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Private Notes
John Freeman interviews Tony Hancock in this intimate interview conducted at the beginning of 1960 for the BBC.
Ray Galton & Alan Simpson interview (Mark Lawson, 2008)
Tony was contracted to make a 13-part series called Hancock Down Under for the Seven Network of Australian television. However, after arriving in Australia in March 1968, he completed only three programmes, before his suicide in June 68, which remained unaired for four years.
Tony Hancock live at the Royal Festival Hall 22nd September 1966. Old King Lear, weary of royal duties, decides to break up his kingdom, divide it among his three daughters, and present the largest part to the one who loves him most. His two eldest daughters profess their love extravagantly, but young Cordelia refuses to flatter him. Enraged, he banishes her to France. But the old king's rash generosity is cruelly repaid. Cast out by his daughters onto a bare heath during a pitiless storm, Lear discovers too late the false values by which he has lived and, devastatingly, the suffering common to all humanity. Tony Hancock is King Lear!
In this episode of Hancock's Half Hour originally broadcast in 1956, Tony has a new neighbour whose behaviour is very, very suspicious.
A fascinating look at the life and work of Tony Hancock, one of the country’s leading comedians of the 50s and 60s who enjoyed a major success with his series Hancock’s Half Hour.
With exclusive access to the archives of one of Britain's greatest and most influential comedians, comedy actor and Tony Hancock fan Jack Dee opens up the archive for the first time to discover its priceless, unique contents. A treasure trove of never-before-seen personal items such as photos, ideas, scripts, scrapbooks, production files and extraordinary letters that illustrate his life in vivid detail. This documentary also has exclusive TV access to clips from Hancock's 1963 ATV series, unbroadcast for over 50 years.
Hancock decides to become a blood donor but he doesn't understand how much he has to give When the doctor explains Hancock refuses until he is told that he has a very rare group After he has given the blood he is insistent on knowing where and to whom it has been given. Colourised version by UK Gold.
Hancock is the foreman of a jury who disagree on the verdict of the defendant Hancock thinks he is innocent when all the other jurors including Sid James think he is guilty After convincing them to change their votes Hancock suddenly switches to a guilty decision. Colourised version by UK Gold.
Hancock has a broken leg but Sid insists that the show must go on and so the show is broadcast from Hancock's hospital bed.
Hancock decides to become an artist and buys up some old canvases to paint over. However, one is a stolen Rembrandt and one of Sid's cronies is forced to buy up all of Hancock's paintings to retrieve it.
At last Hancock secures a film role...but only if he can dance. Sid provide lessons for Hancock and enters him into a local dancing Championship Contest but Sid is forced to become his partner in the competition (in drag)!
This episode was based on the 3rd episode of the 3rd Radio series. Uncle Obadiah leaves Hancock a fortune provided that he gets married. Hancock starts to look for his future wife with the help of the Sid James Marriage Bureau.
Broadcast from the National Radio Show, Earl's Court, this episode comprised a number of sketches including the The Red Army Choir..British style!
This episode was based on the 6th episode of the 2nd Radio series. The cast play the parts in the story of 'Iggins, a cook, who becomes a well respected chef but subsequently fails and looses everything due to drink.
Hancock upsets his fellow passengers on his flight to Switzerland and then discovers that he has to share his room at the hotel. Initially he thinks that he is sharing his hotel room with an attractive French girl only to discover that he is really sharing the room with a yodeller and Alpine Horn player!
Hancock is given a small part in the East Cheam Repertory Company's production of 'Moon Over Tahiti' but then they forget to tell him when the play is changed to 'Lady Chatterley's Revenge'!
Hancock bumps his head and suffers from temporary amnesia. Whilst he is unable to remember who he is, Sid persuades Hancock that he is Prince Nicolai, the last heir to the Russian Royal Family's fortune....but there are others making the same claim!!
This episode was based on the 4th episode of the 3rd Radio series. Hancock is worried by his new neighbour who keeps bringing in bodies and dumping them in an incinerator in the back garden. Hancock decides to investigate...
Hancock dreams that he has a job as a night club pianist and he falls in love with a foreign baroness. But she is engaged and Hancock is challenged to a duel with her fiancee!.
Sid and Hancock decide to auction off their property to pay for a trip to Monte Carlo to try out Sid's infallible roulette system. But they discover that the stuffed eagle had been stuffed with banknotes!
Hancock has been on holiday abroad and he tells Sid of his exploits in which he foiled an international gang of smugglers.
Hancock dreams of becoming the great detective 'Sexton Hancock' and proceeds to unravel a complicated murder plot.
Sid has set up an amusement arcade but when Hancock finds out he leads a campaign to have it closed down. Meanwhile, Hancock seeks election to the Council but when Sid's arcade is closed down he moves it...to Hancock's house!
Hancock is told by the Doctor he must get fit. But when Hancock takes an unwilling Sid on a hunting holiday to Scotland, they get snowed in.
Hancock takes on a new job as an air steward. But when one of the passengers on his first flight is Sid who is on the run from the police and the other passengers include four police offices looking for a bank robber, Hancock's first landing doesn't go quite as expected!
Hancock, a junior clerk in a City office for 19 years, receives a promotion when his army friends, who met at a reunion, place large orders with the firm. However, they are all fraudulent orders and Sid has the takings!
Hancock needs to get to the top of the waiting list for a Council House but to do this he needs a wife and four children. So he adopts Sid and four of his mates but then he can't get rid of them!
Famous actor Jack Hawkins takes elocution lessons with Hancock and is reduced to being the leader of a rock-and-roll group.
Hancock becomes a lawyer but when he defends an obviously guilty Sid James in court he finds himself the subject of a guilty verdict!
Hancock takes up entering newspaper competitions as a full time job. When he wins a few competitions, he is foolish enough to trust Sid to look after the money.
Hancock buys a house from Sid but discovers that there's an airfield at the bottom of his garden! Returning to Sid dissatisfied, he is forced to try to sell the house himself but he has considerable difficulty, some of them unscripted! This is because the set was designed to fall apart at a given point in the script but unfortunately, the set starts to fall apart too early and Hancock is forced to improvise!
A complete departure from the usual show. Hancock presents his own variety show from the Television Theatre but he has asked Sid to provide all the acts!
Sid 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!
Hancock 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....
Hancock 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!
After a particularly unsuccessful date, Hancock's 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 had had plastic surgery to visit Hancock. Hancock has the surgery so success with the ladies is now guaranteed....or is it?
Hancock 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.
Hancock 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 its an extra- terrestial craft.
Hancock hires a domestic help but she 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.
Hancock meets a girl at an upper class party. Hancock 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!
The local council decide not to hold a Miss East Cheam contest because of the low standard of entrants the previous year. So, instead, they decide to hold a Mr East Cheam contest instead. Hancock and Sid enter and both expect to win!
Hancock 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!
The tree in Hancock's garden is threatened with felling because it is a danger to passing buses and also to make way for a lamp-post. He is incensed and organises a protest march to Downing Street to try to save it!
Hancock is determined to receive a Knighthood and decides that Shakespearean theatre is the only answer. Surely a stint at Stratford interpreting Shakespeare as Long John Silver will be all that's required?
The TV Series is finally over so Hancock and Sid need to get jobs. They take on the role as servants dressed as an elderly couple. But when they take it turns to be the woman suspicions are aroused!
Hancock and Sid return from holiday to discover that Sid has failed to cancel any deliveries and has left every electrical appliance in the house on. Hancock decides that, in order to make ends meet, he and Sid must go on an economy drive. But Hancock soon encounters difficulties in the local self service cafe and the stairs at home prove problematic as well!.
Sid asks Hancock to lend him the money to open a fish and chip shop but Hancock refuses. Sid tells Hancock that he'll get the money somehow but how will he do it? Hancock believes that Sid is planning to murder him but Hancock manages to convince Sid that it's Sid's life that is in danger.
While decorating the house Hancock finds some poems written underneath the wallpaper Thinking that they are genuine Hancock hopes to open the house to tourists in order to finance the rebuilding but unknown to him They are Sid's handiwork Later when more poems turn up They are painted over
Hancock is the foreman of a jury who disagree on the verdict of the defendant Hancock thinks he is innocent when all the other jurors including Sid James think he is guilty After convincing them to change their votes Hancock suddenly switches to a guilty decision
Sid as Hancock's agent gets him a job in a Shakespearean play in a remote theatre in Yorkshire They travel up by train but meet such a boring bunch of fellow travellers they decide to come back by coach only to meet the same people that they met on the way up
Sid persuades Hancock to go on a cruise but he loses control and tries to persuade the captain that the ship is lost Hancock is arrested and held in his cabin After the ship has docked the two of them fly back home only for Hancock to cause trouble again
Hancock is really looking forward to big night out with Sid and 2 girls. But his preparations turrn to disaster when his shirt is ruined at the launderette and his barber doesn't have a steady hand with his razor! What will the girls think?
Hancock is on the verge of ruin because his shares have plummeted in value. He attends a shareholder meeting but falls asleep and dreams of Sid who once again twists him!
Sid is struggling to find work for Hancock and the latest roles he has secured involve Hancock standing in national dress outside Indian restaurants. Hancock decides to try new locations and goes to Spain where he is unsuccessful as as a night-club comic. Penniless and unable to return home, Sid manages to find a new job for Hancock. The question is: how successful will he be as a bullfighter?
While checking his pools coupon Hancock realizes that he has got 7 draws and has to wait for a late kickoff for the final result Unable to wait They both go to the match to cheer for a draw
Hancock has caught a cold and after trying all sorts of cures finds nothing works Finally he goes to the doctor only to find that the doctor has the cold as well In the end Sid takes him on a training run and he ends up fit again
When Hancock finds the last page of a book missing he starts a search for the ending After several false starts Sid suggests the author would know the ending but when they find his house a surprise is in store
Hancock decides to emigrate but to his astonishment finds that no country will accept him so in desperation he turns to Sid and asks him to smuggle him out but Sid has other ideas
Hancock holds a reunion get together for his old army buddies but it has been so long since he has seen them that they have all changed and not for the better
Sid falls in love with a clippie on the local bus route but can't bring himself to ask her out So he asks Hancock to help on his behalf but it turns out that she is married to the driver
Hancock and Sid babysit for a local couple but fall asleep. While they doze burglars break in and steal all the furniture The couple call the police and Sid And Hancock are suspects in the robbery
After seeing Sid have another success with a girl Hancock enrolls in a night school class to learn how to succeed with the ladies
Hancock takes up photography with old out of date equipment Then he decides to buy £1000 worth of brand new equipment but still finds he can't take a good photo
The local council decide to stage a pageant to celebrate 100 years of East Cheam Sid James sells the rights to the BBC while the mayor has sold the same rights to ITV
Hancock is upset by a steady stream of unpleasant letters. But when the police keep a watch on the postbox where the letters are being posted, Sid discovers that Hancock has been writing the letters to himself...in his sleep!
Hancock is alone in his Earl's Court bed-sit and tries to master a Bertrand Russell book, fails to get the TV work and almost gets invited to a party.
Hancock plays the part of Old Joshua Merryweather in the radio show The Bowmans (which sounds rather similar to The Archers). But his behaviour and the number of different dialects that he uses causes him to be thrown off the show. But public opinion demands his return to the show so Hancock returns but he demands a few changes!
Hancock becomes a radio ham and talks to people all over the world One night he picks up an S.O.S. from a sailor but Hancock is so inept that it takes him all night but he still cannot locate the sailor's position The sailor gives up and another radio ham hears the call and the sailor is rescued
Hancock gets caught up in a lift that is stuck between floors After several attempts to free themselves they are rescued by the BBC officials
Hancock decides to become a blood donor but he doesn't understand how much he has to give When the doctor explains Hancock refuses until he is told that he has a very rare group After he has given the blood he is insistent on knowing where and to whom it has been given
Hancock decides that it's time to have children to 'carry on the line'. He selects 3 eligible girls and proposes to all 3 but is refused. Whilst he is still arguing with the third, the other 2 return having changed their minds.
