317 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show

First  viewed :  Uncertain

I  may  have  seen  bits  of  this  Christmas  institution  before  but  1977's  Morecambe  and  Wise  Christmas  Show  was  the  first  I  watched  in  earnest  (  no  pun  intended ).  It  sucked  me  in  by  starting  with  a  marvellous  parody  of  the  Starsky  and  Hutch  opening  titles , well-observed  and  full  of  sidesplitting  sight  gags. Nothing  that  followed  was  quite  as  funny  but  I  could  get  into  it. 

The  main  guest  star  was  Elton  John  , now  sporting  a  tight-fitting  hat, who  gamely  went  through  a  series  of  sketches  where  he  was  the  fall  guy  before  finally  getting  to  perform. The  previous  year's  talking  point  had  been  the  dance  routine  from  newsreader  Angela  Rippon  and  she  made  a  repeated  cameo  appearance  at  the  far  end  of  a  chorus  line.

The  1977  show  was  the  last  one  for  the  BBC as  they  jumped  ship  to  ITV  in  1978. The  Christmas  shows  continued  on  the  other  channel  but  it  was  never  quite  the  same. The  last  one  was  in  1983  as  Eric  died  the  following  autumn  before  any  filming  had  taken  place.