A touring stage show recreating lost radio episodes of Hancock's Half Hour has been announced.

Using Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's original scripts, Hancock's Half Hour: The Lost Episodes is produced and directed by Tim Astley, with John Hewer as Tony Hancock and Ben Craze as Sid James.

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.

Tickets are now available through Ticketmaster, the production's website and individual venues.

The producers have previously staged similar live recreations of episodes of Round The Horne, The Goon Show, and a previous tour of Hancock's Half Hour in 2019. The autumn 2023 tour will see four missing episodes brought to life by the cast.

Astley says: "Hancock's Half Hour was one of the greatest comedy shows of all time and it is truly an honour to be able to bring it to the stage. We are so used to sitcoms as a part of the comedy landscape these days, that it is hard to imagine a time without them and to appreciate just how ground-breaking the show was when it came along in 1954.

"Tony Hancock's genius 'put-upon' persona had such an influence on so many great comedy characters from Basil Fawlty to David Brent and it cannot be underestimated quite how much he helped shape comedy as we know it today."

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.

Stops include Monmouth's Savoy Theatre; the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds; Stockport Plaza; the Swan Theatre in High Wycombe; Riverhead Theatre, Louth; and Doncaster Cast.

Tour dates

September
27th - Harlequin Theatre, Redhill
28th - South Hill Park, Bracknell
29th - Elgiva Theatre, Chesham
30th - Riverhead Theatre, Louth

October
1st - Palace Theatre, Mansfield
2nd - 3rd - Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
4th - Harrogate Theatre
5th - Grand Opera House, York
6th - Junction, Goole
7th - Middlesbrough Theatre
8th - City Varieties, Leeds
9th - Plaza, Stockport
11th - Woodville, Gravesend
12th - Berry Theatre, Hedge End
13th - Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes
15th - Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
16th - Theatre Royal, Brighton
17th - Cast, Doncaster
18th - Harlow Playhouse
19th - Marina Theatre, Lowestoft
21st - Norwich Playhouse
24th - Swan Theatre, High Wycombe
26th - Haverhill Arts Centre
28th - Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
29th - Queens Theatre, Hornchurch
30th - Riverside, Woodbridge
31st - Palace Theatre, Southend

November
1st - Radlett Centre
2nd - Century Theatre, Coalville
3rd - Barton-Under-Needwood Village Hall
4th - Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead
6th - Brewhouse, Taunton
7th - Wyvern, Swindon
8th - Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead
9th - Watersmeet, Rickmansworth
10th - Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
12th - Savoy Theatre, Monmouth
15th - Chelmsford Theatre