Tony Hancock

Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.

In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?

A gala programme broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 and also revived in 1994. It was hosted by a leading star and featured specially made short, seasonal editions of the previous year's most popular sitcoms and light entertainment programmes.

In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.

Walter Pinner is the titular Punch And Judy Man plying his trade in the seaside town of Piltdown. Unhappily married to his social climbing wife, who gets him to perform at the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the town in front of all the local dignitaries, his hatred of snobbery comes to a hilarious head.

An American movie company wants to shoot a science-fiction film using a British army barracks as a location, and its soldiers as actors.

Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.

Hancock fan Jack Dee presents Tony Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful. Taking its title from celebrated Hancock episode The Blood Donor, this two-hour retrospective features previously unseen scripts, scrapbooks and production files belonging to the lad himself, as well as personal items such as photos and letters.

Compilation of classic British comedy moments

Shelly Rohde meets various celebrities to ask them which personal treasures they would seal away in a glass box for future generations. Guests include Hughie Green, Edward Heath and Victoria Wood.

Gogol's comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.

Tony Hancock engages in self-reflection, looking back at his childhood, his need to work, his health issues, and whether he could ever truly be happy. The program is believed to have played a role in his eventual downfall by amplifying his proclivity for self-criticism. During the interview, John Freeman posed probing questions about Hancock's life and career. Despite his admiration for the interviewer, Hancock seemed uneasy but responded candidly. Known for his inherent self-critical nature, it is frequently posited that this interview intensified that trait, ultimately contributing to his subsequent challenges. According to Roger, Hancock's brother, "It was the most significant misstep he ever took. I believe it all stemmed from that moment. Self-analysis - that became his undoing.

A one-off special performance by Tony Hancock of his stand-up comedy act (which rarely changed), at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

Ex-colleagues reflect on the comic genius and sometimes difficult character of Tony Hancock.

Thirty-five years after his premature death in 1968 Tony Hancock was voted Britain's best-ever comedy performer. Here's a chance to see what made him so special - the surviving episodes from Series 2 and Series 3 of Hancock's Half Hour, plus a Christmas special. Episodes include: "The Alpine Holiday", "Air Steward Hancock", "The Last Of The Many", "The Lawyer: The Crown vs Sidney James", "Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People" and "There's An Airfield At The Bottom Of My Garden". The Christmas special is "Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes: The East Cheam Repertory Company".

Hancock, (who was voted Britain's best-ever comic 35 years after his death) leaves his home in Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, England for warmer, more challenging climes. He encounters the Australian natives on his terms having dragged his attitudes with him halfway across the world.