Where did the short fat hairy legs line come from?
I’ve really no idea. It was long before my time with them. Like so many things, it was almost accidental. I wanted Ern to shoot himself in the foot whilst talking about being a writer, and the line was “Have you seen the play what I wrote.” That was just a line, that’s all it was, a throw away line, but it stuck.

What about Tea Ern, was that one of yours?
Yes. I was very fond of that. When we had guest stars, they almost begged to be given that line. We did it almost every week and every week it got a big laugh.

When they moved to Thames, did you think it was a mistake?
I thought we had all reached our peak. As a writer, I think you have, if you are lucky, twelve years where you are at your peak. I was very lucky, I had more than that, but it’s normally twelve years.
When you reach your absolute peak, when you get there, it’s difficult to stay there. At the very top on the pinnacle. I felt that by the time we’d got to ITV, we’d done it. There was nowhere else to go. What can you do after twenty eight million viewers.
Because it was Eric and Ernie, two mates of mine; they weren’t stars then, they were two mates; I went with them. I didn’t go straight away because I was still under contract with the BBC.

What did you do during that time?
I wrote for Jimmy Tarbuck, Little and Large, Ronnie Corbett, lots of people, and of course my own radio series. It was a crowded twelve months.

Did you find it a relief not to write for Morecambe & Wise for twelve months?
No, not really. The pressure was still there, it was self inflicted pressure. I put the pressure on myself because I find it difficult to say no. Anyone who want me to write for them, it’s hard to say no.

Did you know that after the twelve months you would be joining them at Thames?
Yes. After the twelve month I went there. But it was obvious by that time we were all getting old.

One of the things in your book is the time you bated a reporter about the arguments between Eric and Ern…
Yes. There was never any friction between them in real life, but I’d had a long day and it was after the opening of The Play What I Wrote. I was tired, so so tired and there was this young woman, trying to make a name for herself. She was interviewing me and she asked me if there were any rows between Eric and Ern. I decided to pile the agony on for her. I told her they were fighting, and drunk, and they were taking drugs and everything. In the end everyone was laughing, she didn’t think it was very funny, but I said don’t ever ask me that question again.

Ernie often mentioned that one of the things they may have missed out on in later life, was doing a sitcom. Have you ever thought of writing a sitcom?
I wrote one every week. You think back to the Morecambe & Wise show, the flat sketch and some of the plays lasted for twenty minutes. What a lot of people don’t realise, I did because I knew what I was doing, is that I was combining light entertainment and sitcom. It’s all there.

After Eric and Ern sadly passed away, what did you do then?
Mostly radio because that was my first love.

Are you still working, what are you doing at the moment?
I am half way through writing a note for the milkman. Do you spell pint with a y?

We would like to thank Eddie Braben for kindly giving us his time and answering our questions. We highly recommend his book, The Book What I Wrote which is available from most stores.