Comedy scriptwriter Braben dies

Comedy writer Eddie Braben, the third man behind the success of Morecambe and Wise, has died at the age of 82, his manager said.

Norma Farnes said Braben, who also wrote for Ken Dodd, died following a short illness.

Ms Farnes said: "The writer Eddie Braben, the third man behind the success of Morecambe and Wise, died this morning at the age of 82 after a short illness.

"It was Billy Cotton Jnr at the BBC who recognised the brilliance of Eddie's writing was the ideal marriage that would guarantee the success of Morecambe and Wise. He is survived by his loving wife Dee, three children and six grandchildren."

Sir Bruce Forsyth, who worked with Braben on Play Your Cards Right, said: "This is sad news, it really is. He was a fantastic writer."

The Strictly Come Dancing host said he was surprised to hear of the comedian's death, because he had recently seen him and he had "looked fine".

Paying tribute to Braben's work, he said: "What he did for Eric (Morecambe) and Ernie (Wise) was incredible. He was the third man of the comedy. I wish I could have been doing the kind of shows he had written. His jokes and style of writing will be sorely missed in the business."

Ms Farnes added: "Eddie was a very humble man, a very quiet man and a very private man. He had a lot of integrity, which is in short supply in this business.

"I have to say - and he would have disagreed with this - that writing came easy to him, even on bad days, when he was writing Christmas shows for Eric and Ernie and he was under great pressure.

"He was a writer. And as Eric Sykes used to say, when you're a writer, you're a writer 24 hours of the day. That applies to Eddie very much. He was a great observationist."