1956
EN
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final 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.
Cast
Seasons
(7 Seasons 63 Episodes)
Season 1
Broadcast between 6th July 1956 and 14th September 1956, this series comprised 6 episodes all of which were broadcast live with no recordings of the transmissions being made by the BBC. Consequently, none of these episodes survive. The series was broadcast fortnightly on Fridays at 2130 (except no. 1 at 2045). There were no repeats.
Season 2
Broadcast between 1st April 1957 and 10th June 1957, this series comprised 6 episodes all of which were broadcast live. The BBC did record the first episode of this series for training purposes and this is the only episode of this series that survives. The series was broadcast fortnightly on Mondays at 2000. There were no repeats.
Season 3
Broadcast between 30th September 1957 and 23rd December 1957 this series comprised 12 episodes all of which were broadcast live of which episodes 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 survive in the BBC Archives. The series was broadcast weekly on Mondays at 2002. There were no repeats during the run.
Season 4
Broadcast between 26th December 1958 and 27th March 1959, this series comprised 13 episodes of which the first 4 were recorded and the remainder were broadcast live. Episodes 1, 3, 4, 11 and 12 survive in the BBC Archives whilst off-air audio recordings exist of episodes 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The series was broadcast weekly on Fridays at 2105 (episodes 1 - 3) and Fridays 1930 (episodes 4 - 13). There were no repeats during the run other than a repeat of the third episode between episodes 9 and 10 on 27th February 1959.
Season 5
Broadcast between 25th September 1959 and 27th November 1959, this series comprised 10 episodes and all survive in the BBC Archive. The series was broadcast weekly on Fridays at 2030 except episode 3 which was broadcast at 2045. There were no repeats during the run.
Season 6
Broadcast between 4th March 1960 and 6th May 1960, this series comprised 10 episodes and all survive in the BBC Archive. The series was broadcast weekly on Fridays at 2030 except episodes 8 - 10 on Fridays 1930. There were no repeats during the run.
Season 7
Re-branded as simply 'Hancock', this series was broadcast between 26th May 1961 and 30th June 1961. The series comprised 6 episodes all of which survive in the BBC Archive. The series was broadcast weekly on Fridays at 2000 and each episode ran for 25 minutes rather than the half hour running time of episodes in the previous series. There were no repeats during the run.