Hancock's Half Hour (1956)
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, 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 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.
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Episode 1 - Ericsson the Viking
Release Date: 1958-12-26Sid has persuaded Hancock to make a dramatic film which the BBC have agreed to broadcast. But Hancock is worried; after all, when shooting started Sid's production company didn't even have a movie camera!
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Episode 2 - Underpaid! or Grandad's SOS
Release Date: 1959-01-02Hancock discovers that his extremely rich grandfather is very ill in hospital in Australia. Sid, expecting a large bequest, hurries to Australia masquerading as Hancock... but the old man has no money left. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Sid's grandfather falls dangerously ill in prison...
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Episode 3 - The Set That Failed
Release Date: 1959-01-09Hancock doesn't know what to do: his television set has broken down. He sets off on a quest to find a working TV and joins a family who are so focused on their TV that they don't notice that they have additional guests!
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Episode 4 - The New Nose
Release Date: 1959-01-16After a particularly unsuccessful date, Hancock puts his lack of success with the girls down to his nose. After refusing to come out from his home, Sid arranges for a friend who has had plastic surgery to visit Hancock. Hancock has the surgery so success with the ladies is now guaranteed... or is it?
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Episode 5 - The Flight of the Red Shadow
Release Date: 1959-01-23Hancock has been in a production of 'The Desert Song' but when it closes prematurely Hancock and Sid escape with only their costumes. Dressed as an Indian Maharajah, Hancock is mistaken for a genuine visiting Maharajah and ends up addressing a meeting but has to flee again.
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Episode 6 - The Horror Serial
Release Date: 1959-01-30Hancock has been watching the last episode of the horror serial 'Quatermass & The Pit' and is now in a very nervous state. When he discovers an unknown object in his garden, Sid thinks it's an unexploded bomb and calls in the Bomb Squad. But Hancock is convinced it's an extra-terrestrial craft.
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Episode 7 - The Italian Maid
Release Date: 1959-02-06Hancock hires a domestic help who turns out to be an Italian beauty. An immediate rivalry develops between Hancock and Sid for her attentions, with Hancock ending up doing all the housework... but then her family arrives.
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Episode 8 - Matrimony - Almost
Release Date: 1959-02-13Hancock meets a girl at an upper class party. He believes that she has money and Sid tells her that Hancock has money, so a marriage is rapidly arranged. But all is not as it seems!
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Episode 9 - The Beauty Contest
Release Date: 1959-02-20The local council decide not to hold a Miss East Cheam contest because of the low standard of entrants the previous year. Instead they decide to hold a Mr East Cheam contest - Hancock and Sid enter and both expect to win!
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Episode 10 - The Wrong Man
Release Date: 1959-03-06Hancock agrees to attend an identity parade at the local Police station. But when he is mistakenly picked out by 3 witnesses he decides to prove his innocence by recreating the crime!
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Episode 11 - The Oak Tree
Release Date: 1959-03-13The tree in Hancock's garden is threatened with felling to make way for a lamp-post and because it is a danger to passing buses. He is incensed and organises a protest march to Downing Street to try to save it!
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Episode 12 - The Knighthood
Release Date: 1959-03-20Hancock is determined to receive a Knighthood and decides that classical theatre is the only answer. Surely a stint at Stratford interpreting Shakespeare as Long John Silver will be all that's required?
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Episode 13 - The Servants
Release Date: 1959-03-27The TV Series is finally over so Hancock and Sid need to get jobs. They take on the role of servants dressed as an elderly couple, but when they take it in turns to be the woman suspicions are aroused!