Eric Sykes Kinnear, Beryl Reid, and Norman Rossington. It was his last screen appearance with Hattie Jacques. The film employed an idea drawn from the British showbiz tradition in which extras used the word "rhubarb" to simulate low-level background dialogue, which had also been a running joke in "The Goon Show". In 1981, Sykes wrote, directed, and starred in the offbeat comedy "If You Go Down in the Woods Today" for Thames, with a cast including Roy Kinnear, Fulton Mackay, and George Sewell. During 1982, Sykes played the Chief Constable in the slapstick police comedy film "The Boys in Blue", which starred
Eric Sykes Edwards, Graham Stark, Hattie Jacques, and future "Goodies" star Bill Oddie. (The film was later remade for Thames Television in 1978.) Also in 1967, Sykes and his old friend Jimmy Edwards started touring with the theatrical farce "Big Bad Mouse" which, while keeping more or less to a script, gave them rein to ad lib and address the audience. They would return to the production on and off until 1975, touring the UK twice and also taking the show abroad, including to Australia. Returning to television, Sykes and Jacques appeared in the 1967 special "Sykes Versus ITV" with Tommy Cooper