The much missed Eric Sykes and his wonderful sidekick, the equally missed Hattie Jacques reunited for this one off Thames special. Filmed before a live audience, each sketch was a dig at some television genre or other. Leslie Noyes appeared as foil/straightman whilst Dilys Watling was there to provide the musical items. Despite the impressive credentials, 'Sykes - With The Lid Off' sadly was a waste of time and talent.
The first sketch saw Eric trying to sing a romantic duet with Hattie, only for Leslie Noyes to constantly interrupt him. A recurring item had Eric as either an actor, a ventriliquist, a mime artist etc about to marry a young woman and peforming his wedding vows in the manner of each of those professions.
The only half decent sketch featured Eric in a beer commercial who keeps getting things wrong during filming and having to do take after take. By the time he finally gets it right, he is absolutely legless on account of the amount of beer he has had to drink.
It is pretty lousy stuff to be honest. Fortunately, Eric and Hat would join company again the following year on the BBC when they revived the 'Sykes' series.
'With The Lid Off' was included on a three part DVD a few years ago, the other two specials being 'The Likes Of Sykes' and 'The Eric Sykes 1990 Show'. Neither of those shows were much good either.
The first sketch saw Eric trying to sing a romantic duet with Hattie, only for Leslie Noyes to constantly interrupt him. A recurring item had Eric as either an actor, a ventriliquist, a mime artist etc about to marry a young woman and peforming his wedding vows in the manner of each of those professions.
The only half decent sketch featured Eric in a beer commercial who keeps getting things wrong during filming and having to do take after take. By the time he finally gets it right, he is absolutely legless on account of the amount of beer he has had to drink.
It is pretty lousy stuff to be honest. Fortunately, Eric and Hat would join company again the following year on the BBC when they revived the 'Sykes' series.
'With The Lid Off' was included on a three part DVD a few years ago, the other two specials being 'The Likes Of Sykes' and 'The Eric Sykes 1990 Show'. Neither of those shows were much good either.
