Link to the Official site

My Entertainment Review's

I am a huge fan of Tony Hancock and am fortunate enough to have recordings of all of the available radio shows. Hancock also appeared on television and I have a lot of those but I far prefer the Radio series.

The scripts where with the odd exception master pieces. They were written by  Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the same scripts have been performed by other comedians but it’s never the same, they where written for Tony Hancock.

Hancock was renowned for his timing; he was apparently not a good script rehearser and would mostly read directly from the script to the microphone and this after only the briefest of read through. You hear the odd mistake in the radio shows but he could turn that into a joke so quickly it’s hardly noticeable.

The Tony Hancock character was apparently based on that of Hancock himself but obviously exaggerated and broadened. The story changes markedly through the 6 series sometimes Tony owns his house, sometimes it’s a private rental and sometimes a council house. Similar liberties are taken with the characters backgrounds but it’s of no matter this is comedy were each episode is capable of standing alone.

This standalone nature can be explained somewhat by the times, this was after all the 1950’s before such things as tape recorders and program repeats, people had to rely on their own memory week to week. Also the writers were chucking these scripts out at quite a rate and continuity was not a priority.

Most of the episodes are based around 23 Railway cuttings East Cheem, were Tony lives with Bill Kerr who is a rather dim witted Australian vagabond. In fact in the early episodes Bill’s character was a wise cracking intelligent man about town and Tony’s the dim one.

Sid James appears regularly and in latter episodes lives with the boys (Tony & Bill) as does Griselda Pugh (Tony’s secretary & sometimes Sid’s girlfriend). Sid is always basically a criminal. He is sometimes a womaniser and some times a shrinking violet but always on the take. Tony regularly falls victim to Sid’s latest business idea, “when did you last see Sid?... Oh last week when he sold me tickets to last years cup final” etc

Kenneth Williams makes a regular appearance in bit parts as a judge, policeman, taxi driver, laborer etc etc. Moira Lister featured in the first series followed by Andrée Melly in the second and third series, both as love interests for Tony. In latter series he didn't seem to really worry about such things.

The theme of each show is quickly set in the first 3 minutes of every episode. Some times Tony needs a new car or TV set or maybe he’s receiving death threats or he’s looking for a lost love, but it's always about the characters reaction to the various situations.

As with all comedy you can draw parallels with many shows ,Seinfeld has a similar set up with Jerry as the feature character and George etc having peripheral roles. It's less focused on the central character though and Hancock is almost 50 years earlier.

Much has been written about Tony Hancock, in short it seems that he was not a happy man. He sought an explanation for “life the universe and every thing” but he never found it hardly surprising as such an explanation probably doesn't’t exist. This made him very introspective. Being so introspective made him repeatedly depressed and he took his own life in June 1968 after a decline in his career.

I’ve listened to these programs so many times now that I almost know them word for word. I suppose they are a bit like an old jumper to me, just a comfortable place to be. For years I couldn't fall asleep at night with out them playing in my ear. But I listen to them far less now. If you have never had the pleasure of listening then I envy you the delight of listening for the first time.