British Comedy Guide

Lost Sitcoms: Hancock's Half Hour Page 2

Sid was in quite a few of the original TV shows, but not all. It later turned into something of a two hander. It is a shame that the Jacques and Williams characters will not really appear regularly again, although in one or two. There is another Jacques appearance in Lady Chatterley's Revenge which would be great. But with the cast possibly taking on other parts it would still be very interesting. I could easily see Eldon appearing in Emery, Frazer or Mitchell roles. You have the problem of finding actors who can take on roles played by people of the calibre of Liz Frazer etc. The real oddity and gem, the Holy Grail of missing shows you might say is The Radio Show. This featured Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes and Graham Stark. I am sure though, with the kind of attention detail and a little tinkering here and there this would be an interesting and worthwhile project, especially as idiotically they have cancelled the radio show, which doesn't bode well, and we probably end up with Are You Being Served instead

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 9th September 2016, 9:48 AM

Yes

The sets were a bit irritating at the beginning because they made the whole thing look like one of Lars von Triers darker movies. I don't know why the makers chose this über-minimalistic approach. I think the early Hancock shows had very cheap sets as well but they didn't have this almost eerie, ghostly quality which can kill the comedy at times.

Some idiot producer, obviously stuck in the early seventies thought this would make it more experimental. Typical BBC, old tattered sets would have been far better

Speaking of Holy Grails of Hancock. I often hope they might find the episodes where Harry Seacombe took over when Hancock went awol. He played a version of himself not an impression of Hancock and there was a handover when Hancock returned, these really would be a find

Quote: Muddlecombe @ 9th September 2016, 10:12 AM

Speaking of Holy Grails of Hancock. I often hope they might find the episodes where Harry Seacombe took over when Hancock went awol. He played a version of himself not an impression of Hancock and there was a handover when Hancock returned, these really would be a find

Yes, but alas............... :( But you never know - a dear late friend of mine, who had one of the first reel to reel tape recorders in the UK used to save some of Hancock and the Goons, and one of the Hancock's was the odd ball "Blackboard Jungle", which was a lost episode at the time when he gave me a copy of it.

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" I thought my mother was a bad cook but at least her gravy used to move about. Yours just sort of lies there and sets."

Quote: Kenneth @ 9th September 2016, 5:01 AM

Better than watching Hancock's final work? Which has finally been uploaded in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrvyAPs7z5g

What a fantastic find. Thanks, Kenneth!

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 9th September 2016, 9:39 AM

Sid wasn't in the original TV prog.

Are you sure about that?

Quote: Muddlecombe @ 9th September 2016, 9:56 AM

idiotically they have cancelled the radio show

No they haven't.

Quote: Aaron @ 9th September 2016, 12:25 PM

No they haven't.

This is what I heard

Kevin McNally, who plays 'the lad himself' in the remake of the lost episodes, broke the news on Twitter, saying that 'despite good listening figures and healthy CD sales the BBC are abandoning our project half way thru'.

The cancellation comes despite the fact that the BBC are pegging a major celebration of sitcoms later this year to the 60th anniversary of Hancock's Half Hour beginning in 1956.

McNally added that he doubted there would be any more live performances of the script, as there were at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, and was unsure whether further recordings could be crowdfunded.

Quote: Muddlecombe @ 9th September 2016, 12:57 PM

This is what I heard

Kevin McNally, who plays 'the lad himself' in the remake of the lost episodes, broke the news on Twitter, saying that 'despite good listening figures and healthy CD sales the BBC are abandoning our project half way thru'.

The cancellation comes despite the fact that the BBC are pegging a major celebration of sitcoms later this year to the 60th anniversary of Hancock's Half Hour beginning in 1956.

McNally added that he doubted there would be any more live performances of the script, as there were at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, and was unsure whether further recordings could be crowdfunded.

You need to pay attention to reputable news sources.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/2116/the_missing_hancocks_series_3/

Quote: Aaron @ 9th September 2016, 1:05 PM

You need to pay attention to reputable news sources.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/2116/the_missing_hancocks_series_3/

The actor tweeting is fairly reputable, but glad to hear they changed their minds

Quote: Muddlecombe @ 9th September 2016, 1:15 PM

The actor tweeting is fairly reputable, but glad to hear they changed their minds

What is implied in a tweet is not the same as what is actually true to be written as an as-fact news report! :)

I Have read many news reports that falsely make statements or ignore protests or generally skew the truth, news is not gospel. The BBC are particularly good at this ;)

Quote: Aaron @ 9th September 2016, 11:58 AM

Are you sure about that?

:O Could the "Bible" be wrong? Roger Wilmut's "Tony Hancock Artiste" quite clearly shows Sid as not being in the first two TV episodes of Series Two, but then is shown as being in No.3; but not in 4 (The New Neighbour) or in 5 and 6.............BUT THEN doesn't list The Lad Himself after episode 3 either. :S

I am now going to lie down.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 9th September 2016, 3:23 PM

:O Could the "Bible" be wrong? Roger Wilmut's "Tony Hancock Artiste" quite clearly shows Sid as not being in the first two TV episodes of Series Two, but then is shown as being in No.3; but not in 4 (The New Neighbour) or in 5 and 6.............BUT THEN doesn't list The Lad Himself after episode 3 either. :S

I am now going to lie down.

Indeed, but I believe the format to be to only list actors when they're not playing "themselves", hence not mentioning Tony either. Indeed, Richard Webber's excellent 50 Years tome - written in some element of collaboration with G&S - and I'm sure referencing Artiste, explicitly states that all episodes except Series 2 Episodes 1 and 2 and Series 7, featured Sid.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 9th September 2016, 3:23 PM

:O Could the "Bible" be wrong? Roger Wilmut's "Tony Hancock Artiste" quite clearly shows Sid as not being in the first two TV episodes of Series Two, but then is shown as being in No.3; but not in 4 (The New Neighbour) or in 5 and 6.............BUT THEN doesn't list The Lad Himself after episode 3 either. :S

I am now going to lie down.

Information is very ropey on these shows anyway since no one has seen them since first transmission. There are some low quality audio recordings of a few. Sadly as you say we will probably never get to see the originals now. It is a great shame that the successful radio grouping of Kerr, James, Williams and Jacques, was never tried on TV, but Galton and Simpson felt it wouldn't work. But then if you think about it that line up was pretty late in the radio series, Tony had girlfriends earlier, and Kerr went from smart to slow as the series progressed. I was wondering if you knew if there was any truth that there was a film in production of the Day Off abandoned film script, and who they are thinking of casting.

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