Eric Sykes says he always wanted to direct a silent comedy. His first was THE PLANK (1967).
“Half of it was in my head. There was no shooting script, no nothing – and when you think back on it I must have been half mad” he says. “… and it worked. So it’s simpler than writing jokes and much more satisfying.”

Silent comedy buffs will know that the top silent comedians worked the same way. Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton – even for THE GENERAL – had no shooting script. By the time of shooting the script was in their heads – most importantly, with the schedule allowing for improvisation and changes if required.

Hal Roach, Laurel and Hardy’s producer, always said that no more than 60% of a script would work on the set.

The tv remake of THE PLANK (1979) begins with a brief contretemps between Eric Sykes and Arthur Lowe. Workman Sykes hangs his coat on a wall. Lowe brushes him aside, indicating that he should take priority. Syke’s coat is removed so that Lowe’s can be substituted. Only he can’t find a hook. Result: Sykes puts his own coat back on the apparently non -existant hook. It’s an impeccably timed vignette that Laurel and Hardy would have been proud of.

Eric Sykes has rarely mentioned his comedy heroes, but interviewed in The Observer last year he confirmed “Laurel and Hardy have inspired me my whole life”.

His comedy character is, if anything, closer to Jacques Tati or Buster Keaton than Stan Laurel. “Sort of quite awkward, but not” is probably the best summary, by John Gordon Sinclair. There are occasional salutes to these past icons in Syke’s silents – in THE PLANK the Tati –esque car (slam one door and the other opens, or variations thereof); Eric trying to open a jammed window to get some milk from the milkman – then putting his hand through the empty frame to open the next window instead (Keaton –and/or Roscoe Arbuckle) But it’s his comedy structure that really shows their influence.

“He’s a master carpenter of comedy” said Denis Norden. “All the joins are hidden and he builds on a premise …. making something and it builds towards that point and you didn’t know.”

Building gags is a lost art these days. In the silent era it was second nature. Harold Lloyd always urged his gagmen to top one gag with another, and if possible still another. Incredibly, Eric Sykes had no team of gagmen.

Like all the best silent comedies, the Sykes plots are also beautifully simple. THE PLANK is about two house builders needing one more plank to complete a floor. RHUBARB, RHUBARB (1970; remade for tv., in 1980) is just about a golf game – the only complication being that the local vicar invokes assistance from “his boss” to help him win. IT’S YOUR MOVE (1982) has Sykes, Tommy Cooper and Johnny Vyvian as removal men “helping” a newly married couple (Richard Briers, Sylvia Sims) to move into their first home.

This one contains the famous sequence where Eric goes to replace a light bulb, only to be left hanging from it - while Tommy Cooper then turns the switch on. An ‘electrified’ Eric eventually calms down, only to find that the bulb in his hand lights up whenever the room light is switched on .Cooper adds a lampshade to it – and Sykes blows it out! .

Not only are there running gags, but one with Jimmy Edwards runs through all three films. He plays a local bobby, always in trouble with his bike. By 1989 and MR.H IS LATE he’s become a traffic warden, lurking in the background as a group of undertakers try to get a coffin from the top floor of a block of flats, (there’s even a runaway piano scene down the same flight of stairs, without one gag being lifted from Laurel & Hardy’s THE MUSIC BOX). In THE BIG FREEZE (1993) two plumbers are called to sort out frozen pipes at an old actors home. Bob Hoskins surprise fall into a water barrel (sorry, I’ve just ruined the surprise) alone is worth the price of admission.

Eric’s motto has always been “not to do comedy unless you’re all friends.” The behind the scenes credits – certainly for the Thames Tv. productions - suggest a repertory company of colleagues working together from film to film – again just the way that Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Langdon etc, worked best. . There was obviously no shortage of friends in front of the camera either. Regulars included Jimmy Edwards, Tommy Cooper, Charlie Drake, Sylvia Sims, Spike Milligan, Bob Todd - and with a host of others in cameo roles. Extra fun in all these films is in spotting the star cameos. The cast lists read like a Who’s Who of comedy, with everyone clearly entering into the spirit and giving their best for Eric. Well, perhaps all except the plank. ….. (it’s a bit wooden)

Eric Sykes is of course still best known for twenty years of one of BBC TV’s – or anybody’s – top sitcoms, co-starring the much missed Hattie Jacques. Add to this writing for The Goons, Frankie Howerd, Archie Andrews, Tony Hancock and many other radio and tv shows …. the list is exhausting. True, Sykes’ background would seem to be mainly dialogue comedy. But even in the army he was doing an 8 minute drunk act with no dialogue. His writing career led to live tv shows in which he occasionally appeared doing small bits. In 1955 he did a ‘mirror routine’ on a Harry Seccombe show – it was 100% visual, made up on the day., and was repeated in a later Spike Milligan show – also live. Visual comedy was a definite interest.

In fact visual gags grew to be a large element of Syke’s work. He injected sight gags galore into the stage show BIG BAD MOUSE. SYKES AND A HAUNTING ,one of the most memorable BBC sitcom episodes, is primarily visual, with Eric and Hattie accidentally handcuffed together and so struggling to perform the simplest task..

Although highly respected as a performer, Eric Sykes should surely by now be regarded as an all round comic genius. “He’s a hell of a director” says Denis Norden. “The way he uses music – the way he chooses his shot and places his camera . I don’t think he’s ever got credit for that"


Sykes’ silent comedies seem particularly overlooked in the credit department. His last one, THE BIG FREEZE failed to find any backing in this country and had to be made in Finland. When BBC 2 ran a ‘Visual Comedy Night’ not one frame of Eric Sykes was included. Hopefully he won’t have to wait fifty years for recognition as did his comedy heroes, Laurel and Hardy. Perhaps showing some of his best silent works in Bristol will help put them back in the forefront of audience appreciation.

All the titles listed have now been re-released on DVD.

© David Wyatt, 2004