Sykes is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 that aired on BBC1

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 from 1972 to 1979. Starring Eric Sykes

Eric Sykes

Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...

 and Hattie Jacques

Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...

, it was written by Eric Sykes, who had previously starred with Jacques in Sykes and A...

Sykes and A...

Sykes and a... is a black-and-white British sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques that aired on BBC1 from 1960 to 1965. It was written by Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, John Antrobus and Spike Milligan...

(1960-1965) and Sykes and a Big, Big Show

Sykes and a Big, Big Show

Sykes and a Big, Big Show is a British sitcom-sketch show that aired on BBC1 in 1971. Starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques, it was written by Eric Sykes and directed by Harold Snoad and Douglas Argent...

(1971).
Forty-three of the 1970s colour episodes were remakes of scripts for the 1960s b/w series, such as "Bus" based on 'Sykes and a Following' from 1964 and the episode "Stranger" with guest star Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 based on 'Sykes and a Stranger' from 1961.

Sykes had the same premise as Sykes and A... with Sykes, Jacques, and Richard Wattis

Richard Wattis

Richard Cameron Wattis , was an English character actor.He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the family electrical engineering firm before becoming a professional actor. After his debut with Croydon Repertory Theatre he made many stage...

 reprising their former identical roles, with Deryck Guyler

Deryck Guyler

Deryck Guyler was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as Please Sir! and Sykes.-Early life:...

 as a new character PC Corky Turnbull. The series was brought to an end by the death of Hattie Jacques

Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...

 of a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 on 6 October 1980.

Cast

• Eric Sykes
  Eric Sykes
  Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
  
   - Himself
• Hattie Jacques
  Hattie Jacques
  Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
  
   - Harriet (Hat) Sykes
• Richard Wattis
  Richard Wattis
  Richard Cameron Wattis , was an English character actor.He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the family electrical engineering firm before becoming a professional actor. After his debut with Croydon Repertory Theatre he made many stage...
  
   - Charles Fulbright-Brown (series 1-3)
• Deryck Guyler
  Deryck Guyler
  Deryck Guyler was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as Please Sir! and Sykes.-Early life:...
  
   - PC Corky Turnbull
• Joy Harrington - Melanie Rumbelow
• Joan Sims
  Joan Sims
  Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
  
   - Madge Kettlewell

Plot

With the same premise as Sykes and A..., unmarried twin

Twin

A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...

s Eric and Harriet (Hat) Sykes are now living at an end of terrace house, number 28, Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

, two doors down from their house in the previous programme. As before, Eric is childish and accident-prone while Hattie is patient. Their neighbour is the snob

Snob

A snob is someone who believes that some people are inherently inferior to him or her for any one of a variety of reasons, including real or supposed intellect, wealth, education, ancestry, taste, beauty, nationality, et cetera. Often, the form of snobbery reflects the snob's personal attributes...

bish unmarried Charles Fulbright-Brown, and PC Corky Turnbull was introduced as the local policeman in the episode 'Walk'. Corky's wife is the unseen

Unseen character

In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...

 Elsie. (Deryck Guyler also played Corkys brother Wilfred Turnbull, a train attendant on the Glasgow to London sleeper train, in the episode 'Journey'). Following the death of Richard Wattis in 1975, a new neighbour Melanie Rumbelow moves in. The local baker

Baker

A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...

 is the widowed Madge Kettlewell (Joan Sims

Joan Sims

Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...

), who appears occasionally, and who fancies Eric, (first seen in the episode 'Football').

Series One (1972)

1. "Burglary" (14 September 1972)
2. "Uncle" (21 September 1972)
3. "Walk" (28 September 1972)
4. "Menace" (5 October 1972)
5. "Boat" (12 October 1972)
6. "Stranger" (19 October 1972)
7. "Football" (26 October 1972)
8. "Job" (2 November 1972)
9. "Ankle" (9 November 1972)
10. "Mouse" (16 November 1972)
11. "Dream" (23 November 1972)
12. "Marriage" (30 November 1972)
13. "Cat" (7 December 1972)
14. "Journey" (14 December 1972) (This episode only exists as a b/w telerecording.)
15. "Lodger" (21 December 1972)
16. "Cafe" (28 December 1972)

Series Two (1973)

1. "An Engagement" (10 September 1973)
2. "Bus" (17 September 1973)
3. "Spy Ring (24 September 1973)
4. "Golf" (1 October 1973)
5. "Rolls" (8 October 1973)
6. "Peeping Tom" (15 October 1973)
7. "Fancy Dress" (22 October 1973)
8. "Window Smasher" (29 October 1973)
9. "Gamble" (5 November 1973)
10. "Uniform" (12 November 1973)
11. "Bird" (19 November 1973)
12. "Protest" (26 November 1973)
13. "Salesman" (3 December 1973)
14. "Haunting" (10 December 1973)
15. "Nest Egg" (17 December 1973)

Series Three (1974)

1. "The Stolen Bentley" (17 October 1974)
2. "Holiday In Bogsea" (24 October 1974)
3. "The Pub" (31 October 1974)
4. "The Band" (7 November 1974)
5. "Two Birthdays" (14 November 1974)
6. "A Bandage" (21 November 1974)
7. "Log Cabin" (28 November 1974)
8. "The Fog" (5 December 1974)

Series Four (1975)

1. "Commercial" (24 October 1975)
2. "Ski-ing" (31 October 1975)
3. "Caravan" (7 November 1975)
4. "Reporter" (14 November 1975)
5. "Marriage" (28 November 1975)
6. "Night Out" (5 December 1975)
7. "Christmas Party" (12 December 1975)

Series Five (1976)

1. "Home Movies" (11 November 1976)
2. "Fishing" (18 November 1976)
3. "Lodgers" (25 November 1976)
4. "Holiday Camp" (2 December 1976)
5. "Inventions" (9 December 1976)
6. "Flashback" (16 December 1976)
7. "Squatters" (23 December 1976)
8. "Bath" (30 December 1976)

Series Six (1978)

1. "The Hypnotist" (4 January 1978)
2. "Picket Line" (11 January 1978)
3. "Football Match" (18 January 1978)
4. "Decorating" (25 January 1978)
5. "End of the World" (1 February 1978)
6. "Television Film" (8 February 1978)

Series Seven (1979)

1. "The Drop Out" (5 October 1979)
2. "Fanny-By-Gaslight" (12 October 1979)
3. "The Stay-At-Home Holiday" (19 October 1979)
4. "Bad Medicine" (26 October 1979)
5. "The Insurance Money" (2 November 1979)
6. "Six Million Dollar Sykes" (9 November 1979)
7. "The BBC Honours Sykes" (16 November 1979)

DVD releases

The first series of Sykes was released on DVD in the UK (Region 2

DVD region code

DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

) in 2004. Several episodes in this set were reassembled from the original studio sessions rather than the broadcast masters. This not only yielded better quality, but also allowed scenes that had been cut for timing purposes to be restored, and for outtakes to be included as extras. Conversely, since the colour videotape of the episode "Journey" had been wiped this episode was taken from a black and white copy. All of the episodes are digitally remastered, and a brief featurette explains some of the restoration techniques employed.

As of 2011 no further series have yet been released.