TV Cream

TV: S is for...

Sykes

STALWART SITCOM written by Eric and starring Eric as ‘Eric’, a perennially bewildered everyman in the off-kilter suburban world of Sebastopol Terrace, with Eric’s sister HATTIE JACQUES as ‘Hattie’, the sister of ‘Eric’. Hmm. Peter the cuckoo clock, DEREK GUYLER as Constable Corky and nosey neighbour Mr Brown added to the derangement.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Great Bustard

    January 23, 2011 at 10:27 am

    Just as The Rockford Files was everyone’s dad’s favourite detective show in the 70s, wasn’t Sykes everyone’s dad’s favourite sitcom? “He’s stone deaf, you know!”

  2. gracol

    March 27, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    Hattie actually played Eric’s TWIN sister…

  3. David

    May 9, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    She did indeed play his twin, though I only learnt that recently. Seen many episodes on UK Gold or somewhere similar. Very influential show, or so I reckon. Quite clever too — no spiteful pratfalls, as I recall.

  4. Tom Ronson

    March 31, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    Despite being stone deaf and (toward the end of his life) legally blind, Eric Sykes’ comedy timing was a marvel to behold.

  5. Droogie

    April 13, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    I remember watching this as a kid and seeing the titles showing stop-motion animation of a trumpet being played, then the heartbreak realisation that it wasn’t an episode of Monty Python with the similar titles showing the plumbing pipes sequence. I cannot remember one plot of any episode of Sykes, unlike Steptoe or Porridge or AYBS. Eric Sykes joins the like of Charlie Drake as unmissed British comedy performers .

    • THX 1139

      April 13, 2022 at 11:49 pm

      Toe stuck in the tap? Peter Sellers as a visiting crim? Pretty sure there was a golfing episode too.

      • THX 1139

        April 14, 2022 at 9:27 am

        Oh yeah – the handcuffs episode, too!

        • Droogie

          April 14, 2022 at 2:38 pm

          Actually the one with the handcuffs rings a bell. Isn’t there a scene where they’re both trying to eat dinner and Hattie raises her arm to eat from her fork which causes Eric to be pulled face first into his plate? That would be the clip they’d always show on things like Telly Addicts

          • THX 1139

            April 14, 2022 at 6:29 pm

            That’s the one! Might be the most repeated clip.

  6. Sidney Balmoral James

    April 14, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Have to agree with Droogie – I suspect only longevity and his straight acting work kept Sykes in the public mind (bit like Charlie Drake who was in a few dramas at the end of his life, although also some Jim Davidson stage shows, the poor man!)

  7. Richardpd

    April 14, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    One of Eric Sykes’s later roles was as Stan’s Dad in an episode of dinnerladies which he managed effortlessly.

    • Droogieboy

      April 14, 2022 at 11:03 pm

      @Sidney Balmoral James. I really liked seeing Eric Sykes as a kid on TV because I loved comedy above everything else. So I liked seeing The Plank and Rhubarb Rhubarb ( both remade twice by Sykes and repeated often.) It was years later when I rewatched this stuff and his disappointing ITV fare like If You Go Down The Woods Today and It’s Your Move that I realised he wasn’t a comedy genius..

  8. Glenn Aylett

    April 15, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    Not remembered well these days, but Sykes was massive in the seventies and had the outstanding episode with Peter Sellers as a prisoner on the run who takes Sykes and Hattie hostage. Others I remember are the one where Sykes had a disastrous outing in a fishing boat and the one where a food fight occurs in a restaurant. There are probably more greats, but it’s been decades since I’ve seen Sykes.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To Top