BBC ordered script from Open All Hours writer Ray Clarke

They were the undisputed kings of the entertainment show – but Morecambe & Wise were once lined up to star in their own sitcom, it can be revealed today.

The BBC commissioned a script for the duo from Roy Clarke, writer of Last Of The Summer Wine and Keeping Up Appearances, but it never saw the light of day.

Author Graham McCann, who has written the most comprehensive biography of Eric and Ernie, uncovered a contract that the corporation issued for the 30-minute script in 1973, while he was researching Clarke's other big sitcom hit, Open All Hours.

It is the first time that details of the sitcom have ever been made public. Even Clarke had forgotten about the commission, telling McCann: 'I didn't know about that. If it happened then I've forgotten about it. And I can't imagine me forgetting that. Because I loved Morecambe and Wise!'

Writing about his discovery on Chortle today, McCann suggests that Morecambe & Wise had second thoughts about pushing ahead with the sitcom in case it flopped and damaged their standing as Britain's best-loved comics.

'They had worked very, very, hard to get to this lofty position,' McCann writes. 'They did not want to undermine all they had achieved by making – potentially – a sitcom that flopped.'

And he argues that sitcom elements, such as the famous image of the pair sharing a bed, could be incorporated into their existing primetime variety show, which had become 'the ultimate popular cultural sponge'.

• How I uncovered the forgotten Morecambe & Wise sitcom plan

Published: 15 May 2015