Hancock's Half Hour (1956)
- Genre
- comedy television series
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Length
- 7 seasons, 63 episodes
- Rating
- 7.4 of 10 from 9 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A struggling comedian named Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock lives in a rundown house in East Cheam. The show follows his everyday mishaps and attempts at getting by.
classicwittyunderstatedplayfulcharacter-drivenwryamusingslightly melancholic
What happens
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James, Bill Kerr and, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Williams. The television series also featured Sid James with regular appearances from John Le Mesurier, Hugh Lloyd, Warren Mitchell, Liz Fraser and Patricia Hayes. In the final television series, renamed simply Hancock, the supporting cast included established actors such as Jack Watling and Patrick Cargill. Hancock played an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel 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 tuba-based theme tune was composed by Wally Stott. Ten scripts (nine TV, one radio) were written but never recorded for a variety of reasons. The unused radio script for The Counterfeiter was finally recorded in 2019 with Kevin R. McNally as Tony Hancock. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Tony Hancock Show (1956)
Only Fools and Horses (1981)
Hancock (1963)
Abigail and Roger (1956)
Fawlty Towers (1975)
Rising Damp (1974)
The Warden (1951)
The Young Ones (1982)- More like this series, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.