The Missing Hancocks to return to Radio 4
The Missing Hancocks is to return to Radio 4 for another series.
The format involves scripts of 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.
Five 'lost' Hancock's Half Hour episodes were re-recorded last year as part of the BBC's celebration of the diamond anniversary of writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Following the success of the episodes, another five recordings have now been ordered by the BBC.
The Corporation confirms: "Following the extraordinary popularity of last year's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Hancock's Half Hour, Kevin McNally is back as the lad 'imself, with five more episodes of Hancock's Half Hour that have been lost from the archives and not heard since the 1950s.
"Hand-picked by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, these scripts are as good today as they were in the 1950s; as much as this will appeal to fans of classic radio comedy, no revision is required on the part of newcomers."
The full cast will return, with Kevin Eldon, Robin Sebastian, Simon Greenall, Susy Kane and Margaret Cabourn-Smith all set to reprise their roles as Bill Kerr, Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Andree Melly and Moira Lister respectively.
The series will be again overseen by Neil Pearson. The actor, who is also a keen collector rare manuscripts, discovered the missing scripts in a batch of documents he bought.
Speaking to BCG in an interview last year, star Kevin McNally talked more about how the project to re-record the show came about and what it was like to take on the role so famously played by Tony Hancock. He revealed: "The real challenge of doing it on the radio was, when people impersonate Hancock, they tend to do a very singular voice, but of course he actually had a lot of variation."
This news follows the announcement that four episodes are to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe this August under the title The Missing Hancocks: Live in Edinburgh! The scripts being performed at the festival are 'The Winter Holiday', 'New Year Resolutions', 'Prime Minister Hancock' and 'The Three Sons'.
The five episodes for BBC Radio will be recorded in London this July, although it has not yet been revealed which scripts have been selected. To apply to be in the audience see our free tickets page
The Missing Hancocks will be broadcast on Radio 4 later this year.
The below video, filmed during the first set of recordings, features interviews with McNally and Pearson: