Hancock s Half Hour: Complete Series One & Two

by Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Sid James (Reader)

Tony Hancock stars with Sid James and Kenneth Williams in the legendary BBC Radio comedy series. Created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1954, Hancock’s Half Hour was the radio vehicle that made Tony Hancock a household name. Each week listeners would be admitted to the sometimes fantastical, sometimes mundane life of “the lad ‘imself.” Aided and abetted by Sid James, Andrée Melly, Bill Kerr, and Kenneth Williams, Hancock would enter into the spirit of each episode with characteristic dolefulness. This collection of 15 episodes represents the surviving archive from the first two radio series. The episodes included are The First Night Party ; The Idol ; The Boxing Champion ; The New Car ; Cinderella Hancock ; A Trip to France ; The Monte Carlo Rally ; A House on the Cliff ; The Sheikh ; The End of the Series ; The Holiday Camp ; The Chef That Died of Shame ; The Rail Strike ; The Television Set ; and The Marrow Contest . 8 CDs. 7 hrs 23 mins.

1 pages, Audio CD

First published June 28, 1955

About the author

Raymond Percy Galton OBE was an English radio and television scriptwriter, best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Alan Simpson. Together they devised and wrote 1950s and 60s BBC sitcoms including Hancock's Half Hour (1954–1961), the first two series of Comedy Playhouse (1961–1963), and Steptoe and Son (1962–1974).

[With thanks to Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Susan]

Recently, I have become very interested in Fifties comedy. I read Kenneth Williams biography this year and would like to read more about Tony Hancock and Sid James. I recall my mother playing a long-player, with 'The Radio Ham,' and 'The Blood Donor,' and I thought it was wonderful, even, as a child, having no idea who the people on the record were. As such, I was keen to go back to the beginning and this Audible collection includes all that is left of the first and second series.

Series One (1954-1955) involves Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Moira Lister, Sid James and a usually un-named Kenneth Williams. Moira Lister only appeared in the first series, but true crime fans will be interested to hear that she dated murderer Nevill Heath ( see Handsome Brute: The Story of a Ladykiller ) although, thankfully, she went on to have a long life, although replaced by Andrée Melly in the second series, when Williams also got billing.

Some of the first and second series episodes are, sadly, lost. However, what reamins of the first series comprises of the following episodes:
The First Night Party (Hancock decides to celebrate his new radio show)
The Idol (Hancock gets big-headed after getting a fan letter and Bill plots to bring him down to size)
The Boxing Champion (Hancock accidentally knocks out the champ)
The New Car (Hancock feels ashamed that other stars have cars, while he appears at the stage door on a bike)
Cinderella Hancock (Will Hancock go to the ball?)
A Trip to France (Sid sells Hancock a boat)
The Monte Carlo Rally (Sid and Co take part - with cheating high on the agenda)
A House On the Cliff (Hancock decides to build his own house, when the costs of repairing his own are too expensive)
The Sheikh (Sid agrees to make Hancock a film star)
The End of the Series (the cast reflect on how they met)

The remaining episodes of the Second Series (1955) include:
The Holiday Camp (Sid asks Hancock and Bill to run a holiday camp which is unfortunately situated)
The Chef that died of Shame (a fictional account of Hancock as a great chef)
The Rail Strike (Sid cobbles together a train to make money during a train strike - he could do the same now....)
The Television Set (Hancock wants to buy a television, but it's too expensive)
The Marrow Contest (The council want to build a road, which will affect Hancock's giant marrow)

These are obviously dated, but there is so much that is still great about these. Sid as the ever-dodgy criminal, out to make money. Kenneth Williams as Hancock's MP in The Marrow Contest is absolutely brilliant. Bill Kerr, whose name for Hancock is 'tubs' adds a lot of humour to situations and, although I vastly preferred Moira Lister to her replacement, I am aware that Hattie Jacques entered the series later. I look forward to listening to series three.

[Steve Mitchell]

What’s left of the first two series of this classic BBC radio show. Still hilariously funny after sixty odd years