Chapters
00:00:00 S01E01 19541102 The First Night Party
00:28:43 S01E03 19541116 The Idol
00:57:46 S01E04 19541123 The Boxing Champion
01:26:41 S01E06 19541207 The New Car
01:56:03 S01E10 19550104 Cinderella Hancock
02:24:52 S01E11 19550111 A Trip To France

Series Details

Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also costarred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone.

Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a downatheel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam.

The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.

The radio version was 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 tubabased theme tune was composed by Angela Morley.

Broadcast Copyright

The 50 year period of broadcast copyright under section 14(2) of the UK's Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/14) has expired for all items included in this collection.