Hancock's Half Hour: The Very Best Episodes Volume 1

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You can’t help seeing these writings as missing bits of a jigsaw,” Dee says. “Little lines in a letter, for instance, seem to have now revealed more about him as a person than was intended when they were written. I liked seeing the scripts with his notes in the margins and having glimpses into how he was reading a script and what he took from it.You were able to have a visceral sense of him from reading that material.” At times the scripts would reflect topical realities of British life, such as the reintroduction of petrol rationing from November 1956 to March 1957 (following the Suez Crisis) in 'The Stolen Petrol' and a strike by members of the trade union ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) from 28 May to 14 June 1955 which involved a railway strike in 'The Rail Strike'.

episodes; episodes 1–4 pre-recorded as telerecordings, 5–13 live, broadcast 26 December 1958 – 27 March 1959 (skipping 27 February). Episodes 1, 3, 4, 11 and 12 exist as telerecordings. Episodes 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 exist as off-air audio recordings of variable quality. Episode 13 remains missing. The regular cast members generally played "themselves", in that the characters were called by the actor's real name (although the English actress Andrée Melly – sister of George– played a French character). However, there were exceptions: regular episodes and one 43 minute Christmas special, [9] [10] broadcast live, 30 September – 23 December 1957. Episodes 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 exist on telerecordings.

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. In 2016, "The New Neighbour" was restaged as part of the BBC's Landmark Sitcom Season commemorating the 60th anniversary of the television sitcom. [8] Television series cast [ edit ] The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development. Regular guest stars: Patricia Hayes (episodes 1, 2, 4 and 12); Warren Mitchell (episodes 3, 5, 8, 9 and 11); Hugh Morton (episodes 3, 5, 7, 10, 13); Wilfred Babbage (episodes 4, 6, 7, 10, 13); Staged by Apollo Theatre Company, the show runs at London's Jermyn Street Theatre from next Monday, 28th August, until 2nd September, before travelling across the country between 27th September and 15th November.

Oh yea, "We present the Merryweathers, an everyday story of Ben Merryweather" Good to see him come out on top for once. The cast is completed by Callum Hale as Bill Kerr; Alice Osmanski as Andrée Melly; Colin Elmer as Kenneth Williams; and Clive Greenwood as the BBC continuity announcer.episodes, pre-recorded on videotape, broadcast 19 February – 6 May 1960. The entire series exists as telerecordings. A trailer made for Australian transmission of this series also exists. Hattie Jacques appeared throughout series 2, in all episodes except the first, playing a variety of characters.

Kenneth Williams, taking his first job in comedy, provided the funny voices for all the minor characters in the show each week. Williams left after the first recording session for the sixth series. The LP credits the theme music to Angela Morley, even though the music was omitted, and the episodes were recorded when she was still called Wally Stott. The TV show remained faithful to the radio series, although only Sid James was retained from the cast.All episodes still exist, though episode 3 only survives in poor sound quality. [ citation needed] Series 5 (1958) [ edit ] British Comedy Guide understands they have also been comprehensively restored from new transfers of the surviving film prints.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 7, 10 and 12 (half the series, including the first three of Harry Secombe's guest appearances) no longer exist. The 13th of the Month (remake of 'The 13th of the series', 13th of 4th series) The script was re-written so that the plot did not hinge on it being the 13th of a series as broadcast. episodes, broadcast live, every 2 weeks, 1 April – 10 June 1957. "The Alpine Holiday" exists on a telerecording.In 2009, the surviving radio episodes were repeated weekly on the digital network BBC Radio 7, chronologically sequenced. These episodes are remakes for overseas sales, rewritten to remove any topical or UK-specific references. The Ballet Visit (remake of 'The Bolshoi Ballet' 2nd of 4th series) Ballet company changed to The Covent Garden Ballet, to avoid topical reference to 1956 visit to London by the Bolshoi Ballet. The society said a documentary about finding the lost episode, called Raiders of the Lost Archive, will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 13 and 17 October. The episode, which was discovered by actor Richard Harrison on a domestic reel-to-reel audio tape, will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 18 October.