Tony Hancock sketch show to be released on DVD
- Unseen since 1956, The Tony Hancock Show will be released on DVD in February
- The ITV sketch show was the celebrated comedian's first television series
- The complete first series of the comedy is now available for pre-order
The Tony Hancock Show, a sketch show starring the eponymous comedian, is to be released on DVD.
Unseen since its original broadcast on ITV in 1956, the entire first series of the comedy survives and is being issued by TV archive organisation Kaleidoscope in association with The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society and Tony Hancock's family and estate.
Written by Eric Sykes and Larry Stephens, the six episodes are said to "really showcase the more physical side of Hancock's comedy [skills]".
The comic's first TV series, it debuted on 27th April 1956, just weeks after the third series of Hancock's Half Hour had completed its first run on BBC radio. The Hancock's Half Hour television version would not begin until July of the same year, famously written by Galton & Simpson.
A second series ran for a further six episodes between November 1956 and January 1957, but all are missing, believed wiped.
Alongside Hancock, the series co-starred such comic talent as June Whitfield, Dick Emery, Hattie Jacques, Eric Sykes himself and Sam Kydd, and includes a famous sketch that sees the star play a lighthouse keeper.
The DVD will be released on 13th February 2022 and is available directly through Kaleidoscope's TV Brain platform. It will be available via Amazon and other outlets from 1st May. The set also includes a booklet detailing the show, written by current Tony Hancock Appreciation Society President Martin Gibbons.
The Tony Hancock Show
Tony Hancock stars in his first ever television series.
Co-starring June Whitfield, Dick Emery, Hattie Jacques and others, this sketch show enjoys scripts by Eric Sykes and Larry Stephens.
Two series were broadcast on the ITV network in 1956 and 1957, but now only the first is known to survive, and is presented here for the very first time.
First released: Sunday 13th February 2022
- Distributor: Kaleidoscope
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Catalogue: KP1952
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