Based on their last UK tour

Laurel and Hardy’s last tour of the UK is to be the subject of a new 90-minute film for the BBC.

Writer Jeff Pope, who previously created the drama Mrs Biggs, has set the action in 1953, after the double act had split from producer Hal Roach and their film career had ignominiously ended with the flop Atoll K

However, they were well received by the public on Britain’s variety-hall stages – although their declining health meant they were destined not to work together for much longer. Hardy suffered a heart attack after the tour and died in 1957.

Shane Allen, the BBC's controller of comedy commissioning, said of the new drama: ‘Stan And Ollie is Jeff’s love letter to two pioneers and enduring giants of screen comedy.

‘It beautifully captures the deep emotional bond forged over a lifelong partnership as they reflect on their roller-coaster careers through the prism of this final UK farewell tour.

He added that it was ’an epic story about the world’s most famous comedy double-act to date told with great insight and heart’.

Published: 3 Dec 2013