2013-2019

The 2013 release in the Vintage Beeb series is Hancock’s Half Hour featuring The Americans Hit Town and The Unexploded Bomb both heavily edited and without any incidental music as per the original vinyl and cassette release. As with other releases in this series, the CD is a facsimile of the vinyl LP. A nice release and great to see the original artwork recreated.

Release Date:  25th March 2013
Catalog No:     978-1471318771

Released on the Memory Lane label, this 3 CD set is a compilation of 8 shows from both the TV and radio series.  Disc 1 comprises The Radio Ham, The Blood Donor and Twelve Angry Men; Disc 2 comprises The Wild Man Of The Woods, A Sunday Afternoon At Home and The Lift; Disc 3 comprises The Threatening Letters and The Diary.

Release Date:  22nd April 2013 
Catalog No:    B00BUGYNNS

This second volume features The Radio Ham, The Blood Donor and Twleve Angry Men and is the same as the first CD from the three CD set.

Release Date:   
Catalog No:

This second volume features The Wild Man of the Woods, A Sunday Afternoon at Home and The Lift and is the same as the second CD from the three CD set.

Release Date:   
Catalog No:

The third volume features The Threatening Letters and The Diary and is the same as the third CD from the three CD set.

Release Date:   
Catalog No:    ISBN 5060088441053

The first in a series of 3 releases featuring an unusual selection of episodes.  This first volume features The Holiday Camp and The Missing Page.

Release Date:  8th August 2013
Catalog No:    380739173118

The second volume features The Blood Donor and The Reunion Party.

Release Date:  8th August 2013 
Catalog No:     380739173163

The final volume includes the episodes The Rail Strike and The TV Set

Release Date:  8th August 2013
Catalog No:      400585397177

This CD Box Set is a welcome re-release of Series 1 and 2, this time in a single box set.  The collection contains 15 episodes as follows: The First Night Party; The Idol, The Boxing Champion; The New Car; Cinderella Hancock; A Trip To France; The Monte Carlo Rally; A House on the Cliff; The Sheikh; The End of the Series; The Holiday Camp; The Chef That Died of Shame; The Rail Strike; The Television Set and The Marrow Contest.

As is similar with most BBC Box sets the CDs are presented on a spindle with no individual covers. This set does not include a pdf booklet.

Release Date:   18th September 2014
Catalog No:     1471368009

This release features 5 new recordings of Hancock’s Half Hour episodes which have been wiped by the BBC.  These episodes, which feature Kevin McNally as Hancock, were broadcast on Radio 4 in October / November 2014.  The five epsiodes are The Matador, The Newspaper, The Hancock Festival, The Breakfast Cereal and The New Neighbour.

Release Date: 18th December 2014
Catalog No:   1910281786

This CD Box Set is a welcome re-release of Series 3, this time including episodes which had been wiped by the BBC but have been found after the release of the previous box set.

The collection contains 10 episodes as follows: The Pet Dog; The Jewel Robbery; The Bequest; The Blackboard Jungle; The Diet; Hancock’s Heir; The Student Price; The Greyhound Track; The Conjurer and The Test Match.

Also included are two radio documentaries about Tony Hancock: Stone Me, What a Life! and The Complete and Utter History of Hancock.

As is similar with most BBC Box sets the CDs are presented on a spindle with no individual covers. This set does not include a PDF booklet.

Release Date: 16th April 2015
Catalog No:   1785290503

This CD Box Set is a welcome re-release of Series 4, this time including episodes which had been wiped by the BBC but have been found after the release of the previous box set.  This means that this release is the first time that Series 4 has been released in its entirety.

The collection contains 20 episodes as follows: Back From Holiday; The Bolshoi Ballet; Sid James’s Dad; The Income Tax Demand; The New Secretary; Michelangelo ‘Ancock; Anna and the King of Siam; Cyrano De Hancock; The Stolen Petrol; The Expresso Bar; Hancock’s Happy Christmas; The Diary; The 13th of the Series; Almost A Gentleman; The Old School Reunion; The Wild Man of the Woods; Agricultural ‘Ancock; Hancock in the Police; The Emigrant and The Last of the McHancocks.

As is similar with most BBC Box sets the CDs are presented on a spindle with no individual covers. This set does not include a PDF booklet.

Release Date: 3rd September 2015
Catalog No:   1785291475

This release features 5 new recordings of Hancock’s Half Hour episodes which havebeen wiped by the BBC.  These episodes, which feature Kevin McNally as Hancock, were broadcast on Radio 4 in November / December 2015.  The five epsiodes are How Hancock Won The War, The Red Planet, The Marriage Bureau, A Visit to Russia and The Trial of Father Christmas.

Release Date: 4th February 2016
Catalog No:   978-1785292514

This CD set is welcome re-release of Series 5 and comprises all of the episodes from Series 5 plus the 1958 Commonwealth Games sketch: Welcome to London which appeared for the first time on CD.

The collection contains 20 episodes as follows:The New Radio Series; The Scandal Magazine; The Male Suffragettes; The Insurance Policy; The Publicity Photograph; The Unexploded Bomb; Hancock’s School; Around the World in Eighty Days; The Americans Hit Town; The Election Candidate; Hancock’s Car; The East Cheam Drama festival; The Foreign Legion; Sunday Afternoon at Home; The Grappling Game; The Junk Man; Hancock’s War; The Prize Money; The Threatening Letters, The Sleepless Night and Welcome to London.

Five of these episodes are longer versions than on previous releases.  The extended episodes are The Election Candidate, Hancock’s Car, The East Cheam Drama Festival, The Foreign Legion and The Sleepless Night.

As is similar with most BBC Box sets the CDs are presented on a spindle with no individual covers. This set does not include a PDF booklet.

Release Date: 3rd March 2016 
Catalog No:   978-1785292651

This 3 CD releases contains Volumes 1 – 3 of the Global Journey Gifts Comedy Greats releases from 2013. The episodes are:

• CD1: The Holiday Camp and The Missing Page
• CD2: The Blood Donor and The Reunion Party
• CD3: The Rail Strike and The TV Set

Release Date: April 2016 
Catalog No:   650922337229

This 3CD release from Global Journey gifts features a number of short sketches on each CD with the final track being a full radio show.

• CD1: Including sketches from Laurel & Hardy, Victor Borge and Bob Newhart, the Tony Hancock sketch is The Doctor’s Dilemma originally released on the LP Unique Hancock. The full radio show on this disc is The Jet Propelled Guided NAAFI from The Goon Show.
• CD2: Including sketches from Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, The Marx Brothers and Groucho Marx & Bob Hope, the full radio show on this disc is Gracie Thinks George Should Be A Surgeon from the American radio show Burns and Allen.  There is no Tony Hancock sketch on this disc.
• CD3: Including sketches from Beyond The Fringe, Peter Sellers and Kenneth Williams, the full radio show on this disc is The Chef That Died of Shame from Hancock’s Half Hour.

Release Date: April 2016 
Catalog No:   GJ3362

This CD set is welcome re-release of Series 6 and comprises all of the episodes from Series 6 plus the 1958 Christmas special and the 4 episodes re-made for Transcription Services

The collection contains 19 episodes as follows:Bill and Father Christmas; Transcription Services re-makes (The 13th of the Month; The New Secretary; The Ballet Visit; The Election Candidate); The Smugglers; The Childhood Sweetheart, The Last Bus Home; The Picnic; The Gourmet; The Elopement; Fred’s Pie Stall; The Waxwork; Sid’s Mystery Tours; The Fete; The Poetry Society; Hancock in Hospital; The Christmas Club and The Impersonator.

Three of these episodes are longer versions than on previous releases.  The extended episodes are The Waxwork; The Fete and The Poetry Society.

As is similar with most BBC Box sets the CDs are presented on a spindle with no individual covers. This set does not include a PDF booklet.

Release Date: 4th August 2016 
Catalog No:   978-1785294198

This 3 CD Release from Memory Lane Media features The Radio Ham, The Blood Donor, The Wild Man of the Woods, A Sunday Afternoon at Home, East Cheam Drama Festival (running for just 21 minutes), The Secret Life of Anthony Hancock (Extract from The Test Pilot; taken from The Diary), The Publicity Photograph (extract running for 12 minutes) and The Threatening Letters (extract running for13 minutes)

Release Date: 30th October 2016 
Catalog No:   B018Q33VH6

This release features 5 new recordings of Hancock’s Half Hour episodes which have been wiped by the BBC.  These episodes, which feature Andy Secombe as Harry Secombe and Kevin McNally as Hancock, were broadcast on Radio 4 in March / April 2017.  The five epsiodes are A Holiday in France, The Crown Jewels, The Racehorse, A Visit to Swansea and The Three Sons.

Release Date: 5th October 2017
Catalog No:   978-1785299032

This is the first of a series of 4 sets of CDs. The collection features material that the THAS and Ted Kendall have been collating over the past year, along with a range of material from the BBC archives that, in many cases, has been unheard for decades.

The contents can, essentially, be divided into four categories:

• Material from Tony’s career before the advent of Hancock’s Half Hour;
• Previously unheard off-air broadcasts or soundtracks of Hancock’s Half Hour;
• Documentaries made in the decades following Tony’s death; and
• A range of ultra-rare recordings of Tony (or related to Tony)

This set contains the following:

• Hancock’s Half Hour:
  • The Horror Serial – A newly discovered good quality recording of this episode.
  • The Blackboard Jungle – remastered with the latest technology.
  • The Student Prince and The Test Match – composite versions using existing Sound Archive versions and newly discovered extended off-air recordings
• Variety Bandbox – 26.4.51 featuring Tony’s solo spot.
• Calling All Forces – extracts from 3 programmes featuring Tony and Bill Kerr as guest stars.
• Educating Archie – featuring the only surviving episode starring Tony from 19.10.51.
• Royal Variety Performance – 9.11.52 featuring Tony’s solo spot.
• Star Bill – 2 extracts (the only known to have survived) from the show broadcast on 21.3.54.
• Variety Fanfare – a brief extract from Tony’s performance on 20.6.54
• Interviews – 7 interviews featuring Tony, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, many not held in the THAS library.
• ‘Ancock’s Anthology – (25.12.64) recreated and remastered from two different sources of material.
• The Best of Hancock – from 11.8.68.
• Tribute to Tony Hancock – by Tom Sloan 25.6.68.

A copy of the sleeve notes for Volume 1 can be downloaded here.

Release Date: 2nd November 2017
Catalog No:   978-1785298165

Volume 2 contains the following:

• Hancock’s Half Hour:
  • The New Secretary – remastered with the latest technology.
  • The Stolen Petrol and Anna and the King of Siam – a composite version using existing off-air recordings and newly discovered off-air recordings with additional material.
  • The Expresso Bar – a composite version using the existing Sound Archive version and newly discovered extended off-air recording.
• Calling All Forces– extracts from 2 programmes featuring Tony and Charlie Chester as joint programme hosts.
• The Budgie Sketch – from Christmas Night with the Stars from 1958.
• Documentaries: Phillip Oakes, Tony Bilbow and Barry Cryer present documentaries from 1971, 1978 and 2003 (What Happened to Hancock, Heroes for A Time and Six Characters in Search of an Answer, respectively) plus two editions of The Essay from 2015 about Tony Hancock and Sid James’s film career
• Interview: with Freddie Ross Hancock from 1979.

Each CD set comes with detailed programme notes written by the THAS, featuring previously unseen photos from the BBC archives, which tell the story behind each recording. A copy of the sleeve notes for Volume 2 can be downloaded here.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

Release Date: 5th April 2018
Catalog No:   B07B4HJQCF

Volume 3 contains the following:

• Hancock’s Half Hour:
  • The 13th of the Series, The Sleepless Night and The Last Bus Home – remastered with latest technology.
  • The Male Suffragettes – a composite version using existing off-air recordings and newly discovered off-air recording with additional material.
• Calling All Forces– extracts from 3 programmes featuring Tony and Charlie Chester as joint programme hosts.
• Documentaries: Hancock’s Other Half’s Hour (1997), Turns of the Century (1995) and Stone Me, What a Life! (2004).
• Interviews: Both with Tony: Open House from 1964 and Late Night Line Up from 1965.

Each CD set comes with detailed programme notes written by the THAS, featuring previously unseen photos from the BBC archives, which tell the story behind each recording. A copy of the sleeve notes for Volume 3 can be downloaded here.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

Release Date: 4th October 2018
Catalog No:   B07GQSVZX4

This final set in the series contains the following:.

• Hancock’s Half Hour:
  • Fred’s Pie Stall – remastered from a superior quality off-air recording which now restores this programme to it’s original broadcast length.
  • The Italian Maid – from the fourth TV series, the discovery of this good quality audio recording of the show restores this previously lost programme to the archives.
• Archive Shows:
  • Calling All Forces: extracts from two further programmes with Charlie Chester and Tony Hancock as joint compere.
  • The National Radio Awards Show from 1952 features a previously forgotten Educating Archie sketch with Tony Hancock.The THAS holds a copy of the programe for this event which also inlcuded the National Television Awards 1951 – 1952 and this can be seen here
  • Star Bill: The first ever Star Bill from 1953 and the only surviving complete episode.
• Documentaries:Hancock’s Helpers (2004); Great Lives: Tony Hancock with Pam Ayres (2009); Hancock and Son (parts 1 and 2) (1998); and Briers on Hancock (1984).
• Interviews: Peter Clayton with Round Midnight (interview with Roger Wilmut) – 1978; John Dunn (interview with Freddie Hancock) – 1986; and Comedy Club (interviews with Paul Merton) – 2018.

You can order your copy here

Each CD set comes with detailed programme notes written by the THAS, featuring previously unseen photos from the BBC archives, which tell the story behind each recording. A copy of the sleeve notes for Volume 4 can be downloaded here.

Release Date: 7th February 2019
Catalog No:   B07M8LRZW2