The Tony Hancock BBC Collection (8 Disc Box Set) [DVD] [1956]

It is a great pleasure to have this collection, in this centenary year of Tony Hancock (1924-1968). The collection contains all 37 surviving episodes of "Hancock's Half Hour" and "Hancock" from the early 1960's.The 8xDVD boxed set was also at a competitive price, and it was delivered promptly. I ordered it last Friday, 13th September 2024, and it arrived on Monday the 16th - much earlier than anticipated.

Tony Hancock was arguably the funniest man who ever lived. He very likely would still have been extremely funny even without the assistance of Galton and Simpson but these scriptwriters par excellence are perhaps the reason Hancock succeeded so well and so quickly became the nation's favourite in the 'fifties and 'sixties. Radio 4 Extra has brought a whole new audience to The Lad Himself and indeed to the scripts and both have held up exceptionally well. I've listened to numerous airings of shows from this period on 4 Extra and it's clear that most of them seem dated and rather tired. Not Hancock. Personally I find this stuff much easier to connect with than Monty Python and Spike Milligan for example. In some way it seems that so much comedy to come out of the era when Hancock flourished had its roots in World War Two one way or another and seems very male in outlook and I can't seem to find a way into it. Hancock is altogether less fixed in time, altogether so much more universal.I would prefer to listen to the radio shows than to watch these TV versions but if you come to love Hancock, you will want to own this set which in any case is really great value. The TV output runs from the earliest shows through to Hancock's work for British TV after severing his association with Galton and Simpson who went on to write Steptoe and Son. The complete radio shows were available a few years ago as a boxed set but this was very costly and out of reach of all but the most well-heeled fan. A similar budget priced version of Hancock's wireless output is very long overdue.Yet these TV shows are very entertaining to watch. You soon overlook the fact that they're a little creaky technology-wise. I also think it helps when listening to the radio shows, to have a clear idea of how Hancock actually looked in performance. His face is so expressive and together with his impeccable comic timing, if ever it were possible to dub someone 'the perfect comedian', it must be Hancock. The Hancock character is Everyman - or indeed Everywoman. He cuts deftly across time and we end up in small ways coming to understand ourselves better as we watch Hancock do battle with a world that seems out to get him. And who hasn't felt that particular sinking feeling? The TV shows too reveal that even post Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Sid James et al Hancock was just as funny. He was after all a comedian, not merely an actor with a capacity to be amusing.People probably find their own ways into Hancock if they 'get him'. There are plenty of avenues to go down - biographies, 'lost scripts' and so on. But these TV shows and the radio output are the raw material and must underpin any 'reading' of the great man. Too often the tragedy of Hancock's demise tends to overshadow the body of work - unfairly so. Why should a man's efforts to comprehend the world and his own place in it - and the manner of his death - cast such a shadow as to obscure work as fine as this?If you love to laugh, quite simply you must expose yourself to Tony Hancock.

I remember watching these with my dad, back in the day, and thoroughly enjoying them. Today my appreciation of Tony Hancock and his style of comedy and presentation has not waned; in fact, it has increased. There was something about Tony Hancock that made you warm to him immediately. I loved his delivery style, the way he would speak, his facial expressions his mannerisms. One thing I loved about Tony Hancock, or at least his TV, and indeed his radio persona is that you could relate to his struggles in some way. He would rant on about some particular thing and you could think to yourself, “yeah, I know what you mean, mate.”Here we have 8 DVDs with the remaining 37 episodes of the original 56 made. Oh, what a shame it is that we do not have the remaining 19 episodes with us today. Perhaps one day somebody will find them in their attic, and they can be released to the public. The episodes contained are as follows:Disc 1: The Alpine Holiday, The Last Air Steward Hancock, The Lawyer: The Crown vs Sid James, How to Win Money and Influence People, There’s an Airfield at the Bottom of My Garden, Hancock’s Forty-Three Minutes.Disc 2: Ericsson the Viking, The Set That Failed, The New Nose, The Oak Tree, The Knighthood.Disc 3: The Economy Drive, The Two Murderers, Lorde Byron Lived Here, Twelve Angry Men, The Train Journey.Disc 4: The Cruise, The Big Night, The Tycoon, Spanish Interlude, Football Pools.Disc 5: The Cold, The Missing Page, The Emigrant, The Reunion Party, Sid in Love.Disc 6: The Babysitters, The Ladies Man, The Photographer, The East Cheam Centenary, The Poison Pen Letters.Disc 7: The Bedsitter, The Bowmans, The Radio Ham, The Lift, The Blood Donor.Disc 8: The Successor: Son and Heir, Face to Face: Tony Hancock Interview, Missing Scripts PDFs.There are also various extras such as audio cometary with The Blood Donor, and two other episodes, and interview with Galton and Simpson.It was such as shame that Hancock’s life, both personal and professional, so rapidly went down hill after his departure from Galton and Simpson, and his sad ending. But his memory lives on in this wonderful DVD collection.Bear in mind that these episodes are 50 years old, so you are not going to have 4K HD level of picture. Some of them are better quality than others, but all are certainly watchable.

Very pleased with this box set. Still funny after all these years and good quality video and audio throughout.

I looked for these shows for years without success then, lo and behold I found them on Amazon. They did not dissappoint. Jim W

NOTHING TO DISLIKE. WATCHED IT

Bought this for my dad’s birthday and it won’t play. I’m beyond angry. Would be nice if the seller noted that it won’t play in Canada!

Doesn't play on my DVDs player :(its my fault for not reading