their neighbour is the snobbish unmarried
Charles Fulbright-Brown, and PC
Corky Turnbull is the local policeman.
Corky's wife,
Elsie, is unseen, except for one episode,
Caravan, in which she appears with her face covered in porridge during a food fight between Corky and Eric. Deryck Guyler also played Corky's brother
Wilfred Turnbull, a train attendant on the
Glasgow to
London sleeper train, in the episode
Journey. Following the death of
Richard Wattis in
1975 a new neighbour,
Melody Rumbelow, moves in. The local baker is the widowed Madge
Kettlewell (
Joan Sims), who appears occasionally, and who fancies Eric - she is first seen in the episode
Football. Eric and Hattie are also the owners of a cuckoo clock, naming the very temperamental bird inside
Peter. Both speak to it as if it were a real bird, and a great deal of comedy derives from the antagonistic and sarcastic 'conversations' between Eric and Peter.
- published: 25 Feb 2015
- views: 3141