Hancock at 100: Tony Hancock centenary celebrated with broadcast of 'lost' episode

The recording, which came from the Bob Monkhouse Collection, was Hancock’s last starring radio vehicle before he and writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson teamed again for Hancock’s Half Hour, which began the following year. The centenary line-up also features the 2014 compilation Steve Punt's Hancock Cuttings and two rarely heard sketches from the BBC Light Programme’s Calling All Forces. In the first of these, from February 1952, we hear Hancock reprise his role as the tutor to Peter Brough’s ventriloquial doll, Archie Andrews.

For Hancock aficionados, the most significant item is an edition of Hancock’s Half Hour which hasn’t been heard since its first broadcast on 10th May 1955. The episode, later named A Visit to Swansea, was on the missing list until a recent discovery by Richard Harrison of the Radio Circle, our partners in the Radio Times Treasure Hunt. The tape was part of the same collection in which another lost Hancock, The Marriage Bureau, was found in 2022. So why were the two discoveries not announced at the same time? The answer provides an insight into the work of the group which regularly receives old tapes containing off-air recordings, sometimes in their hundreds.

Richard Harrison told us that the Hancocks were but two of 600 tapes bought at auction, probably from a house clearance sale. As he went through the reels, anything which was unlabelled was set aside to tackle later; such recordings demand more time as the whole reel has to be listened to and identified. There was a tape box labelled 'Hancock's Return' but, as is often the way, the reel inside didn't match the label and just had music on it.

Much later on, Harrison started to work on the unlabelled reels with the benefit of knowing which brand of tape was used for The Marriage Bureau, and the reel that should have been in the ‘Hancock's Return’ box was one of those. Only on playing the tape was he able to confirm the identity of the episode which we now know as A Visit to Swansea. Incidentally, the person we must thank for making this recording almost 70 years ago hadn’t got the title wrong; most episodes didn’t have official names until the history of the show came to be written in 1978.

Rarity value aside, the episode A Visit to Swansea is significant for its place in the story of Hancock’s Half Hour. The first series, which launched in November 1954 and concluded in February 1955, must have gone down well as a second series was commissioned to start just two months later. But what became one of the most enduringly popular radio comedies of all time almost came to an early end when Hancock went AWOL just before the cast were due to start recording again.

Throughout the first series, a footnote under Hancock’s listings in RT informed readers that he was in appearing in The Talk of the Town at the Adelphi Theatre, London. The stage show continued into the spring of 1955 but the stress of a long run combined with the prospect of recording a second radio series became too much for Hancock. Overcome with nervous exhaustion, he walked out of the theatre and took a flight to Rome.

Emergency meetings were convened at the BBC and producer Dennis Main Wilson asked Hancock’s friend Harry Secombe to step in. The evolving situation is reflected in the billings of Radio Times, which had already gone to press. The first episode on 19 April has Hancock listed as usual but the repeat of the second episode has Secombe’s name in his place. By the time of the third episode, RT was catching up. "Mr Harold 'Micawber' Secombe, Esq takes over from his old friend Hancock, the celebrated waif, to find that 'something always turns up'", read the summary, indicating that Galton and Simpson had started to adapt the script for Secombe.

In fact, they were doing more than that and preparing to replace Hancock permanently, renaming the show Secombe's Half Hour. Meanwhile, in Positano, Italy, Hancock must have sensed that the BBC’s patience was running out and returned to London. Taking advantage of a format in which most of the cast played versions of themselves, the writers decided that the next episode should be all about Hancock’s reappearance. "The celebrated waif makes his return after all too long an absence" read the synopsis in RT, describing the storyline in which Hancock made his way to Wales to say thank you to Secombe for stepping in.

It can’t have been easy for Hancock to face the rest of the cast when they assembled for that recording on 8th May. The episode starts with Andrée Melly and Bill Kerr enjoying the sound of Harry Secombe singing The Heart of a Clown. "It must be one of the best records he’s ever made," comments Bill. "I’m going to miss Harry," laments Andrée.

Soon after, when Hancock appears, Kerr wastes no time in telling him what a wonderful job Harry did. Whatever Hancock may have been feeling inside, his script allowed him to respond indignantly, in the unapologetic attitude of his character. If he had lingering doubts over being usurped by Secombe, the audience figures for this edition provided much reassurance: they had shot up by a million!

While none of Secombe’s three episodes survive, he makes a brief appearance at the conclusion to A Visit to Swansea. The rediscovered recording, which is missing its first two minutes, is introduced by Keith Wickham of the Radio Circle.

In total, the radio series ran for six years, clocking up 107 episodes, 20 of which are still missing. If you have any recordings of television or radio programmes dating from the 1980s or before which might be missing from the official archives, please contact us with the details at: treasurehunt@radiotimes.com

Hancock on the cover of Radio Times

14th November 1954. This was the only cover to publicise the radio series of Hancock’s Half Hour, which had only just started its first season. This scene is taken from the second episode later named The Diamond Ring but there must have been some confusion over the transmission order as this edition had been broadcast the week before!

RT got its first mention in this episode when Kenneth Williams says "Where have I seen that face before?" and Hancock replies "Oooh, could have been anywhere. Film magazines, stage papers, Radio Times, noticeboard outside, anywhere."

8th December 1957. The first cover to promote Hancock’s Half Hour on television, albeit the third series. RT’s commentary read: "'Cover Boy' Hancock tonight turns his attention to newspapers. Not, as you might imagine to read his notices, but to have a bash at the competitions – all the competitions – with the promise of riches, fame, and whatever else they have to offer. After all, someone's got to win them, and why not Tony? Maybe Sid has an answer to that one."

9th February 1958. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol was Hancock’s only straight role on television. In it, he played a lowly government clerk who had lost his money gambling (sounds familiar?) but was mistaken by the local citizenry for a high-ranking official inspector.

20th September 1959. RT photographer Don Smith recalled taking this picture after the Saturday dress rehearsal of the episode featured, The Economy Drive. Hancock later asked Don if he had taken the picture. Don feared that he didn’t like it and considered saying it was the other photographer, so he'd get the blame! But he told the truth, which was just as well because Hancock loved it!

28th February 1960. The cover for the start of series six, titled The Cold, was also printed as a poster to promote RT on newsstands. The design was re-used in April 1985 with photographer Don Smith using an old print of his original, curled at the edges.

20t' May 1961. The final TV series was simply named ‘Hancock'. The comedian wanted a new image and RT’s Art Editor Ralph Usherwood had an idea; he would show the new Hancock looking at the old, as if on a billboard. When photographer Don Smith next saw Tony Hancock he said "what a brilliant idea!".

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