At 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, Anthony Aloysius Hancock pondered and dreamed of rising above his humble origins with his sceptical sparring partner Sid (Sid James) whilst gloomily observing on life’s petty frustrations.
Tony Hancock made his stage debut in the RAF and touring gang shows. He moved into pantomimes, cabaret and radio, appearing in Educating Archie in 1951.
The radio series Hancock’s Half Hour began in 1954. On 6 July 1956, the programme transferred from radio to television, where Hancock’s inimitable performance and inspired scripts combined to produce absolutely classic comedy.
The bitter-sweet humour lay in acute observations of life’s petty frustrations and in Hancock’s bitter, paranoid rantings and pompous attempts to impress, which always fell flat as he unintentionally revealed his ignorance.
Until 29 December 1959, the radio show continued to be broadcast in parallel with the television show, and each programme remained faithful to the original formula – the presentation week by week of “a real life character in real life surroundings” with no musical interludes and no ‘theatricality’.
Sadly, all of the first TV series are now missing, as are all but one episode of the second series, and approximately half of each of the third and fourth series.
Classics such as ‘The Blood Donor’ and ‘The Radio Ham’ (“yes, I know it’s raining in Tokyo”) are amongst the most famous of Hancock’s comedy creations – both of them, in fact, dating from after 1960 when Hancock and Sid James parted company and the series was renamed simply Hancock (with Sid James moving on to his own series, Citizen James).
Fish and chip shops across Britain complained to the BBC that they had no customers for 30 minutes every Friday night when the show aired. Hancock’s down-at-heel appearance and hang-dog features made him a lovable loser, and over ten million viewers tuned in.
After seven series with the BBC, Hancock followed a growing trend and went over to ITV.
The fact that he now read his lines from cue cards rather than memorise them caused the shows to deteriorate badly.
Famous as much for his real-life alcoholism and depression as for his comedy, Hancock took his own life on 25 June 1968 at the age of 44 in a hotel in Sydney, Australia.
Anthony Aloysius Hancock Tony Hancock
Sid
Sidney James Mrs Cravatte Patricia Hayes
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After seven series with the BBC, Hancock followed a growing trend and went over to ITV.
