TEST SITE - BETA
Radio
Tony Hancock made his first appearance on radio on 6th June 1941 in a programme called A La Carte. This half hour programme was described as "a mixed menu of light fare" and was broadcast from Bristol. Tony didn't make a return appearance until 1948 when he appeared in a programme called 'New to You' with Derek Scott.
Between 1949 and 1951 Hancock made many appearances on 'Variety Bandbox' (the first being on 9th January 1949), 'Flotsam Follies' in 1950 and Kaleidoscope in 1951 as well as numerous one-off appearances. It was during 1951 (between August and December) that Hancock made a weekly (latterly fortnightly) appearance in 'Happy-Go-Lucky' in a self-contained sketch called the 'Eager Beavers' alongside Peter Butterworth, Graham Stark and Bill Kerr. This series was not well received and Ray Galton and Alan Simpson were called in to write the last 6 scripts to try to improve the ratings. This was Tony's introduction to Ray and Alan although they did not write for him in this series as the Eager Beavers sketch was contracted to other writers.
At the same time (between August 1951 and January 1952) Tony appeared as Archie Andrew's tutor in the second series of Educating Archie. Written by Eric Sykes and Sid Colin, the series ran to 26 episodes.
Hancock's next regular appearances were in Calling All Forces during 1952. During its run it changed its name to Forces All-Star Bill and finally Star Bill. Early scripts were by Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin but, once again, Galton & Simpson were asked to write the last 6 scripts because the writers were on holiday. From the second series in 1953, Galton & Simpson became the main writers with the final programme being broadcast on 2nd May 1954. 2 sketches from episode 4 of the second series of Star Bill on 21/3/1954 are in the BBC archive. By November in the same year, the very first edition of a new show 'Hancock's Half Hour' would be broadcast and full details of these broadcasts can be found on the links above. Once Hancock's Half Hour finished on the radio on 29/12/59, so ended Tony's radio career. Tony made few other radio appearances, with most appearances being interviews. One notable exception was 'Ancock's Anthology, broadcast on 25/12/64 in which Hancock talked, read from Stephen Leacock and A.A. Milne, introduced records and interviewed Stirling Moss. An off-air recording of this programme is available to hire from the Society's CD library (no 55) available for Society Members.
Over the last few years, since the advent of Radio 7 (now Radio 4 Extra),there have been weekly repeats of Hancock's Half Hour and occasional polls of favourite episodes. These always seem to result in the same 2 episodes being neck-and-neck for the title of favourite episode. These are 'A Sunday Afternoon at Home' and 'The Wild Man Of The Woods'. So have these been the most repeated episodes over the years? The short answer is no! Prior to the advent of Radio 7, the most repeated episode was 'Hancock In The Police' (10 times) with 'The Threatening Letters' equal second with 'A Sunday Afternoon At Home' and 4 other episodes on 8 repeats. 'The 'Wild Man Of The Woods' had only been repeated 5 times. Interestingly, in a Post Radio 7 world, the most repeated episode (as at March 2012) was 'The Threatening Letters' on 20 repeats.
02/08/51
Happy Go Lucky
First broadcast 2nd August 1951, this variety show advertised as a 'light-hearted blend of comedy and music' was hosted by Derek Roy for the BBC Light Programme and went out at 21:00.
Tony starred as Mr. Ponsonby in 'an improbably series of adventures', alongside Graham Clark as Creep, Peter Butterworth as Bottrell, and Bill Kerr as Dillbery - The Eager Beavers.
With a regular series of guests and public interviews, alongside other regular sketches such as The Naughty Ninties and Rhapsody at Random, the show was not a success.
By October, the show was hemorrhaging writers, Richard Speer (the producer) had suffered a nervous breakdown, and Tony's sketch series was perceived as so dreadful that Tony himself begged for it to be removed from broadcast. But the BBC kept the show running until its conclusion and did its best to salvage the situation.
Bringing on Dennis Main Wilson to produce, Dennis brought the cast and crew together to discuss the issues faced. He brought on two young men, who had been selling jokes to Roy for shillings, as writers for the series. For Galton and Simpson, this was arguably the start of their long and productive relationship with Tony, who saw Benny Hill and Frances King rehearsing a sketch written by Ray and Alan. 'Did you write this?' he asked, Alan Simpson recounts, and when affirmed he simply said 'Very funny.'
Months later Tony got in touch to commission Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to write a 5-10 minute sketch for him for Workers Playtime, a show requiring the performer to provide their own material.
03/08/51
Educating Archie
Premiering in June 1950, this BBC Light Programme comedy show ran for almost ten years and saw an enormous popular following. Normally airing on a Sunday lunchtime, the ventriloquist Peter Brough was joined by his doll Archie Andrews, despite the clear contraindication for using ventriloquy on the radio - indeed its move to television later on was marred by the fact that Peter Brough had difficulties voicing his puppet without moving his mouth.
The show was instrumental in the early careers for many big comedians of the day. Not only did Tony Hancock see major success as Archie's tutor (with the catchphrases 'Oh, it's you again,' and 'Flipping kids!'), a role later held by Benny Hill, Harry Secombe, Dick Emery, Hattie Jacques, and Bruce Forsythe, but the show also helped launch the careers of Julie Andrews as Archie's girlfriend (later Beryl Reed) along with Graham Starkm Bernard Bresslaw, and more.
The show averaged fifteen million listeners and a fan club of almost a quarter million in itself. It earned the Daily Mail's Variety Award after only four months on the air. Unfortunately, the AR-TV sitcom adaption did not achieve the same acclaim, running from 1958-1959, with Archie taking a more dominant role in the dynamic, with Irene Handl as the housekeeper, Freddie Sales (later Ray Barrett) as a lodger, and Dick Emery.
05/08/51
Calling All Forces
Ted ray introduces a programme for services everywhere. This variety show originally aired 3rd December 1950, following on from regional versions (such as Calling All Canadians, Services Calling, and For the Indian Forces). The George Mitchell Choir and Geraldo and his Orchestra featured, along with popular celebrity guests from Petula Clark to Jimmy Edwards.
Tony guested in early August 1951, returning late February the next year in 1952, before finally joining as compere from mid-April.
02/11/54
Hancock's Half Hour (Radio)
Broadcast between 2nd November 1954 and 15th February 1955, this series comprised 16 episodes of which 10 survive. The series was broadcast on Tuesdays at 21:30 (except episode 15 which went out at 20:00). There were no immediate repeats.
Cast comprised Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Moira Lister, Sidney James and Alan Simpson (except no. 6)