BBC TV Series 2
Broadcast between April 1 and June 10, 1957, this series comprised six episodes, all of which were broadcast live. The BBC did record the first episode of this series for training purposes and this is the only episode of this series which survives.The series was broadcast fortnightly on Mondays at 8pm. There were no repeats.
Regular cast comprised Tony Hancock and Sid James, (with the exception of episodes one and two) with the main cast members detailed under each individual episode below.
First Broadcast April 1, 1957
(with Richard Wattis, Kenneth Williams, June Whitfield, Peggy Ann Clifford, John Vere, Dennis Chinnery, Patrick Milner, Victor Bryant, Manville Tarrant, Rose Howlett and Elizabeth Fraser.)
Hancock upsets his fellow passengers on his flight to Switzerland and then discovers that he has to share his room at the hotel. Initially he thinks that he is sharing his hotel room with an attractive French girl only to discover that he is really sharing the room with a yodeller and Alpine Horn player!
First broadcast April 15, 1957
(with Warren Mitchell, John Vere, Paddy Edwards, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, John Vyvyan, Dennis Chinnery, Desmond Rayner, Raymond Rollett, Ann Lancaster, Rose Howlett, Evelyn Lund, Ann Reid, Alan Simpson, Charles Julian, Manville Tarrant, Claude Bonser, Lynne Cole and Jane Rieger)
Hancock is given a small part in the East Cheam Repertory Company’s production of Moon Over Tahiti but then they forget to tell him when the play is changed to Lady Chatterley’s Revenge!
First broadcast April 29, 1957
(with Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Bill Fraser, Michael Balfour, Mario Fabrizi, Leonard Sharp, Harry Lane, Dennis Chinnery, Raymond Rollett, Janet Barrow, Ann Lancaster, Iain MacNaughton, Roger Oatime, Fraser White, Frank Pemberton and Gordon Philpott)
Hancock bumps his head and suffers from temporary amnesia. While he is unable to remember who he is, Sid persuades Hancock that he is Prince Nicolai, the last heir to the Russian Royal Family’s fortune… but there are others making the same claim!
First broadcast May 13, 1957
(with Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, John Vere, Bill Fraser and Mario Fabrizi)
This episode was based on the third episode of the third radio series. Uncle Obadiah leaves Hancock a fortune provided that he gets married. Hancock starts to look for his future wife with the help of the Sid James Marriage Bureau.
This episode was based on the 4th episode of the 3rd Radio series. Hancock is worried by his new neighbour who keeps bringing in bodies and dumping them in an incinerator in the back garden. Hancock decides to investigate…
The original Radio Times listing of this episode can be viewed here.
This episode was recreated by the BBC as part of its Lost Sitcoms’season and broadcast on September 9, 2016. It starred Kevin McNally as Tony Hancock, Robin Sebastian as Kenneth Williams, Jon Culshaw as Sid James, Katie Wix as Hattie Jacques and Kevin Eldon as John Vere. The BBC Media website provided full details of the episode. Our archivist Tristan Brittain-Dissont and Bob Cook, the President of the Steptoe and Son Appreciation Society, were interviewed on BBC Radio Kent on November 3, 2016 and you can listen to the interview here.
First broadcast May 27, 1957
(with Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Mario Fabrizi, Roger Oatime, Manville Tarrant, Graham Leaman, John Vere, Ivor Raymonde, Claude Bonser, James Bullock, Harry Drew, Leonard Sharp, Raymond Rollett, Dennis Chinnery, Harry Lane, Angela Crow, Norman Grant and Nicky Grant)
Hancock dreams that he has a job as a nightclub pianist and falls in love with a foreign baroness. But she is engaged and Hancock is challenged to a duel with her fiancee!
First broadcast June 10, 1957
(with Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Gordon Philpott, Manville Tarrant, George Crowther, Harry Lane and Mario Fabrizi)
Sid and Hancock decide to auction off their property to pay for a trip to Monte Carlo to try out Sid’s infallible roulette system. But they discover that the stuffed eagle had been stuffed with banknotes!