# hancock's half hour ![[hancock'shalfhourtitlescreen.jpg|300]] titlescreen of the 1957 series 2 tv episode "the alpine holiday" featuring a diagramatic illustration of the show's title; the "hancock" musical motif (composed by wally stott) a cartoon of the tuba player tony hancock reading the script and a broadcast clock showing the start and length of the episode genre: comedy running time: 30 minutes country of origin: united kingdom language(s): english home station: bbc tv adaptations: hancock's half hour (1956-1960) hancock (1961) starring: tony hancock sid james bill kerr kenneth williams hattie jacques moira lister andree melly written by: ray galton and alan simpson produced by: dennis main wilson tom ronald (radio) duncan wood (television) original release: 2 november 1954 - 30 june 1961 no. of series: 6 (radio) 7 (television) no. of episodes: 107 (20 missing) (radio) 63 (26 missing) (television) 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 co-starred at various times moira lister andree 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 ir 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 ir television career ir role was taken by tom ronald. the television series was produced by duncan wood. the distinctive tuba-based theme tune was composed by angela morley 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 # radio series # # development the radio 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 in ir 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 starring george cole and life with the lyons a programme heavily based on the us tradition of sitcoms; ey 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 # # setting hancock's character had various addresses but by the third radio series ey 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 episode "cinderella hancock" saw a reverse of the norm with hancock a lodger in a house owned by bill kerr 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 they 'came round' each day presumably from ir own domicile. railway cuttings and east cheam were fictitious but cheam is a real town once in surrey today part of the london borough of sutton in greater london. 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 commissioning of series in the uk was then closer to american practice with extensive runs not unknown but in this case with only two writers. continuity 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 ir having runs of success while some episodes depict ir pursuing professional careers as fantasies) james was always on the fiddle in some way kerr gradually became dim and virtually unemployable (although ey 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 they had cooked the sunday lunch at times the scripts would reflect topical realities of british life such as the reintroduction of petrol rationing from november 1956 to march 1957 (following the suez crisis) in 'the stolen petrol' and a strike by members of the trade union aslef (associated society of locomotive engineers and firemen) from 28 may to 14 june 1955 which involved a railway strike in 'the rail strike' # # radio series cast **+** tony hancock as anthony aloysius st john hancock principal character **+** the comedy actor sidney james (as ey was then billed) played sid (full name sidney balmoral james) a criminally-inclined confidant of hancock who usually succeeded in conning ir each week **+** bill kerr appeared as hancock's australian lodger (full name william montmorency beaumont kerr) a character who became noticeably dim-witted in the later shows. often refers to hancock as "tub" **+** kenneth williams taking ir first job in comedy provided the funny voices for all the minor characters in the show each week. williams left after the first recording session for the sixth series **+** moira lister appeared in the first series before being replaced by andree melly for the next two; both women played love interest for hancock's character in essentially 'straight' roles **+** in the fourth and fifth series hattie jacques provided comedy in the female role as the harridan griselda 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 among the well-known actors who appeared in the series were hugh lloyd patricia hayes dick emery warren mitchell john le mesurier and richard wattis. also appearing were pat coombs rolf harris burt kwouk credited as 'burd kwouk' and anne reid 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 # # 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 galton and simpson never gave titles to any of ir hancock scripts for radio or television; this was usually left to the girl who filed the scripts at ir office who gave them names that were a reminder of what the script was about. so when roger wilmut came to write ir book tony hancock - artiste (first published 1978) ey took the liberty of inventing titles where necessary and these titles a combination of the file names and wilmut's own have become the accepted ones ever since with the approval of galton and simpson and the bbc the regular cast members generally played "themselves" in that the characters were called by the actor's real name (although the english actress andree melly - sister of george - played a french character.) however there were exceptions **+** kenneth williams played a series of unnamed characters referred to in the scripts - but not on air - as "snide." ey also played the very occasional roles of edwardian fred (a criminal associate of sid's) and hancock's vicar as well as various other characters (eg a judge.) in the episode "the emigrant" ey is allowed to break the fourth wall and refer to himself as "that bloke with the funny voice" **+** hattie jacques played griselda pugh hancock's secretary with the exception of the episode ‘the east cheam drama festival' where they played herself **+** alan simpson played an unnamed man in early episodes who listened patiently to hancock's long-winded stories. ir lines would frequently be restricted to simply "yes" "really?" "mm-hmm" or "i see" // republic of bob