BBC hopes to air restored programme

A lost episode of a 1968 Morecambe and Wise show is set to be broadcast after being unearthed in a private collection.

The programme was one of four from the duo’s first series back at the BBC after working in commercial TV that was missing from the archives.

However, it has now been found by a group of volunteer enthusiasts called Film is Fabulous!

One of them, Professor Justin Smith, told the BBC: ‘It is fast-paced, it is witty and it has many of their trademarks. What comes across is the spark that Eric and Ernie had, they were in their prime.’

It features a sketch with Eric and Ernie at a nudist camp and another with a balloon dancer. The series was the last to be written by Sid Green and Dick Hill before Eddie Braben came on board to perfect the relationship that made them Britain’s biggest comedy stars.

Comic Toby Hadoke, who also works with Film is Fabulous!, told Chortle: 'It’s a very funny episode and so thrilling to have it back in the archive. It’s even more thrilling that hopefully everyone will get to see it.'

Smith, who is professor of cinema and television history at De Montfort University in Leicester,  said the duo had returned to the BBC after a stint with ATV, partly because they would get to film in colour for the newly-launched BBC Two, the only channel to use the technology at the time.

The recovered recording is in black and white, but it is believed that the footage can be restored to its original quality.

The BBC say they hope to be able to air the episode ‘in the coming months’.

Published: 24 Apr 2026