Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1970s 3 Mins Read

    Sykes

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 6 0 – 1 9 6 5 (UK)
    1 9 7 1 – 1 9 7 9 (UK)
    128 x 30 minute episodes

    A classic British comedy in which the irrepressible Eric Sykes constantly got himself in a mess with all manner of new technology in order to improve his lifestyle. Of course “new technology” to Sykes just meant everyday objects like the telephone.

    Eric lived with his spinster sister Hattie (Hattie Jaques, veteran of the Carry On series of films and also the real-life wife of Dad’s Army actor John Le Mesurier), at 24 Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton, where they lived on our TV screens for the best part of twenty years.

    In the later series, they moved two doors down to number 28.

    Apart from having to contend with snooty, interfering next-door neighbour Mr Brown (Richard Wattis) or local Bobby, Corky Turnbull (Deryck Guyler), Eric and ‘Hat’ managed to get themselves into all sorts of difficulty, including episodes which found them handcuffed together, running a bus route minus the bus, and unwittingly harbouring an escaped convict, played by Peter Sellers.

    Good fun was enjoyed with a temperamental cuckoo in their cuckoo clock, whom Eric and Hattie named Peter and spoke to as if it was a real bird (in a fine touch typical of Eric Sykes’ comedic inventiveness, they did so with such consistency that it became impossible to be sure if they were mad or correct).

    There were also regular references to a character never seen – Corky’s wife, Elsie – and to one very rarely seen, Madge Kettlewell, who ran the baker’s shop and was very generous with her doughnuts. (Occasionally played by Joan Sims.)

    The original episodes were transmitted under the title of Sykes and a . . . with the object that was about to cause havoc inserted into the title. The first episode was Sykes and a Telephone.

    Johnny Speight wrote some of the early episodes, but Eric soon took over the task himself, although he did team up with Speight again in 1969 for the controversial Curry and Chips, which also starred Spike Milligan.

    Unfortunately, the series ended with the death of Hattie Jacques in 1980.

    Deryck Guyler died in October 1999 aged 85 in Brisbane, Australia. His big screen credits included the 1964 Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, 1968’s Carry On Doctor, and One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing from 1976.

    Eric Sykes died in July 2012, aged 89, after a short illness.

    NB: Between 1960 and 1965 the series was called Eric Sykes. After a seven-year break, the series returned under the title, Sykes. Some of the Sykes episodes were remakes of earlier Eric Sykes episodes.

    Eric Sykes
    Eric Sykes
    Hattie Sykes
    Hattie Jacques
    PC Wilfred ‘Corky’ Turnbull
    Deryck Guyler
    Mr Charles Brown
    Richard Wattis
    Madge Kettlewell
    Joan Sims
    Miss Melanie Rumblow
    Joy Harrington

    Related Posts

    • Carry on Laughing!
      Carry on Laughing!
      1 9 7 5 (UK) 13 x 30 minute episodes Not to be confused with the series of compilations from the…
    • Class By Himself, A
      Class By Himself, A
      1 9 7 2 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes On the crest of a wave with his Dad's Army role, John Le…
    • Preston Front
      Preston Front
      1 9 9 4 - 1 9 9 7 (UK) 19 x 40 minute episodes Preston Front was a BBC…
    • Curry and Chips
      Curry and Chips
      1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 0 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Set in the staff canteen and…
    • Home To Roost
      Home To Roost
      1 9 8 5 - 1 9 9 0 (UK) 29 x 50 minute episodes Divorced office worker Henry Willows (ex-Sweeney hard…
    • Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, The
      Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, The
      1 9 5 6 (UK) 5 x 30 minute episodes In 1956 Associated-Rediffusion tried to cash in on the popularity of…
    • Wonderful John Acton
      Wonderful John Acton
      1 9 5 3 (USA) 12 x 30 minute episodes This summer replacement show about an Irish-American family in Ludlow, Kentucky…
    • Bachelor Gaye, The
      Bachelor Gaye, The
      1 9 7 1 (Australia) 5 x 30 minute episodes This short-lived Australian comedy series starred John Meillon as Sid Gaye,…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleLive Aid (1985)
    Next Article Green Acres

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Damon
      1 9 9 8 (USA) 13 x 30 minute episodes Two brothers, Damon (Damon […]
    • Brain That Wouldn’t Die, The (1959)
      After decapitating his fiancée, Jan (Virginia Leith) in a car […]
    • Davy Crockett
      1 9 5 4 – 1 9 5 6 (USA) 5 x 52 minute episodes In 1955, […]
    • Cars in the 1970s
      As the glam decade dawned, America experienced its worst […]
    • Rumpole of the Bailey
      1 9 7 8 – 1 9 9 2 (UK) 37 x 60 minute episodes Rumpole of […]
    • Android (1982)
      In an isolated space station millions of miles from Earth in the […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.