A new television drama about Morecambe and Wise traces their early years back to a chance meeting when Ernie Wise was a child performer in Bradford.

Eric and Ernie, to be broadcast on BBC2 on New Year’s Day, focuses on the making of the much-loved comedy double act.

As a child in the 1930s, Morley’s Ernie Wiseman was in the NigNog Club, a children’s club run by the Telegraph & Argus, which ran swimming and cycling activities and a show at the Alhambra.

In Eric & Ernie, a 1973 autobiography of Morecambe and Wise, Ernie recalls taking part in a NigNog revue at the Alhambra in September 1936. “It was my first appearance on a theatre stage, but what I remember most vividly was the party after the show with lots of wonderful things to eat, and a brown paper parcel of goodies in which we found little presents,” he writes.

He also appeared at the Alhambra in 1937 and 1938. In 1985, Ernie returned to the Alhambra as special guest at the theatre’s grand reopening following its refurbishment.

The Alhambra has provided the production team of the TV drama with an image of a poster featuring Ernie’s name, which hangs in the theatre.

The drama has been created by Victoria Wood, who also plays Eric’s mother. Vic Reeves plays his father, and Reece Shearsmith plays Ernie’s father.

The story spans 20 years, from the 1930s to 1954, the year of Morecambe and Wise’s first television series.