Victoria Wood in search of little Ern (...and little Eric)

WE won't be seeing a Christmas Special from Victoria Wood this year.

Nigh on six months' work go into the writing and recording of songs, sketches, spoofs of top dramas and all the complicated paraphernalia of putting the whole shebang together.

All other projects have to be put on hold. As for her beloved gang of gifted co-conspirators, the likes of long-time pals Julie Walters, Duncan Preston and Celia Imrie, well, much as they love performing with Victoria, they have to be booked a long time ahead these days.

But before you cancel the turkey and call the whole thing off, take cheer from the news that Ms Wood will still be with us in the guise of Sadie, the force of nature that was Eric Morecambe's mother – the woman who encouraged her reluctant son to perform comedy with the words: "You might as well. You're no good at anything else..."

Thank goodness for British show business that she did. Eric (born Eric Bartholomew in Morecambe in 1926) went on to be one half of the

nation's most beloved comedy duo, a national institution, joined at the hip for more than 40 years until Morecambe's death in 1984.

Victoria Wood – the first woman to truly make her mark on comedy since Joyce Grenfell, and a trailblazer for the female stand-ups who've followed in her footsteps since she appeared on the New Faces TV talent show in 1975 – is now out to find the boys who'll play the young Eric and Ernie for the BBC2 drama When Eric Met Ernie.

"We're going to the usual dance groups and theatre schools," she says, her Lancashire accent still very much in evidence, despite decades living in north London. "But we also wanted to give a chance to kids without any formal training.

"At the time that he met Eric, Ernie was a seasoned song and dance man aged 13 or 14, and had been performing in a double act with his dad. He was top-of-the-bill in a touring variety show called Youth Takes A Bow. Ernie was a highly disciplined and focused performer who, by that time had already played the London Palladium.

"Eric was at the bottom of the billing, and his act was as a 'daftie', wearing long shorts and a beret, holding a big lollipop, and singing a song called I'm Not All There. At first the two were wary of each

other – I think Eric saw Ernie as a bit of an egg-head – but they soon became friends, encouraged by Sadie."

The film follows the development of the boys' friendship and the early part of their career. At one point during the war Ernie had no digs and Sadie invited him to stay, putting him in bed with Eric. Like so many parts of the act that came later, the scenes in the TV series where the two men share a flat and are seen in bed (with Eric smoking his pipe, to appear 'manly' and to underline the platonic nature of the relationship), there was a firm basis in truth.

Sadie could apparently see the comedic potential of Eric and Ernie (born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds in 1925) as a double act before anyone else had spotted it. They had complementary talents and, crucially, they really liked each other.

Initially, the act was heavily influenced by those of other straight one/daft one duos like Abbott and Costello and Flanagan and Allen, but Morecambe and Wise had a certain something else, and they were

successful together on stage before going on to make their name in radio. But their first TV series in 1954 was a flop.

"Initially, they thought about giving up, but quickly realised they'd allowed themselves to be bossed around too much by the Oxbridge types in TV, and what they had to do was be true to their own ideas," says Wood, who is executive producer of the film, which is based on her ideas and has been scripted by Peter Bowker.

"We're probably looking for four boys, really – two who look about 10 or 11 but may be slightly older, and two who can play Eric and Ernie at the age of 14 and 15 years old. We're quite open, and can adjust the script around whoever we find.

"It doesn't matter what they look like, but the hardest part will probably be finding boys who have Eric's sort of 'funny bone'." Victoria will be auditioning the boys along with casting director

Jessica Ronane, who found the talent for Billy Elliot.

Filming starts at the end of August, and Victoria Wood is looking forward to playing Sadie, who didn't want her son to have a boring job and could see before he did that he could be fulfilled by life as a performer.

She herself was already successful on the comedy circuit before New Faces, which also gave a leg-up to many others who went on to become household names, like Lenny Henry.

After decades of making us laugh until it hurt with her eponymous comedy shows as well as series such as Pat and Margaret, dinnerladies and Acorn Antiques – work which she not only performed but wrote – Wood has become as feted for that writing talent as for her star turn before the cameras. Writing seems to take up most of her life now. Separated amicably eight years ago from her magician husband Geoffrey (The Great Soprendo) Durham, and with their children now grown-up, one at university and the other about to go, she says she sometimes looks back in wonder.

"I do think 'how did you manage it all?' but it's the same for many

busy working mums... Kids, the husband, the house, the manic job. Stirring a pan, loading the washing machine, shouting at someone about their homework, worrying about my own work. At the time you just get on with it."

She hasn't given up writing or even performing as the funny woman, but in recent times Victoria Wood has earned plaudits for her straight

drama roles and scripts. She won writing and performance Baftas for Housewife, 49, a portrait of a wartime marriage.

Next year will see a film of her script about the late pianist Joyce Hatto and the false recordings released by her husband after her death.

Wood's interests have also turned to travel documentaries, with the series Victoria's Empire taking her to some of the corners of empire with towns named Victoria.

Her own TV comedy favourite of recent times has been Gavin and Stacey – now sadly gone from our screens – and the US "mokumentary" series Modern Family. It's safe to say, though, that she's no fan of the modern genre of talent show.

"They don't appeal to me because they treat people as disposable. I don't object to their existence but don't watch them.

"The problem I have with those like Over The Rainbow and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, is that they put every other show at a disadvantage. If you're producing a musical that doesn't have a TV talent show tie-in, it's harder to sell tickets."

Before she can get her period wig on as Sadie, there's the little

matter of finding those boys. Pinning down the right individual talents who also spark off each other is quite a task. "Yes, it will be, but then if we get it right, it might be the start of a great partnership. You never know..."

Now there's an incentive. Come out boys, wherever you are.

HUNT FOR A YOUNG STAR

Boys who would like to be considered for the part of either young Eric or young Ernie should send a photo and their details to [email protected] Selected candidates will then be invited to audition in Manchester on July 8 or Leeds on July 15.

Those auditioning for Eric will have an authentic northern (preferably Lancashire) accent, be able to sing and should prepare a few minutes of stand-up/silly jokes or a song or an Eric Morecambe impersonation. For Ernie, boys should have a genuine northern (preferably Yorkshire) accent, an unbroken voice, be under five-foot tall, and have a basic ability at tap and singing. They should prepare three or four minutes of tap dancing and/or song and dance.