Sykes and a... is a black-and-white British sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques that aired on BBC 1 from 1960 to 1965. It was written by Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, John Antrobus and Spike Milligan. Sykes and a... was the first television series to feature both Sykes and Jacques, who later starred in Sykes and a Big, Big Show and Sykes, the latter of which featured the same characters and reused some of the same scripts.

Cast

Plot

Eric is an accident-prone childlike man who lives with his twin sister Hattie in a terraced house, 24 Sebastopol Terrace, in East Acton. Both are unmarried. Their busybody neighbour Charles Brown often interferes, until he emigrates to Australia. The local policeman, who makes occasional appearances, is Corky Turnbull.

Episodes

Out of the 59 episodes, 32 have been lost, as well as the 1962 short episode featured in Christmas Night with the Stars.

Series One (1960)

The entire series is missing from the BBC Archives.

Series Two (1960)

Only "Sykes and a Holiday" still exists in the BBC Archives. In 2021 it was confirmed "Sykes and a Movie Camera" existed in the CBC archive in Canada, making it the earliest episode known to exist. The rest of this series is missing.

Series Three (1961)

Episodes 1 and 3 are missing from the BBC Archives. Episode 5 was previously missing from the archives; however it was recovered in 2023 as a result of the 'Film is Fabulous' event.

Series Four (1961)

Episodes 1, 4, 5 and 6 are missing from the BBC Archives.

Series Five (1962)

All the episodes of this series still exist in the BBC Archives.

Short Special (1962)

Series Six (1963)

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 are missing from the BBC Archives.

Series Seven (1964)

Episodes 3, 5 and 7 are missing from the BBC Archives.

Series Eight (1964)

Episodes 1, 3 and 4 are missing from the BBC Archives.

Series Nine (1965)

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 are missing from the BBC Archives.