The rumour goes that John Thaw and Dennis Waterman only agreed to do the 1976 Christmas show, if Eric and Ern agreed to do The Sweeney…
This was difficult, as at the time Morecambe & Wise were at the BBC and the Sweeney was a Thames show. Two years later, Eric and Ern moved over to Thames making the venture possible.
The plot involves a Professor Busby who has created a wonder drug that is being used to keep alive a Czech leader but the British government have cancelled his grant and declared the trial inconclusive. Because of this he is about to leave for America, taking his girlfriend and the last remaining samples with him.
The Czechs don't want this to happen and are trying to steal the drug to make their own whilst the British Government are trying to get it for analysis before he leaves.
The professors girlfriend is in cabaret with Morecambe & Wise (playing themselves) and is given the samples for safety. She hides them in Charlie (the ventriloquist dummy) and the whole thing ends with (predictably) a car chase involving her with Eric & Ern, The Sweeney, the Czechs and Government agents.
One interesting scene is Eric, climbing into the back of a speeding van being chased by the bad guys. He clambers out of the door and into the back before hurling frozen fish at the pursuing cars. The long shots would have been stunt men, but some of the mid shots definitely show Eric in the van!
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