Sykes

A BBC sitcom that ran from 1972 to 1979 and which was preceded by the now largely lost due to "junking" Sykes and a.... (1960 - 1965) and Sykes and A Big, Big Show. Each of which features the eponymous Eric Sykes, played by Eric Sykes and Hattie "Hat" Sykes played by Hattie Jaques of Carry On fame.

The are a pair of twins who insist they are identical twins despite not only being the opposite sex, but also looking nothing alike (Eric is tall thin and rakish, Hat is short pleasantly large and baby faced) who live together in a modest house, on a modest street, in modest Middle England. Eric is reluctant to find any form of work, something Hat bemoans at times as she is the sensible one... but he'd rather try his hand at Get Rich Quick Schemes like buying a local truckers greasy spoon and run it cheap like the truckers like and cream off the profits.

They live next door to the snobby Mr. Brown, full name Charles Fulbright-Brown, who is a typical name dropper and social climber who thinks a lot of himself over the more working class Sykes twins despite being more or less in the same social stratum as them. They pretty much get on with each other despite both the twins (more so Eric, but sometimes Hat too) and Mr. Brown taking pot shots at each other.

The other main reoccurring character is local bobby on the beat PC Corky Turnbull who seems to be more tolerated by Hat than Eric and is more of an innocent than the rest of the cast, though it doesn't stop him from picking up on and trying to put a stop to the more illegal variations on Eric's hairbrained schemes.

Nowhere near as well loved as it's contemporaries such as Monty Python and even The Goodies a collection of Sykes episodes were release on DVD in 2004 but no more have seen a release since. Still it is fondly remembered by it's fans.