Hancock's Half Hour: The Very Best Episodes Volume 1

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To "Ericsson the Viking" in which Sid tries to persuade him to ditch comedy and take up historical dramas. Famously this culminated in a rather glib joke from Spike Milligan after Hancock's death (which went along the lines of listing various Hancock's Half Hour cast members and stating that he "got rid of them, and then he got rid of himself"). It's about a man trying to tell you about the awfulness of comedy and how it goes wrong, and how your life goes wrong, and how your marriage goes wrong.

For a lot of movies or TV series that we attempt to revisit later on in our lives, there's an element of 'You really had to be there' - yet somehow, Hancock's adventures spanning the mid-fifties to very early sixties retain a kind of ageless beauty, standing in the comedy landscape like a great old castle - they seem to exist on a higher plane. It may surprise many that when recording this career-defining episode, Tony Hancock was not a well man. In this five-part series, US happiness expert and positive psychologist Michelle Gielan and British journalist and author Oliver Burkeman explore ways to become truly happier, backed up by scientific evidence. The new character was maybe just a tad more daft and less cynical, yet despite these bold changes it is, as Alan Simpson had pointed out, this finale series that perhaps defined Tony Hancock the most. The first show, “The Last of the McHancocks” is a good opener, although most of the humour relies on some sense of Scotland and the Scottish ‘character’ (filled with rather funny stereotypes of course so not for the sensitive Scot).Eventually, he worked his way onto Variety Bandbox, a radio series packed with sketches and music, which also launched the careers of Frankie Howerd and Peter Sellers. It is probably true that his humour was not understood beyond the Commonwealth - certainly he has many admirers in Australia. Hancock's Half Hour" is a milestone in British comedy television in being one of the first British situation comedies to be presented for the small screen.

Hancock believes that Sid is planning to murder him, but Sid is convinced that his own life is in danger. This collection contains all 37 surviving episodes, from 1956 to 1961, of the classic TV sitcom written by Galton and Simpson, featuring East Cheam's most famous resident, Tony Hancock, alongside supporting stars including Sid James and Kenneth Williams. If you are in Australia or New Zealand (DVD Region 4), note that almost all DVDs distributed in the UK by the BBC and 2entertain are encoded for both Region 2 and Region 4. Sadly, 17 episodes from the series are missing believed wiped, but their scripts are included in PDF form amongst the set's extras. A resolve to be a giant among men, to conquer, plunder and seize the greatness that he thinks is his right.

Hancock is arguably the first in a very long line of self-assured but sympathetic sitcom protagonists, and it seemed that both Tony and Sid were very much the epitome of their on-screen personas. About the reviewer: Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening, The Art of Assessment, Quark Soup, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Cherished Pulse and She Wore Emerald Then. A disgusting comment, especially as all current British comedians owe a complete debt to Tony Hancock, he was the first the trail blazer.

This isn’t often the case with comedy – much of it is so topical that it’s only funny while its themes and characters are current, but Hancock’s Half Hour first aired in 1955, and in 2009, the skits still made me laugh outloud in my car (luckily the windows were closed). Tony Hancock has been unfairly criticised for his decisions, to leave out members of the radio series for the television show. Complete with the classic score performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, these hilarious episodes were recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre in front of a live audience.A much-used word, karma is loosely understood as a system of checks and balances in our lives, of good actions and bad deeds, of good thoughts and bad intentions. In Sid's Mystery Tours Sid talks Hancock into becoming the director of his guided tours company - but it doesn't even possess a coach.