Gold to celebrate Tony Hancock with colourised episodes & documentary

ExclusiveThursday 29th September 2022, 8:09am by Jay Richardson

• Gold is to air newly colourised episodes of Tony Hancock's Twelve Angry Men and The Blood Donor
• The channel has also ordered the documentary Tony Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful, presented by Jack Dee and featuring unseen personal artefacts of Hancock's
• "As a fan myself, to view items so personal to him was such an experience" said Dee. "I hope Gold viewers get as much out of this as I did."

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Gold is to celebrate Tony Hancock, airing two newly colourised classic episodes from his BBC series, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

Airing in 2023, a year ahead of Hancock's centenary, the two colourised programmes are the acclaimed Hancock's Half Hour episodes Twelve Angry Men and The Blood Donor, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, originally seen on television in 1959 and 1961 respectively.

British Comedy Guide understands they have also been comprehensively restored from new transfers of the surviving film prints.

The two episodes will be accompanied by a documentary fronted by Jack Dee, featuring never-before-seen scripts and other personal items belonging to the late comedy legend.

A two-hour retrospective taking its title from The Blood Donor episode, Tony Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful features previously unseen scripts, scrapbooks and production files belonging to the lad himself, as well as personal items such as photos and letters.

Very Nearly An Armful also features clips from the Hancock ATV series, made after he split with Galton & Simpson, colourised and shown on television for the first time since their broadcast in 1963. The series was released complete and uncut on DVD in August.

"The life and career of Tony Hancock is truly fascinating" said Dee, whose deadpan style has been likened to that of Hancock. "As a fan myself, to view items so personal to him was such an experience. I hope Gold viewers get as much out of this as I did."

BCG understands that Hancock's family and The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society have been closely involved in making the documentary.

Produced and directed by Victoria Thomas (The Fast Show: Just A Load Of Blooming Catchphrases, Britain's Greatest Comedy Character) for Studio Crook (Morecambe & Wise: 30 Funniest Moments, Les Dawson's Funniest Moments), the Hancock mini-season was commissioned for UKTV by Iain Coyle, and ordered by Gerald Casey, channel director for Gold.

"Two comedy icons in one show. I'm so delighted to be working with Jack" said Coyle. "The legend of Hancock still has a huge influence on comedy and sitcom today and the team at Crook have done a fantastic job and unearthed some incredible artefacts. I can't wait to see these two classic episodes in full glorious colour."

Casey added: "This new commission is one of the biggest comedy archive finds in years. The life and career of Tony Hancock is truly fascinating. Viewers will get a new insight into one of British comedy's most prominent influences. We're thrilled to have this come to Gold next year."

Matt Crook, executive producer and managing director of Studio Crook, said: "It's an absolute treat and a pleasure to be working on a programme about one of my comedy idols, Tony Hancock. To get access to such treasures from the Hancock estate and to work with UKTV on such an engaging project has been incredibly exciting.

"We have loved adding a splash of colour to classic Hancock, it's been an absolute dream project."

An enormous book of previously unseen Hancock material was brought together for a book published last month, containing many of the paper artefacts to be exhibited in the documentary.

Compiled by the comedian's great-niece, Lucy, with co-authors Martin Gibbons and Tim Elms of the appreciation society, the 750-page read, subtitled Inside His Life In Words & Pictures, was published by Kaleidoscope and features unproduced scripts, theatre programmes and correspondence, including contracts and telegram exchanges with other stars such as Peter Sellers, Hattie Jacques and John Le Mesurier.

The memorabilia was amassed by Hancock's brother, Roger, and has been combined with material held by The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. Kevin McNally, who played Hancock on Radio 4's reconstructions of The Missing Hancocks, wrote the foreword.