There are still 23 radio episodes and 26 TV episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour which are missing. Also, nearly all of Tony’s radio and TV work prior to Hancock’s Half Hour is missing.

We are running a campaign to try to find these missing episodes so please seach your loft, your shed or that cupboard in the corner that you haven’t dared look in.  If you do find a recording that you think may be of interest, please let our Archivist or web site administrator know.

The missing epsiodes are as follows:

Hancock’s Half Hour Radio

Series 1

2: The Diamond Ring, November 9, 1954

5: The Hancock Festival, November 30, 1954

7: The Department Store Santa, December 14, 1954

8: Christmas at Aldershot, December 21, 1954

9: The Christmas Eve Party, December 28, 1954

Series 2

1: A Holiday in France, April 19, 1955

2: The Crown Jewels, April 26, 1955

3: The Racehorse, May 3, 1955

7: Prime Minister Hancock, May 31, 1955

10: The Three Sons, June 21, 1955

12: The Matador, July 5, 1955

Series 3

4: The New Neighbour, Nobember 9, 1955

5: The Winter Holiday, November 16, 1955

7: The Red Planet, November 30, 1955

8. The Diet, December 7, 1955 (a poor quality off air recording exists)

9: A Visit to Russia, December 14, 1955

10: The Trial of Father Christmas, December 21, 1955

11: Cinderella Hancock (remake) December 28, 1955

12: The New Year Resolutions, January 4, 1956 (a poor quality off air extract does exist)

15: The Breakfast Cereal, January 25, 1956

16: How Hancock Won The War, Feburuary 1, 1956 (a poor quality off air recording does exist)

17: The Newspaper, February 8, 1956

Series 4

3. Sid James’s Dad, October 28, 1956 (a poor quality off air recording exists)

Hancock’s Half Hour TV

Series 1

1: The First  TV Show, July 6, 1956

2. The Artist, July 20, 1956

3. The Dancer, August 3, 1956

4: The Bequest, August 17, 1956

5: The Radio Show, August 31, 1956

6: The Chef That Died of Shame, September 14, 1956

Series 2

2: Lady Chatterley’s Revenge, April 15, 1957

3: The Russian Prince, April 29, 1957

4: The New Neighbour, May 13, 1957

5: The Pianist, May 27, 1957

6. The Auction, June 10, 1957

Series 3

1: The Continental Holiday, September 30, 1957

2: The Great Detective, October 7, 1957

3: The Amusement Arcade, October 14, 1957

4: A Holiday in Scotland, October 21, 1957

6: The Regimental Reunion, November 4, 1957

7: The Adopted Family, November 11, 1957

8: The Elocution Teacher, November 25, 1957

Series 4

2: Underpaid! or, Grandad’s SOS, January 2, 1959 (a poor quality audio recording exists)

5: The Flight of the Red Shadow, January 23, 1959 (a reasonable quality audio recording exists)

6: The Horror Serial, January 30, 1959 (a good quality audio recording exists)

7: The Italian Maid, February 6, 1959 (a good quality audio recording exists)

8: Matrimony – Almost, February 13, 1959 (a poor quality audio recording exists)

9: The Beauty Contest, February 20, 1959 (a poor quality audio recording exists)

10: The Wrong Man, March 6, 1959 (a reasonable quality audio recording exists)

13: The Servants, March 27, 1959 (no recording of this episode survives)

Other Broadcasts

Very little else survives. There are a few recordings of Calling All Forces which survive in the Bob Monkhouse archive; a couple of sketches from Star Bill are in the BBC archive and one episode of Educating Archie with Tony Hancock also survives.

Tony Hancock also appeared in The Laughtermakers. Broadcast on July 20, 1956 with a script by Gale Pederick, this charted Hancock’s career to date and featured archive recordings from many shows which Tony had appeared in.  This show is currently ‘lost’.

If you have any recordings of any progamme featuring Tony please let our Audio / DVD librarian or web site administrator know.

The principal shows that Hancock starred in before Hancock’s Half Hour were:

• Variety Bandbox (from 1949)
• Happy Go Lucky (1951)
• Educating Archie (1951-1952)
• Calling All Forces (1951-1952)
• Forces All Star Bill (1952)
• Star Bill (1953 – 1954)