It began airing in 1968 on BBC2, specifically because it was then the only channel broadcasting in colour, following the duo's move to the BBC from ATV, where they had made Two of a Kind since 1961.
The Morecambe & Wise Show was popular enough to be moved to BBC1, with its Christmas specials garnering prime-time audiences in excess of 20 million, some of the largest in British television history.
After their 1977 Christmas show, Morecambe and Wise left the BBC and signed with Thames Television, marking their return to the ITV network.
The managing director of ATV, Lew Grade, made Morecambe and Wise an offer totalling £39,000 over three years, in return for three series of thirteen 25-minute episodes.
[5] But, on 7 November, just over two weeks after the transmission of the final episode, Eric Morecambe had a serious heart attack while returning to his hotel following a show at the Batley Variety Club.
[6] In his interpretation, he moved away from how Morecambe and Wise had been presented by Hills and Green, instead creating characters that he perceived as exaggerated versions of their own personas as he had observed them.
[8] A tradition that had begun with Two of a Kind was the invitation to special guests and the subsequent "insulting" of them, and this was stepped up a gear with the BBC shows.
The shows became more structured, with an opening "spot" in front of the curtains in a mock-theatre set-up that they insisted upon having, guest singers and groups, a sketch with the two in their flat, either in the lounge or in bed together, a lavish play "wot Ern wrote" and the final theme song, over the credits.
[3] However, just over a month later, in January 1978, an announcement was made that the duo had elected to leave the BBC, having signed a contract with Thames Television.
[3] Following their departure, and in an effort to win viewers away from the commercial network, BBC1 broadcast a compilation programme, titled The Best of Morecambe & Wise, on Christmas Night in 1978, in direct competition to the duo's new show which was being shown at the same time on Thames Television.
Their departure from the BBC had been greatly publicised and allegiances were tested to their limits, with the general public feeling very much in "ownership" of the partnership who had entertained them every Christmas Night since 1969.
Always broadcast at peak time on Christmas Day,[10] these increasingly lavish affairs provided some of the most memorable moments in the series.
For example, Grieg's Piano Concerto with André Previn, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with Shirley Bassey and Glenda Jackson's medley of Hollywood tunes all came from the same Christmas Show in 1971.
This (along with the 1972 special) was the only Christmas show of the BBC years not to be written by Eddie Braben, when writing duties transferred to John Junkin and Barry Cryer, among others.
The BBC made several compilation programmes and "best of" editions in recent years and favoured "Bring Me Sunshine" as the most popular song they used.
He appeared (in this guise) at the Bring Me Sunshine tribute to Eric Morecambe after a break of several years not having been associated with the duo.
For a long time the episode classed as Series 4 (6) that was broadcast on BBC1 on 8 October 1970 was missing from the archive, with only audio recordings existing.
This was purchased by a film collector named Tim Disney and subsequently returned to the BBC archive to allow a copy to be made.
[24] On 5 October 2018, Morris announced on The One Show the recovery of 16mm black and white telerecordings of episodes 5 and 7, from a disused cinema in Sierra Leone.
The recovered episodes and all of the remastered material was released on DVD on 6 June 2022 titled Morecambe & Wise - The Lost Tapes[33]