The BBC's David Sillito: Ernie Wise: Recovering after three weeks in intensive care

The surviving half of one of the UK's favourite comedy double acts, is now off the danger list. And his wife, Doreen, says she has been singing their favourite songs to try to cheer him up.

Wise, 73, whose partnership with the late Eric Morecambe remains one of the most enduring favourites with the British public, is seriously ill in a Florida hospital.

But he is now out of intensive care and recovering in a private hospital room.

Eric and Ernie: Enduring comedy favourites

Doreen, 68, said: "I didn't think he was going to make Christmas but, bless him, he did."

Morecambe and Wise became part of the staple diet for British comedy lovers in the 1970s and repeats of the show still pull in remarkable viewing figures.

Eric Morecambe died in 1984 following a heart attack while on stage at the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

Little Ern' played the straight man to Morecambe's zany joker but he was also an accomplished singer and dancer. The pair's Singing In The Rain sketch remains one of the all-time comedy classics.

The duo's Christmas Day shows were the most eagerly awaited on the festive TV schedule.

Their 1977 Christmas special attracted the biggest audience for a programme shown on a single channel - 27.5 million viewers, a figure only broken by the England v Argentina match in France 1998.

Sickness on holiday

Wise, who retired from show business following Morecambe's death, spent almost three weeks in intensive care after being taken ill at his holiday home in Florida.

He suffered his first heart attack shortly after returning from a Caribbean cruise.

The veteran comic was released within days but suffered another more serious attack five days later.

He was forced by ill health to withdraw from a BBC Omnibus tribute to Eric Morecambe which was screened over Christmas.