10 things you didn't know about Morecambe and Wise

5: Lucky strike

Morecambe and Wise owed their TV success to an actors' strike.

It was in 1960 that the duo's agent asked ITV if Morecambe and Wise could get their own show. But the memory of their 50s flop Running Wild was still strong, and ITV rejected the offer. But then came news that Equity, the actors' union, was threatening a massive strike. This led frightened ITV bosses to seek out any performers who were with VAF – the other big actors' union of the time. Morecambe and Wise were VAF-affiliated, so the executives grudgingly signed them up for Two of a Kind – the programme that would later become The Morecambe and Wise Show.