Eric and Ernie caught in candid moments

The BBC has released more than 140 previously unseen photographs of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise to mark the 50th anniversary of their TV show.

The Morecambe and Wise Show was first broadcast on BBC Two on September 2, 1968. They had previously starred in Two Of A Kind, which had run for seven years in ITV, as well as the short-lived 1954 flop Running Wild. However the promise of being able to make their shows in colour for the first time was enough to lure the pair over to the BBC.

Highlights of the collection include: images from their first series in 1968, candid shots of the pair in the garden of Eric Morecambe's home, and the duo with celebrity guests including Sir Elton John.

The pictures – which offers a comprehensive look behind the scenes of one of Britain’s most loved programmes – have all been recently unearthed and digitised by the BBC’s photo archive team. 

Here are 50 of the new images, released by BBC History:

Published: 1 Sep 2018