Hancock's Half Hour
- TV sitcom
- BBC One
- 1956 - 1961
- 63 episodes (7 series)
Tony Hancock stars in Galton & Simpson's comic masterpiece, with his delusions of grandeur and acquaintances at the root of his every downfall. Also features Sid James, Kenneth Williams, James Bulloch, Johnny Vyvyan, Alec Bregonzi and more.
- Hancock, Episode 5 repeated Sunday at 3:30am on Gold
Streaming rank this week: 4,339
Press clippings
The 50 best TV comedies of all time - ranked
From cult classics to sitcom royalty, we've assembled the definitive list of TV comedy greats - but has Mrs. Brown's Boys made the grade?
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph, 20th June 2024Recovered Hancock's Half Hour to air for star's centenary
A recently recovered, landmark episode of Hancock's Half Hour is to air on BBC Radio 4 Extra in May as a lynchpin of the channel's celebration of the late comic's 100th birthday.
British Comedy Guide, 26th April 2024Live tour of Hancock's Half Hour radio re-enactments
A touring stage show recreating lost radio episodes of Hancock's Half Hour has been announced.
British Comedy Guide, 21st August 2023The 25 funniest Christmas comedy TV specials of all time
The comedy special is as much a part of British Christmas as a family row and mountains of sprouts. This year, comedy shows from Motherland and The Detectorists to Mrs Brown's Boys and Ghosts are returning with festive specials to round off 2022. To celebrate, we countdown the greatest 25 Christmas comedy specials of all time.
Tom Fordy, The Telegraph, 23rd December 2022BBC Four to repeat comedy classics
To link in with the celebrations of 100 years of the BBC, from Saturday 22nd October BBC Four will begin broadcasting classic episodes of sitcoms and sketch shows.
British Comedy Guide, 14th October 2022Gold to celebrate Tony Hancock with colourised episodes & documentary
Gold is celebrating Tony Hancock by colourising classic episodes, Twelve Angry Men and The Blood Donor, as well as airing a documentary on the late comedian fronted by Jack Dee.
British Comedy Guide, 29th September 2022100 BBC TV gamechangers
The Sooty Show, Goodness Gracious Me and Hancock's Half Hour have been named amongst 23 comedy titles in a BFI list of the 100 most important television programmes from the BBC, as the broadcaster marks its 100th anniversary.
British Film Institute, 28th April 2022History of the BBC: Comedy and Satire
In 1948, the BBC published its now infamous 'Green Book', a set of guidelines for writers and producers of comedy. According to the preface, 'Programmes must at all cost be kept free of crudities, coarseness and innuendo. Humour must be clean and untainted directly or by association with vulgarity and suggestiveness.' On that basis, and had BBC writers and producers stuck rigidly to these guidelines, some of the great comedy classics would never have seen the light of day.
Dr Jamie Medhurst, BBC, 26th August 2021All of life can be found in a good sitcom
Highbrow dramas and earnest documentaries are often held up as mirrors but shrewd historians know to look at comedy.
Libby Purves, The Times, 31st May 2021The Top 10 British sitcoms of the 60s
We all have favourite sitcoms that we love to watch and revisit. Something about the familiarity of the format that resets itself to zero for the start of each new episode makes for comforting viewing.
Greg Jameson, Entertainment Focus, 16th November 2018