BBC to recreate missing Hancock's Half Hour radio episodes
BBC Radio 4 is to recreate some of the lost episodes of legendary radio sitcom Hancock's Half Hour.
The station will record five of the scripts in front of live studio audiences in April, with the episodes broadcast under the title The Missing Hancocks.
The new recreations will star Simon Greenall, Kevin Eldon, Robin Sebastian and, as Hancock himself, Kevin R. McNally.
Hancock's Half Hour is considered one of the most important British radio comedies of all time. The sitcom revolved around a fictionalised version of the life of Tony Hancock - portrayed in the show under various guises, but often as a struggling comic and actor, and always irretrievably pompous.
He was joined by his dim Australian lodger (played by Bill Kerr) and dodgy businessman Sid (Sid James). Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams are amongst other comedy actors to have featured regularly in the show.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the first episode of Hancock's Half Hour was broadcast in November 1954. The show soon became wildly popular with millions tuning in each week to hear Hancock's adventures. In 1956, Hancock's Half-Hour spun-off into an equally popular television show, and the format continued to run between both mediums until 1959.
Hancock's Half Hour is particularly notable in the history of British comedy as it helped usher in and popularise the situation comedy genre, as opposed to variety and stand-up, which radio comedy had generally consisted of up to that point.
As is the case with many television programmes, it was not BBC policy to keep all recordings, and so some 20 original recordings are now missing, believed wiped. The Missing Hancocks is an attempt to re-create a number of these scripts for listeners in order to celebrate the anniversary of the series and of Galton and Simpson's landmark writing partnership.
The BBC explains: "Sixty years ago, Britain's finest comedy writing partnership was born. From the broadcast of their very first script in 1954, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson defined 'funny' for successive generations of BBC listeners and viewers.
"It all started with Hancock's Half Hour, the legendary radio series broadcast by the BBC Home Service between 1954 and 1959. 103 episodes of the show were made - but 20 are missing from the BBC archive and haven't been heard since their original transmission. Now, as part of the celebration of Galton and Simpson's diamond anniversary, BBC Radio 4 is delighted to present The Missing Hancocks, a series of five missing episodes of the classic comedy, handpicked by Galton and Simpson themselves, and recreated live in front of a studio audience at the BBC Radio Theatre."
The BBC concludes: "The shows are as fresh today as the day they were written."
Today's news follows the recent announcement that the BBC is to re-record an episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy too.
The Missing Hancocks will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 later this year.
Below is some audio from The Blood Donor, the most famous of the Hancock television episodes: