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Hancock’s Half Hour
Tony Hancock (in black) and Sid James
Genre
2 November 1954 to 30 June 1961
No. of series
7
(television)
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy , and later television comedy , series of the 1950s. It starred Tony Hancock , with Sid James ; the radio version also co-starring Hattie Jacques , Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams . The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone.
The series was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson , and the radio version produced by Dennis Main Wilson for most of its run. After Main Wilson departed for his television career, his role was taken by Tom Ronald. The television series was produced by Duncan Wood . The distinctive tuba-based theme tune was composed by Wally Stott .
Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, as a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam .
Contents
8 External links
Radio series
The comedy actor Sid James played a criminally-inclined confidant of Hancock, who usually succeeded in conning him each week; Bill Kerr appeared as Hancock's Australian lodger, a character who became noticeably dim-witted in the later shows. A young Kenneth Williams, taking his first job in comedy, provided the funny voices for all the minor characters in the show each week. Moira Lister appeared in the first series, before being replaced by Andrée Melly for the next two; both women played love interest for Hancock's character, in essentially 'straight' roles. In the fourth and fifth series a comedienne, Hattie Jacques, provided comedy in the female role as the harridan Grizelda Pugh, who was Hancock's secretary and Sid's occasional girlfriend. By this time, Hancock's difficulties with women had become part of the characterisation.
The series broke with the variety tradition which was then dominant in British radio comedy , highlighting a new genre: the sitcom or situation comedy . Instead of the traditional variety mix of sketches, guest stars and musical interludes, the show's humour derived from characters and situations developed in a half-hour storyline. This then relatively novel format, of what was in effect a single sketch each week lasting the entire half-hour (though in the radio version James and the others sometimes played different roles), was reflected in the show's title, which aptly described the series as Hancock's "half-hour". Roger Wilmut , whose 1978 biography of Tony Hancock as a performer, credits two British radio comedy shows, already running in 1954, with establishing an uninterrupted 30 minute sitcom format: A Life of Bliss written by Godfrey Harrison and Life with the Lyons , a programme heavily based on the US tradition of sitcoms; he therefore dismisses the notion that Galton and Simpson invented the genre.
The comedy gradually shifted to observation, with a less strong emphasis on a narrative. The playlet "Look Back in Hunger" (spoofing John Osborne 's Look Back in Anger ) in the episode "The East Cheam Drama Festival" from the fifth series, showed that writers Galton and Simpson were in touch with developments in the British theatre, in the use of sighs and silent pauses (something Osborne's style had in common with the plays of Harold Pinter ), whose work began to emerge towards the end of the series' run. In addition, the measured pacing of the episodes was unusual in an era of fast-talking radio comedians, such as Ted Ray , who typically used a machine-gun style of delivery to fill every single second of airtime.
Commissioning of series in the UK were then closer to the American practice with extensive runs not unknown, but in this case, with only two writers. Continuity in the idiom was yet to develop, and details changed to suit each episode. The domestic situation varied, but Hancock usually portrayed a 'resting' or hopeless down-at-heel actor and/or comedian (though some episodes showed him having runs of success, while some episodes depict him pursuing professional careers as fantasies), James was always on-the-fiddle in some way, Kerr gradually became dim and virtually unemployable (although he had started out as a fast-talking American-style Australian), and Hancock's 'secretary', Miss Pugh, had such a loose job description that in one celebrated episode she had cooked the Sunday lunch. At times the scripts would reflect topical realities of British life, such as rationing (during the Suez Crisis ) and a specific railway strike. With the notable exception of Drop the Dead Donkey decades later, sitcoms rarely contained such topical references.
Hancock's character had various addresses, but by the third radio series he had arrived at 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam. Sometimes this was portrayed as a council house, but occasionally there was a private landlord. In a few early episodes Hancock owned the house, and later this became the norm. The house changed to accommodate the cast: in some episodes it appeared to be a two-bedroom terraced house, with Kerr as Hancock's lodger; but in series four and five it had at least three bedrooms, as Miss Pugh was also resident in some episodes. In others she 'came round' each day, presumably from her own domicile. Railway Cuttings and East Cheam were fictitious, but Cheam is a real town in Surrey, located to the west of Sutton . The whole area is smart and expensive, and by creating 'Railway Cuttings, East Cheam' Galton and Simpson created an address for a snob who wanted to live in a 'posh' area, but could only afford the 'cheap end' (which in reality does not exist). In those days recordings of the radio shows were not commercially available, so the audience had to rely entirely on memory for details of who lived where or who did what in the show.
Episodes of the radio series were included in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS), designed to provide information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack . [1]
Television version
The television version appeared in 1956 under the same name and with the same writers, produced for the BBC by Duncan Wood . The television and radio versions alternated until 1959, when the final radio series and the fifth television series were both broadcast during the autumn season. Only Sid James transferred from the radio series, although Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques each made a couple of appearances. The television version drew on a stock company of actors, who played different supporting characters in each episode. Semi-regulars included Liz Fraser , John Le Mesurier , Hugh Lloyd , Arthur Mullard and John Vyvyan.
The final television series, broadcast in 1961, was retitled Hancock, as it was shortened from a half-hour to 25 minutes. For this final series Sid James was dropped from the cast, as Hancock feared they were coming to be seen as a double-act. Some of the most celebrated episodes of the TV series were produced in this final series, including " The Blood Donor ", "The Radio Ham", "The Bedsitter" and " The Bowmans ". Hancock relocated to Earl's Court for the last series.
Some episodes of the radio series were wiped , and telerecordings of some episodes from the third and fourth television series were destroyed. No episodes survive from the first season of the TV series. The surviving radio episodes, which sometimes exist only in edited versions that have been cut for overseas sale to commercial radio stations, were released as CD box sets between 2000 and 2003 (see below).
In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Hancock's Half Hour was placed 24th. In 1962, the show became the first imported programme to win a Jacob's Award following its transmission on Telefís Éireann , the Republic of Ireland 's national TV station. [2]
In 1956 and 1957 Hancock starred in two series of a sketch show made by Associated-Rediffusion for ITV television , which were broadcast either side of his first television series on the BBC.
In 1972 a Norwegian tv-show called Fleksnes Fataliteter aired for the first time. It was based on scripts from Hancock's Half Hour. The show became trilingual, as it usually starred both Swedish and Danish actors, and was broadcast in Sweden and Denmark as well as Norway.
Radio series episodes
Most of the radio episodes were recorded between one day and three weeks in advance of broadcast, except for Series 6 which was mostly recorded during a three-week period in June 1959 in order to avoid clashing with the recording of Series 5 of the television show.
The regular cast members generally played "themselves" -- that's to say, the characters were called by the actor's real name). However, there were exceptions:
Kenneth Williams played a series of unnamed characters referred to in the scripts — but not on air — as "Snide", as well as various other characters.
Alan Simpson played an unnamed man who listened patiently to Hancock's long-winded stories in early episodes
Hattie Jacques played Griselda Pugh, Hancock's secretary.
Two wiped episodes of the radio series — "The Blackboard Jungle" (series 3) and "The New Secretary" (series 4) — were recovered in 2002 from off-air home recordings made by a listener.
Series 1
16 episodes, 2 November 1954–15 February 1955
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Moira Lister, Sid James, Alan Simpson
Episodes 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 15 no longer exist.
Episodes 5 and 15 feature the only Hancock guest appearances by Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers respectively.
Three of Hancock's co-stars in the first series were born in South Africa .
Series 2
12 episodes, 17 April–2 July 1955
Regular cast: Harry Secombe (Episodes 1–4), Tony Hancock (Episodes 4–12), Bill Kerr , Sid James , Andrée Melly, Kenneth Williams , Alan Simpson
Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12 (more than half the series, including all four of Harry Secombe's guest appearances) no longer exist.
Shortly before the series was due to be recorded Hancock walked out on a theatre performance suffering from "nervous exhaustion" and flew to Rome. Harry Secombe was brought in at short notice to replace Hancock and starred in the first three episodes, and made a guest appearance in the fourth. Hancock himself returned for the fourth episode and completed the series as scheduled.
Series 3
20 episodes, 10 October 1955–29 February 1956
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Andrée Melly, Alan Simpson
Episodes 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 17 no longer exist. Only a short extract from episode 12 survives; this plus episodes 8 and 16 only survive in poor sound quality.
Series 4
20 episodes, 14 October 1956–24 February 1957
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques (debut in Episode 5)
All episodes still exist.
20 episodes, 1 January–3 June 1958
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques
All episodes still exist.
Cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Warren Mitchell
This episode still exists.
Special remake series for BBC Transcription Services
4 episodes, recorded 23 November–30 November 1958
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques
These episodes are remakes for overseas sales, rewritten to remove any topical or UK-specific references.
All episodes still exist.
14 episodes, 29 September–29 December 1959
Regular cast: Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James
All episodes still exist.
Tony Hancock was a regular in all series.
Sid James was a regular in series 1–6.
Kenneth Williams appeared in every episode of series 2, playing a variety of characters.
Patricia Hayes appeared very occasionally in series 4–6 as Mrs Cravatte, Hancock's landlady.
Series 1
6 episodes, broadcast live, every 2 weeks, 7 July–14 September 1956
No recordings exist.
6 episodes, broadcast live, every 2 weeks, 1 April–10 June 1957
Episode 1 exists on a telerecording .
Series 3
12 regular episodes, broadcast live, 9 September–23 December 1957
Episodes 1, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 exist on telerecordings.
Series 4
13 episodes; episodes 1–4 pre-recorded on telerecordings, 5–13 live, broadcast 26 December 1958–27 March 1959 (skipping 27 February)
Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 exist on telerecordings.
Episodes 2 and 10 also exist on audio recordings.
Episodes 2 and 8 also do exist on audio recordings but in poorer quality.
Episodes 7 and 13 still remain missing.
Series 5
10 episodes, pre-recorded on videotape, broadcast 25 September–27 November 1959
The entire series exists on telerecordings.
Series 6
10 episodes, pre-recorded on videotape, broadcast 19 February–6 May 1960
The entire series exists.
Shortened to 25 minutes per episode and retitled Hancock.
6 episodes, pre-recorded on videotape, broadcast 26 May–30 June 1961
The entire series exists on telerecordings.
Chronological listing of Hancock's radio and television broadcasts, 1954–1961
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 1: 2 November 1954–15 February 1955
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 2: 17 April–2 July 1955
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 3: 10 October 1955–29 February 1956
The Tony Hancock Show, Series 1 ( Associated-Rediffusion for ITV ): 4 April–1 June 1956
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 1: 7 July–14 September 1956
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 4: 14 October 1956–24 February 1957
The Tony Hancock Show, Series 2: 16 November 1956- 25 January 1957
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 2: 1 April–10 June 1957
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 3: 9 September–23 December 1957
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 5: 1 January–3 June 1958
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 4: 26 December 1958–27 March 1959
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 5: 25 September–27 November 1959
Hancock's Half Hour, radio Series 6: 29 September–29 December 1959
Hancock's Half Hour, television Series 6: 19 February–6 May 1960
Hancock, television Series 7: 26 May–30 June 1961
Information on series dates taken from the book Tony Hancock: Artiste (1978) by Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen ISBN 0-413-38680-5 (subsequent reprints in 1983 and 1986 contain additional details) Information on wiped radio episodes taken from the CD box sets (BBC Worldwide, 2000–2003).
Commercial releases
Regular commercial releases of the radio series mainly date from the end of the 1970s onwards. Four episodes of the TV series were re-recorded and released on LP format by Pye ("The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham" in 1961) and Decca Records .
The radio series of Hancock's Half Hour was first released on cassette by the Random label in 1999, though because only 10 volumes were made with 4 episodes each, a release of the radio series was never completed on cassette. A year later the remainder of Series 1 of the radio series was released as a boxset on CD. Series 2–6 followed throughout the next three years. The series has also been given three compilation CDs.
The television series of Hancock's Half Hour was first released on VHS in 1984 under BBC Enterprises (now Worldwide) in an incomplete form. Six videos were released each containing three episodes, and were mainly drawn from the last three series,. The next video was not to be for another nine years, and that was a compilation. Three years later, a video was released containing the first three remaining episodes. Two later videos were released in 1997 and another featuring "The Train Journey" was released in 1999.
The first DVD to be released was in 2001, which was a re-release of The Best of video, which was Series 7 without the final episode, "The Succession: Son and Heir". The next DVD was to be released in 2004, containing the first five episodes and the rarely seen "Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes". However, 2entertain released a boxset in 2007 called The Tony Hancock Collection, containing every existing episode and new bonus features, including Hancock interview from the Face to Face in 1960.
In June and August 2009, six long-lost TV episodes from series 4 of the TV version where found after several years, However 2 of them are currently in poorer quality.
As of 2009, the surviving radio episodes are repeated weekly on the digital network BBC Radio 7 , chronologically sequenced.
BBC DVD will re-release all of the surviving tv episodes and possibly the "recently found 6 tv episodes of the fourth tv series" in another DVD Boxset called The Hancock's Half Hour TV Collection" "containing all 45 sole surviving tv episodes whose will include the 6 found tv series 4 episodes in a decending chronological order" this will be released about 2011.
References
^ Hellen, Nicholas (1999-07-11). "Julie Andrews to sing to Brits during nuclear attack". Sunday Times. 
^ The Irish Times, "BBC wins award for Hancock series in first T.E. critic's selection", 5 December 1962
External links
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC sitcom (1954-62) written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson .
Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?! - Twelve Angry Men
Stop messing about! - catchphrase of the "Snide" character, played by Kenneth Williams
[to doctor at blood donating clinic] A *pint*? That's very nearly an armful.
I wish I was a chestnut tree, nourished by the sun, with leaves and twigs and branches, and conkers by the ton.
FELLOW PASSENGER:
Windows on aeroplanes do not open. This is a pressurised cabin - if the windows opened the plane would explode! HANCOCK: Well that's bad workmanship, old man.
..... Well the Hun was throwing everything at me, three on my tail, I was looping the loop at a hundred and twenty miles an hour. Only one thing to do: I stepped out on the wing, controlling the plane with my feet, grabbed the bombs out of the racks and threw 'em at him! Did my victory roll over Hendon airport picking up handkerchiefs off the tarmac with my wing tips .....
This one nearer the window has the best view of the Swiss mountain scenery, which is the reason I'm here. Yes, this'll do. On the other hand, bloke in that bed gets his breakfast in bed first ..... Well, when you've seen one mountain you've seen the lot.
..... right through The Battle Of Britain, painted so many swastikas on the side of my kite some our lads used to think I was the enemy .....
BURLY PLAIN-CLOTHES POLICEMAN:
How did you know we were policemen? HANCOCK: I, er ..... I looked it up on the passenger list. I should never have known otherwise, you could be anybody: Cabinet Ministers or Italian footballers or Sadlers Wells ballet .....
SID JAMES:
The plane is still on the ground. HANCOCK: So it is, so it is! Good grief, I'd better tell the pilot before he pulls the wheels up!
HANCOCK:
Well, it was a mistake anybody could make. SIR JASPER WORTHINGTON Q.C.: A mistake? An important murder case and you turn up at the wrong court! You spend three hours making an impassioned plea for a life sentence on a man accused of passing betting slips in Hyde Park!
HANCOCK:
How dare you! I shall sue you for libel! SIR JASPER WORTHINGTON Q.C.: Don't you mean 'slander'? HANCOCK: Do I? Hang on a minute, no I don't, you can't catch me - 'slander' is setting fire to people .....
..... cross in the corner, I don't want any publicity - get too many begging letters. If they're anything like the ones I send out I don't want to know!
HANCOCK:
You remember that nine hundred thousand pounds I won? SID JAMES: Oh yeah. HANCOCK: Well I want two bob of it - I'm hungry! SID JAMES: Hancock, we've been all over this before, boy - it's all tied up. HANCOCK: I know it is! In little bags in your bedroom!
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