During my childhood, Eric Sykes was one of those comics who was reliable. He appeared on television, in his own show, on radio and in film.
Sykes was funny but not, so I thought, a comic who was in the league of Peter Sellers, John Cleese or Woody Allen. What I didn't know was that Sykes wrote scripts with Spike Milligan for The Goon Show and also wrote for some great comics.
His sitcom, Sykes, lasted for more years than most British comedies. My memory of it is something that was gentle and perhaps that explains why I found Sykes reliable. By all accounts he was a decent man. He wasn't angry with the world or a depressive.
He was simply someone who could craft entertaining comedy.
