Books : Hancock's Half Hour: Hancock's Happy Christmas/The Emigrant/Hancock's School/Hancock's Car No.7 (BBC Radio Collection)
List Price: £11.00Price: £4.99 You Save: £6.01 (55%)as of 21/03/2010 04:44 BST details
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Binding: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN: 9780563391050
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0563391057
Label: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Manufacturer: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Number Of Items: 2
Publication Date: November 06, 1995
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Release Date: May 04, 1999
Studio: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Related Items:
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display
Editorial Review:
Amazon.co.uk Review:
When Ray Galton and Alan Simpson created Hancock's Half Hour--their first big hit before Steptoe and Son--they needed a supporting cast, and their choices were inspired. Sid James became the quintessential shifty crook, Bill Kerr played Tony Hancock's best friend while Moira Lister became his girlfriend, and as Kenneth Williams intoned a variety of authority-voices--police, magistrates, etc.--another comic star was born. Out of the 16 original programmes from the period under review, the BBC managed to lose six--culpable carelessness--but among the extant 10 there are outright gems, some of which will be unfamiliar even to fans, and many of which would today be banned as hopelessly un-PC. Viz Hancock's cheery greeting: "Morning Charlie. Working? Oh, of course you don't need to, with 28 children!" Or his observation--of some sluggish British workmen building a house--that he's glad they've been provided with shovels complete with arm-rests. Asked for his own address, he replies "I've just moved. They pulled down my house to build a slum". Relayed cold, such comments may not even raise a smile: Hancock's magic was all in the telling, and in the momentum he built up, as in his Monte Carlo rally programme, in which signposts were turned round and bridges blown up. One of the nicest sketches evolves out of him being left to do the housework like Cinderella, while everyone else troops off to the ball. When he died, a victim of depression, in Australia in 1968, Britain lost something irreplaceable: this five-CD set, with its accompanying booklet, makes a splendid memento. The next batch of releases is eagerly awaited. --Betty Tadman
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
If you have been searching for Hancocks Half Hour then it's a sure bet you don't need to read yet another review of how fabulous the late great Tony was. We all ready know THAT. When I was pondering on whether to buy, the most helpful piece of info was sadly lacking from any of the reviews. So here is the episode listing of the collectors box sets series 1-5. Please note the number of episodes differ from series to series as some were lost. I will add series 6 once I've got it.
Series ... Read More
Rating: -
I have a lot of Tony Hancock cassettes So it is nice to start collecting hancock on CD. Laughed all the way through even though I had listened to the programmes years ago. Excellent value for a hancock fan.
Rating: -
I was introduced to Hancock by my Grandparents many years ago when I the first heard The Blood Donor, being the most famous (but not in my opinion the best) show - from there on I was hooked and the collector's edition box sets that were eventually released were a dream come true!
Supporting Hancock throughout the first series were Sid James, Bill Kerr, Kenneth Williams & Moira Lista.
16 episodes were recorded by the BBC for the first series, broadcast between November 1954 ... Read More
Rating:  -
I was disappointed with this, to some degree. Hancock's War, & the Christmas Club, were poor quality episodes. The latter, was done on the cheap probably, as it had so few characters. I think, that the reason for there being 4 together, was because the first two, would not sell seperately.
The Lift & Twelve Angry Men, though funny, were obviously transferred, straight from the TV Episodes, judging by the amount of silences, punctuated by 'Canned Laughter,' seemingly.the Radio Versions, ... Read More
Rating: -
This book was first published in 1974 and was the first appearance of the scripts in print. This was just when the Hancock series were first being recognised as comedy art rather than throwaway TV, and Galton & Simpson were beginning to be regarded as great playwrights rather than just hack comedy scriptwriters. A long interview with them is included with this collection, which is well illustrated with stills. The episodes included are The Missing Page & The Reunion Party, which was from the last series ... Read More
|
