Mike and Bernie

1 9 7 1 – 1 9 7 2 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes

Well known as stand-up comics and variety artists, here Mike and Bernie Winters turned their hand to a sitcom for Thames Television as a pair of starving, unsuccessful and out-of-work music hall comedians.

The short series was written by comedy veterans Vince Powell and Harry Driver and aired on Tuesday evenings in December 1971 and January 1972.

The episode entitled ‘The Roar of the Crowd, the Smell of the Liniment’ found the brothers off to watch Chelsea play Liverpool, where their behaviour at Stamford Bridge left a wake of havoc, including damage to the Club’s greatest treasure, the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Undeterred, they turned up at a training session, where they met Ron Harris, Peter Osgood, and Charlie Cooke, but their presence proved so disastrous that the directors decided Mike and Bernie were two supporters the club could do without – forever.

The series was not successful and contributed in part to the brothers parting as a comedy team and Bernie Winters eventually striking out on his own for Bernie in 1978.

Bernie Winters died on 4 May 1991, aged 60. He survived a massive stomach cancer operation in December 1990 and played in a six-week run of a pantomime at Christmas but had a relapse in March.

Mike Winters died of pancreatic cancer on 24 August 2013. He was 86.

Mike 
Mike Winters
Bernie
Bernie Winters
W.G.
Peter Jones
Miss Morgan
Jasmina Hilton
Tina
Bettine Le Beau
Mr Granger
Michael Bilton
Mrs Roberts
Margot Boyd
Mr Matthews
Fred Emney
Sammy
Sam Kydd
Peter Osgood 
Himself
Billy Dainty
Himself

Episodes

How to Lose Friends and Go Off People | Am I My Brother’s Keeper? | To Russia with Love | The Roar of the Crowd, the Smell of the Liniment | A Little Bit on the Side | The Dog It Was That Died