Hancock's Half Hour
- Radio sitcom
- BBC Light Programme
- 1954 - 1959
- 107 episodes (6 series)
Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock is a loser whose plans and aspirations are continually ruined by bad luck, Sidney Balmoral James or, more often than not, by his own pomposity and ambition. Stars Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sid James, Moira Lister, Kenneth Williams and more.
- Series 6, Episode 13 repeated Wednesday at 7:30am on Radio 4 Extra
Press clippings
Recovered 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 2024Missing Hancock's Half Hour with Harry Secombe discovered
The only episode of Hancock's Half Hour featuring both the eponymous star and Harry Secombe has been located by radio enthusiast Richard Harrison.
British Comedy Guide, 12th October 2023Live 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 2023Lost 1955 Hancock's Half Hour episode recovered
A lost episode from the first radio series of Hancock's Half Hour has been discovered and will be broadcast on Radio 4 in October.
British Comedy Guide, 29th September 2022Hancock's Half Hour reminds us what once united Britain
In Hancock's Half Hour everyone is ridiculous - the people who hate change and the ones who seek it, in this playful mudbath of piss-take and self-parody. Implacable differences of opinion and outlook weren't a cause for mournful patience and hand-wringing toleration: they were the price you paid for a society full of people it was enjoyable to laugh at.
Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 26th December 2020The radio that delights Robin Ince
Last week, the funniest BBC Radio show of all time was named in the Radio Times. All other radio shows will be destroyed and used as landfill. I had quite forgotten that 11 months before, I had put in my nominations. I have no idea if any of this got used in the Radio Times, but this is what I wrote.
Robin Ince, Robin Ince's Blog, 27th November 2020Radio Times poll of best radio comedies
Radio 4 panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has come top of a Radio Times list of the greatest radio comedy shows.
British Comedy Guide, 17th November 2020Andree Melly dies at 87
Andree Melly, the last surviving cast member of the Hancock's Half Hour radio cast and a one-time regular on Just A Minute, has died at the age of 87.
Chortle, 28th February 2020The 20 funniest radio comedies of all time
Before Radio 1's first run of new shows kicks off next month, here we count down the 20 greatest scripted radio comedies ever to hit the airwaves
Ben Lawrence, Tristram Fane Saunders & Mark Monahan, The Telegraph, 25th January 2018Harry Secombe's son to play his roles in The Missing Hancocks
Andrew Secombe, the son of the late Harry Secombe, has joined the cast of Radio 4's The Missing Hancocks. He will play roles his father played in the original shows.
British Comedy Guide, 2nd December 2016