History Radio / HancocksHalfHour

The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Creator/SidneyJames. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Hattie Jacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. Creator/KennethWilliams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'.

---> '''Bill:''' Hey, Sid, look - what's that there up in the trees?\\

'''Bill:''' No, it's not a sirrel, Squ... <everyone starts laughing>\\
'''Tony:''' If Mister Kerr will say 'It's not a sirrel, Squid' again... <everyone takes a moment to regain their composure>\\

* HonestJohnsDealership: Sid James in the radio version.

* {{Corpsing}} - Happened from time to time and [[ThrowItIn left in]] since either the shows were live or (later) done without retakes. Most noticeable when Kenneth Williams or Bill Kerr broke, but occasionally all the cast would be in tears.

* {{Corpsing}} - Happened from time to time and [[ThrowItIn left in]] since either the shows were live or (later) done without retakes.

'''''Hancock's Half Hour''''' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''Series/SteptoeAndSon''.

''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''Series/SteptoeAndSon''. The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Creator/SidneyJames. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Hattie Jacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. Creator/KennethWilliams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'. In the TV version the regular cast was pared down to Hancock and James, although Williams and Jacques made a couple of guest appearances in early episodes.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: "The Missing Page" features an in-universe example. After spending the episode frantically trying to track down the missing last page of Darcy Sarto's murder mystery ''Lady Don't Fall Backwards'', Tony and Sid obtain a copyright edition and discover that the manuscript ends literally ''one word'' before the murderer is identified, as Sarto died while writing the book and his publishers decided Johnny Oxford fans would like to read the book anyway.

''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''SteptoeAndSon''. The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Creator/SidJames. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Hattie Jacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. KennethWilliams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'. In the TV version the regular cast was pared down to Hancock and James, although Williams and Jacques made a couple of guest appearances in early episodes.

* TheCastShowoff: Tony Hancock was often given a chance to show off material from his stage acts, including his impressions of Charles Laughton and Robert Newton.

* RunningTimeInTheTitle: It was indeed half an hour. There was also a TV special called Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes. The last season was reduced to 25 minutes and renamed ''Hancock'' (as we said, [[Film/{{Hancock}} not to be confused with...]])

* OverlyLongGag: Slow typing, followed by "Wouldn't it be quicker if you took off the boxing gloves?"

* RogueJuror: Thanks to Sid finding out that they'll get paid by the day and Tony thinking the accused has a nice face. The episode is even called "Film/12AngryMen".

* RogueJuror: It's the title of the episode, as well.

''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''SteptoeAndSon''. The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Creator/SidJames. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Hattie Jacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. Kenneth Williams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'. In the TV version the regular cast was pared down to Hancock and James, although Williams and Jacques made a couple of guest appearances in early episodes.

''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''SteptoeAndSon''. The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Sid James. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Hattie Jacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. Kenneth Williams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'. In the TV version the regular cast was pared down to Hancock and James, although Williams and Jacques made a couple of guest appearances in early episodes.

* {{Sampling}}: JetSetRadio, of all things. The "Will you stop playing with that radio of yours? I'm trying to get to sleep!" in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8Srg9ngoU Let Mom Sleep]] is from ''Hancock's Half Hour''. It was in a Creator/GeorgeMichael song, too.

** Sid is a more straightforward example, overlapping with HonestJohnsDealership.

* BagsOfLetters: in the episode 'The Bowmans' Hancock finds himself bombarded by mail the day after his radio SoapOpera character is killed off.

* BritishAccents: You can't get much more Cockney than Sid James. Which is ironic given that Sid James was South African, if not too unexpected, given that South Africa is part of the Commonwealth and this was the 1950s. Lots of people still sounded British (or tried to). It'd be more jarring these days, but it's a few years later after all.
** Meanwhile, Hattie Jacques spoke in Received Pronunciation, while Kenneth Williams slid along a scale between RP and Cockney depending on the character he was voicing.

* CatchPhrase - Tony: 'Stone me, what a life!' Snide: 'Stop messing about!'
** The latter was used in [[TheSeventies the '70s]] as the title of a Kenneth Williams comedy series on Radio4.

* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Tony's middle names are Aloysius St John.

* {{Flanderization}} - Averted; Sid James goes from being an HonestJohn in the radio series to a DeadpanSnarker on TV.

--> '''Tony:''' This could be the only chance I'll ever have to dance with Jane Russell!
--> '''Bill:''' A little shrimp like you? She'd be head and shoulders above you.
--> '''Tony:''' [[BuxomIsBetter I know.]]

--> '''The Nurse''' Have you had any of these diseases?
--> '''Tony:''' (Reads the list and looks insulted.) No, I have not and especially not ''that'' one!

* IronButtmonkey: Bill.

--> '''Gangster:''' One false move and the girl's dead!
--> '''Moira:''' Might as well be, I've had nothing to say for the last few minutes.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Tony
* LethalChef: Miss Pugh, at least according to Tony:
--> '''Tony:''' I thought my mother was a bad cook, but at least 'er gravy moved about a bit!

* RunningTimeInTheTitle: It was indeed half an hour. There was also a TV special called Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes. The last season was reduced to 25 minutes and renamed ''Hancock'' (as we said, [[{{Hancock}} not to be confused with...]])

* SoundToScreenAdaptation: The radio show started in 1954, and the TV series in 1956. From 1956 to 1959 the two versions ran simultaneously.
** Also screen to sound, since four of the TV episodes were adapted for LP records and recorded in front of audiences, just like the radio episodes except without the BBC's involvement.

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Although the various characters for whom Kenneth Williams used the "Snide" voice in the radio series were never explicitly said to be the same person, Tony tended to react as though he had had unpleasant previous encounters with them in other jobs. Sid is a more straightforward example, overlapping with HonestJohnsDealership.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: In the radio series and some of the early television series, Sid would frequently exploit or manipulate Tony for personal gain, such as by tricking him into stealing valuable goods, selling him (and Bill) into the French Foreign Legion, or conspiring to have his house knocked down to build a used car lot on the land.

* YouSayTomato: In one episode where Tony was planning to emigrate, he was continually mispronouncing Canada (he said it as if it rhymed with Grenada) despite everyone's attempts to correct him.

-->'''Policeman''' Why don't you put it in a garage? ''(GA-rij)''
-->'''Hancock''' I have not got... a ''garage''. ''(guh-RAHJ)''

* TheDanza: Other than Williams' and Jacques' characters, the main characters all had the same name as the actors who played them. (Although the character Tony had the middle names "Aloysius St John" to distinguish him from the real man.)

* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Tony Hancock was a brilliant actor, but in real life was very introverted and suffered from alcoholism. It is somewhat painful watching the struggles of the character when you know the actor's life went into a downward spiral which ended in suicide.
** Similarly, Kenneth Williams was a wildly popular comic actor, who was known for his outrageously camp characters. In real life, he was very conflicted about being gay, as he was brought up to be deeply religious, and considered it immoral. He died of an overdose, which may have been an accident or suicide.

* MissingEpisode: 31 of the 102 radio episodes, including three episodes of the second series when Harry Secombe stood in for an unwell Tony Hancock. All of the first series of the TV series are missing, as well as all but one episode of the second series and approximately half of each of the third and fourth series. Many of the early episodes were live; the second series episode only survives because a BBC technician asked for a recording. A few radio episodes and a couple of crudely-recorded TV soundtracks have been recovered from domestic recordings.