6m for BBC Two drama

Morecambe and Wise have proved they can still be ratings winners – more than 25 years after Eric’s death.

The 90-minute drama Eric and Ernie – created by Victoria Wood – won an impressive 6.08m viewers for BBC Two last night, or almost a quarter of all viewers at the time.

The much-trailed film, which starred comedian Daniel Rigby as a young Eric Bartholomew and Bryan Dick as Ernie Wiseman, was part of a night of programmes dedicated to the duo.

Beforehand, the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show from 1976 won 4.51million viewers, and a behind-the-scenes programme that followed had an audience of 3.59m.

The main drama outperformed BBC One’s new variety show The Magicians, hosted by Lenny Henry and featuring Barry & Stuart, among others. It entertained 5.57m viewers at 7.30pm.

The second episode of David Walliams and Matt Lucas Come Fly With Me attracted 7.54million viewers at 9pm, a strong performance but a huge 2.7million down on Christmas Day debut. Immediately afterwards, the final episode of series six of Live at the Apollo, featuring Lenny Henry, Mike Wilmot and Tommy Tiernan, scored 4.26million viewers.

Father Ted Night proved reliable but unspectacular for Channel 4, with the ‘making of’ programme Unintelligent Design winning 1.15million viewers at 9.05pm, with the episode spoofing Speed attracting 1.67million at 9.30pm.

Published: 2 Jan 2011