THE roots of Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens' homage to Morecambe and Wise, Eric And Little Ern, run deep.

"Ian and I go back a long way to when we were at drama school 30 years ago," says Jonty, who will be appearing with Ian at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday.

"We're members of the Stage Golfing Society at Richmond Golf Club in Surrey; we're both golfers and every year we do a show for the golf club members, a little turn. I've always done voices; I've always done Eric [Morecambe], and I said to Ian he looked like Little Ern [Ernie Wise]. 'I look nothing like him,' he said. 'Oh, yes, you do,' I said."

Ian and Jonty duly started to do their affectionate, moving and humorous homage to "the greatest comedy double act that Britain has ever seen", recreating some of the finest moments of Eric and Ernie’s television and stage performances in a show where cherished moments from the archives, penned by Eddie Braben, Dick Hills and Sid Green, sit alongside new material created by the performers.

"We took it to the Edinburgh Fringe last year, where the Daily Mail said 'Eric and Ernie are re-born, and Gary Morecambe, Eric's son, saw it and has been very supportive ever since, as has his sister, Gail," says Jonty.

The show's subsequent West End run elicited an Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment, and this extended version is now doing the regional rounds with such classic material as the original Grieg Piano Concerto sketch and Eric’s take on Shakespeare.

"Two weeks before Eddie Braben died, he gave us permission to use original material, which was fantastic for us," says Jonty.

Eric And Little Ern has a narrative structure put together by Jonty and Ian.

"In 1999, Ernie had been very ill in America, and we open the show with Ernie lying in a bed in a Slough hospital. A nurse comes in and pushes her glasses up her nose. It's Eric! And so, in this hospital room, they start to reminisce about their partnership, their friendship, and within that we weave in original Morecambe and Wise material from their television sketches," says Jonty.

"In the second half, we have Eric and Ernie performing in front of a red curtain, as if they were doing one of their live shows. The setting is the last hour of Ernie's life, and we do a lot of material from their live work, which we took from a recording at Croydon."

In Jonty's words, he and Ian had been jobbing actors, Ian appearing in Channel 5's Family Affairs and Jonty in BBC2's Peaky Blinders, until Eric And Little Ern materialised. "This show was always staring us in the face, and now I've gone bald it's even better," says Jonty, whose admiration for Morecambe and Wise is so apparent.

"It is 30 years now since they were together but they never seem to have gone away and we're very much aware of the love the public still has for them. They didn't just like them; they really loved them.

"There was nothing nasty about Eric and Ernie's comedy. Funny is funny, and it's still funny because it doesn't date and they didn't do anything in a particular time zone. You can feel the love for these guys and what's interesting is that young people are coming to the show too, so there's a young generation who are discovering them. It shows there's still a real appetite for family entertainment."

Reflecting on Morecambe and Wise's abiding appeal and impact, Jonty concludes: "Eric and Ernie spawned a whole generation of comedy, including my love of performing, and we love doing this homage.

"Ian are I are best mates; he was best man at my wedding, well, the best I could find, and we've been on an amazing journey with this show."

Seabright Productions present Eric And Little Ern, Grand Opera House, York, Monday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york