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 Jaunty Jalopies". In 1970, Sykes returned to BBC television with a guest appearance in an episode of "Till Death Us Do Part". This was followed in 1971 by a six-episode series, "Sykes and a Big, Big Show", for the BBC and a special, "Sykes: With the Lid Off", for Thames Television. In 1972, seven years after the cancellation of "Sykes and A...", the BBC revived the series under the title "Sykes". Sixty-eight colour episodes of "Sykes" were made between 1972 and 1979; forty-three of the shows were re-workings of scripts from the 1960s series, which had been recorded in monochrome.