I can't wait for this to start on Radio 4 on 31/10/14.
The Missing Hancocks
Will be interesting, but I have my reservations.
The Lad was inimitable.
Nonetheless, it will be nice to hear episodes I have never heard.
Granted, but.........
Very interesting although best approached with caution. I am a bit surprised that Neil Pearson's article in the Telegraph claims that Secombe's three Hancocks are among the lost ones because I am sure I have heard at least one episode on Radio 4 Extra. I think I cross referenced it with Roger Wilmut's book at the time.
Quote: A Horseradish @ 26th October 2014, 12:17 AM BSTVery interesting although best approached with caution. I am a bit surprised that Neil Pearson's article in the Telegraph claims that Secombe's three Hancocks are among the lost ones because I am sure I have heard at least one episode on Radio 4 Extra. I think I cross referenced it with Roger Wilmut's book at the time.
Think you've fallen asleep listening to Hancock and woken up with the Goons as the Secombe shows are absolutely still amongst the missing.
There's also Hancock's Ashes on Radio 4 on Thursday and we are getting a director's commentary show on Radio 4 extra after the Missing Hancock broadcast chaired by ANdy Hamilton . . .
Quote: A Horseradish @ 26th October 2014, 12:17 AM BSTVery interesting although best approached with caution. I am a bit surprised that Neil Pearson's article in the Telegraph claims that Secombe's three Hancocks are among the lost ones because I am sure I have heard at least one episode on Radio 4 Extra. I think I cross referenced it with Roger Wilmut's book at the time.
I was sure I had heard one on 4 Extra as well.
Thursday October 30
RADIO: Today's Radio 4 Afternoon Drama, Hancock's Ashes, is based on
the real events of 1968 when Willie Rushton brought Tony Hancock's
ashes back to Britain from Australia. This drama imagines what might
have happened behind the scenes. Radio 4, 2.15 - 3.00 pm
Friday October 31
RADIO: More Hancock. This time a long-lost Hancock's Half Hour classic,
last broadcast in 1955. The Matador is one of 20 episodes of the series
that went missing from the BBC archive - and were recently re-recorded
in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre. Kevin McNally stars
as The Lad Himself in a cast that also includes Kevin Eldon
and Simon Greenall. Radio 4. 11.30am - 12.00 Immediately afterwards,
Radio 4 Extra broadcasts a 'director's commentary' on the re-recording,
hosted by Andy Hamilton. 12.00 - 12.45pm
Director's Commentary
The Missing Hancocks
The Missing Hancocks are five episodes of Hancock's Half Hour either missing
or lost from the archive which BBC Radio 4 have remade to celebrate the
show's 60th anniversary.
In this "directors' commentary" Andy Hamilton introduces the first episode
of the series, The Matador. Andy stops the action as he talks to co-producer
Neil Pearson and - the actor charged with playing the lad 'imself - Kevin McNally about the challenges, and joys, of recreating a 1950s sitcom in 2014.
The conversation takes in the casting, production and even the music of the
show, as well as what got changed in these new recordings.
A must-listen for fans of good comedy and good radio - and, specifically,
Hancock's Half Hour.
AND on straight after........... Radio 4 Extra 12.45 - 1.00pm
Tony Hancock
The New Elizabethans
The New Elizabethans: Tony Hancock the comedy actor and star of radio
and TV and film. Best known for Hancock's Half Hour, written by Ray Galton
and Alan Simpson, where he epitomised the little man's struggle against the world.
He was always fighting against something, quite often himself. With the advent
of TV, his battles with officialdom, and his gloomy reflections on the injustices visited on him, were in every living room.
Sadly he began drinking heavily and his personal life unravelled. His vulnerability was exposed in a BBC interview with John Freeman in 1960 called Face to Face.
Although he went to Australia in the hope of a revival it wasn't a success and
he committed suicide in 1968 at the age of 44. Yet Hancock's Half Hour is still
considered one of the most important yardsticks against which British sitcoms
are measured and it could be said that Alan Partridge and David Brent owe much
of their success to Tony Hancock's character.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired
by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists
were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar,
Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign
of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Quote: Will Cam @ 26th October 2014, 3:06 PM GMTI was sure I had heard one on 4 Extra as well.
The one I heard involved them on a boat abroad. The voice sounded a bit like Hancock but clearly was not him. I felt R4E mentioned Secombe after it. The recording was poor. I assumed it was "A Holiday in France".
This is all odd. I guess I accept I was wrong but as imaginings go it's elaborate. Can't help but feel doubtful.
According to the THAS website, the missing Hancocks are due for release on CD on 18 December.
http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/news/54/74/New-CD-Releases
BTW, anybody know who's running THAS these days?
Quote: Oldrocker @ 26th October 2014, 11:42 PM GMTAccording to the THAS website, the missing Hancocks are due for release on CD on 18 December.
http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/news/54/74/New-CD-Releases
BTW, anybody know who's running THAS these days?
Indeed they are! https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/the_missing_hancocks/buy/4188/the_missing_hancocks_audiobook/
(And no idea, sorry.)
Quote: A Horseradish @ 26th October 2014, 10:13 PM GMTThe one I heard involved them on a boat abroad. The voice sounded a bit like Hancock but clearly was not him. I felt R4E mentioned Secombe after it. The recording was poor. I assumed it was "A Holiday in France".
This is all odd. I guess I accept I was wrong but as imaginings go it's elaborate. Can't help but feel doubtful.
Well, all I can say is that I'm not aware of any Secombe episodes having been found, and none (Series 2 Episodes 1 - 4) were released on the new Series 1 & 2 box set last month:
https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/item/4191/hancocks_half_hour_complete_series_one_two_audiobook/
I've got the entire HHH as released as box sets a number of years ago.
Got to be worth a bob or two now.
Quote: Oldrocker @ 27th October 2014, 12:38 AM GMTI've got the entire HHH as released as box sets a number of years ago.
Got to be worth a bob or two now.
Must be incomplete as a few episodes have been found and released separately in the last few years . . .
Humm, bit naughty - it states on the CD cover in big print.....
"Complete Series One & Two"
.......then states:-
"The complete surviving episodes of the much-loved BBC Radio comedy"
The cynic in me wonders whether this was done deliberately, inasmuch that, yes, the Complete Series of One is there, but not Two.
So, the Harry Secombe episodes from Series Two - A Holiday in France, The Crown Jewels, The Racecourse and A Visit To Swansea are not on the discs and confirms, I think, that they are still lost, which is a crying shame, and so could never have been aired at any time.
Series 1 isn't complete, either.
It's fairly standard. It makes it clear that it is the complete collection of those series, but only in so far as it is possible to be.