Two lost episodes of Morecambe and Wise found in an abandoned cinema

Both episodes are set to be shown on BBC Two over Christmas, for the first time since they were broadcast in 1968

Morecambe and Wise on their television show in January 1973 (BBC)

Two lost episodes of The Morecambe & Wise Show have been recovered from an abandoned cinema in Sierra Leone.

The programmes were thought to be lost after being wiped by the BBC under an archiving policy which saw thousands of shows erased to make space for new recordings.

Philip Morris, an archive preservation expert who specialises in recovering missing tapes, had travelled to Sierra Leone to examine its archives in 2011, only to find the national television station had been destroyed in the country’s civil war. “There was absolutely nothing there,” he told The Times.

However, a local contact suggested he return to the capital Freetown as he believed some tapes had ended up in the city’s abandoned cinemas. One of the buildings contained “stacks and stacks” of films. Although most were in poor condition, Morris was able to recover the two Morecambe and Wise episodes. Both were in perfect condition.

The two 30-minute episodes include the sketches “Old Donegal”, “Instant Camera”, “Sailing Around the World”, “Eric and the Pools”, and “Hollywood Musical”. One features a guest appearance by Michael Aspel, then a young BBC presenter. The pair had returned to the BBC in 1968 after seven years making Two of a Kind for ATV.

Both episodes are set to be shown on BBC Two over Christmas, for the first time since they were broadcast in 1968. ”This is historically important for British television,” he said. “These things are national heritage, it belongs to us all.”

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