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Vale: Eric Sykes

British comedian Eric Sykes, best known for his self-titled comedy Sykes, has died, aged 89.

British comedian Eric Sykes, best known for his self-titled comedy Sykes, has died, aged 89.

His manager said, “Eric Sykes, 89, star of TV, stage and films, died peacefully this morning after a short illness.

“His family were with him.”

The legendary star enjoyed an acclaimed career spanning the stage, screen and radio but probably will be best remembered for his long-running 1960s sitcom series which he starred in alongside Hattie Jacques.

He started his career writing radio material for comedians including Frankie Howerd, Tony Hancock and The Goon Show but stepped into the spotlight with his own TV shows including Dress Rehearsal in 1956, Sykes And A… in 1960 and a follow-up, simply titled Sykes, in 1972.

Sykes wrote the scripts for the show, about a bumbling brother and sister, in conjunction with Johnny Speight, the man who created Alf Garnett. He was also writing scripts for stars including Peter Sellers, Frankie Howerd and Stanley Unwin. Another of Sykes’ best-known productions was in a virtually silent slapstick film called The Plank.

Sykes’ television roles dried up after a sitcom set in a golf club, The Nineteenth Hole, made for ITV in 1989. But he appeared in supporting roles on the big screen in The Others and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

In 1992, he received lifetime achievement honours from the Writers’ Guild and the British Comedy Awards.

Sir Bruce Forsyth paid tribute to the star, calling him “one of the greats of comedy in this country”.

“He was universally loved here,” the entertainer continued. “He was just one of the funniest men ever.”

Stephen Fry wrote on Twitter: “Oh no! Eric Sykes gone? An adorable, brilliant, modest, hilarious, innovative and irreplaceable comic master. Farewell, dear, dear man.”

League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss said: “The wonderful Eric Sykes has left us. A giant of comedy and a gentleman – funny to his very core. RIP.”

Former BBC head of comedy Jon Plowman paid tribute to Sykes as “a warm man, a kind man, a warm family man”.

“We won’t see his like again,” he said. “He was a wonderful improviser.

“His genius was both as a scriptwriter but also someone who could do stuff off the cuff. He was classless and funny and warm.”

Source: BBC, Daily Mail

4 Responses

  1. Actually, there were three ‘different’ “Planks”, The first was an episode of his 1964 TV show, called “Sykes and a Plank” with Hattie Jacques.

    Another version was made in 1967 which ran 45 mins. costarring Tommy Cooper, Jimmy Edwards & Roy Castle (plus heaps of well-known British talent).

    In 1979, Thames TV financed a new version for ITV – it was a 30 minute piece starring Sykes, Arthur Lowe, Jimmy Edwards and again, a heap of well known Brit comedians.

    The Plank itself (according to Wikipedia) was auctioned last December for “One-Thousand-and-Fifty pounds”!

  2. Sykes didn’t have the public recognition of his peers, like Milligan, but was regarded as the comedian’s comedian. Partial blindness dogged him for years, but didn’t really stop him from producing brilliant comedy. Truly one of the greats.

  3. I loved Eric Sykes when i was a kid – i was fascinated knowing he was deaf, and yet he was so wonderfully interactive and hilarious in his series with the sublime Hattie Jacques. He will be missed. Another British comedic legend gone.

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