The Great British Sitcom: "H-H-Hancock's Half Hour"

[Mel O'Drama]

Yikes - - has it really been over a year since I eased out of British sitcom land?! Time flies when you're stuck in the Mary Tyler Moore universe!

It's now coming up to a decade since I began my dive back into the world of British sitcoms. Since the starting point was The Galton and Simpson Playhouse, my latest sitcom brings me full circle since it's one of their most beloved projects...

Hancock's Half Hour is one of those series that I've been aware of practically my whole life without ever truly watching it. I'm sure I've seen a clip or two, and some of the episodes, titles, scenarios and lines are simply impossible not to know - most of his stuttered name from the opening credits, plus The Blood Donor and his cry of "A pint?! That's very nearly an armful" - but until a few nights ago I had not watched an episode.

Needless to say, there was a bit of adjustment and settling in. We're going back the best part of seven decades here, to scratchy black and white, a slow pace and a verbose script. The latter, it turns out, is a strength. Once I'd eased into the series, it was very easy to sit back and enjoy Galton & Simpson's sharp dialogue, perfectly delivered by a great team. Last night, for instance, I watched the episode in which Tony had a nose job, and his description of another chap's nose ("...it was a Jimmy Durante with a Cyrano de Bergerac on the end of it") had me guffawing.

With no episodes from the first television series remaining, and only a handful from the second to fourth series, it's taken no time at all to whizz through to the latter part of series four. I understand the last three series are available in their entirety, so that will be a more substantial visit.

It's been a big surprise to me that the series is a true sitcom. I'd expected more of an anthology series, with him playing a slight variation on his screen persona in each episode, but there is a running thread with the scenes between Tony and Sid at 23 Railway Cuttings, and getting into a different scrape each week. It seems Tony Hancock and Sid James are the centre of the series, with other character actors popping up again and again in different roles. Kenneth Williams was along for a couple of earlier episodes, but hasn't been seen beyond those, so I'm assuming this was at the time Hancock was refusing to work with him (as he later would with Sid) due to perceiving his comedy style as cardboard-y and one-dimensional. Curiously, John Vere's speaking voice is uncannily like Kenny's, and he's playing the kinds of authority figures or pompous windbags that Kenneth did so well. I can't help feeling he's a direct replacement (though I could be wrong, since Kenneth mainly seemed to do his Snide character here, with his "Stop messin' about" catchphrase).

Speaking of similarities, I realise watching this how similar Hancock's sound, style and (to a lesser degree) look is very much like that of Terry Scott. Reinforcing this, we've even seen him interacting with June Whitfield.

For me, the most enjoyable aspect of the series is that one can tell it was transmitted completely live. The first three series and most of the fourth were all live, and it shows in the best possible way. There's a crackling energy, and it's always fun to see what the performers do when a line is fluffed - especially since Hancock invariably draws attention to it - and there have been a few little moments of corpsing or at the very least things pausing for an exchange of knowing little smiles. Plus a few little ad libs as well. These are all little treats for the audience, and the fact that the actors seem very aware of the studio audience at times makes it feel engaging and warm. These are the moments that would be edited out today, and seeing them here proves what a shame that is.

On the subject of breaking the fourth wall, it's also been interesting to see how meta the series is. Tony Hancock's character is "Anthony Hancock", while Sid James's character is "Sidney James". Hancock's character is also a performer/comedian. Ericson The Viking was the most meta episode so far, with Tony commenting that it's Boxing Day, and the first episode of his career-endingly terrible new series is due to be transmitted at 7:30 (I don't know about the time, but the new series did begin on Boxing Day). Needless to say it got big laughs.

I think my favourite episode so far is The Set That Failed. Perhaps I relate to it a little too much, telly addict that I am. In particular, I loved the scene where the TV-obsessed relatives were having conversations without looking away from the set (my partner commented that this was very much like The Royle Family, and I suspect it is). They even managed to coordinate setting the table and serving up a meal without looking away from the TV for a second. Hilarious.

I'm sure I'll have more to say, but so far it's living up to expectations.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I'm working my way merrily through Hancock's Half Hour. Having now completed Series Five (the first not to have numerous missing episodes) I've dipped into the first three episodes of Series Six.

While I find myself with surprisingly little to say, that's no reflection of my enjoyment. While not every episode is a great - some feel noticeably longer than others due to the pacing - each has been watchable enough.

Most episodes seem to either be about fixation of Tony's or a fad of the week, each one tapping into a monomaniacal obsession, and I suppose these have certainly become sitcom staples. In Hancock terms, these range from the wild sleuthing to find out whodunnit when the last page of his library murder-mystery book is missing (from what I've seen,I'd say The Missing Page is a top tier episode) to the determination to prove that someone famous once lived in his house to the sudden drive to emigrate. I love how accessible each situation feels. With this character, the almost surreal image of him barging into the Australian Embassy, stuffed bird under one arm, roll of carpet under the other and demanding a flight right away feels no stranger than him raising his voice in the library, and possibly less strange than him acting out in silent mime the plot of a murder-mystery (which he actually got across as clearly as he did comically).

This is the last series to feature Sid, and it's also quite surprising that a number of episodes for which the series seems best-remembered (The Blood Donor not least, but also The Radio Ham and The Bowmans) will not arrive until the final short , retooled series.

I've also watched Hancock's Face To Face interview broadcast on June 1960, shortly after Series Six ended. I stumbled upon it after reading about it in Wikipedia:

In early 1960, Hancock appeared on the BBC's Face To Face, a half-hour in-depth interview programme conducted by former Labour MP John Freeman. Freeman asked Hancock many soul-searching questions about his life and work. Hancock, who deeply admired his interviewer, often appeared uncomfortable with the questions, but answered them frankly and honestly. Hancock had always been highly self-critical, and it is often argued that this interview heightened this tendency, contributing to his later difficulties. According to Roger, his brother, "It was the biggest mistake he ever made. I think it all started from that really. ... Self-analysis – that was his killer."

Watching it with this context made for fascinating viewing. Certainly, his discomfiture can be seen, and the camera holds in close ups or profile shots which even to me as a viewer make Tony seem very exposed with nowhere to hide. There are some moments that, particularly with hindsight, are significant. He mentions regularly clearing out the rubbish and hints at changes that were on the horizon which appear to be allusions to his parting of the ways with Sid (and, eventually, Galton & Simpson themselves) and the retooling of the series. Given the times, it also feels somewhat brave for him to go on record as having lost his faith. There's another moment where he states matter-of-factly that he doesn't believe anyone is ever truly happy that feels tinged with sadness given his well-documented depression and his suicide later in the decade:

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The later series of Hancock's Half Hour continued to be enjoyable. Not all of it is gold, but it's been a nice way to while away a little time of an evening.

Now, though, I'm halfway through the final short series. This retooled version, simply titled Hancock is one I was anticipating with mixed feelings. I knew that Sid would be gone and the format necessarily changed. But I also knew that the final series had some of the most oft-mentioned Hancock episodes.

Despite this, the changes are - in my eyes - to the detriment of the series. By his own choice, the series is now riding entirely on Tony's shoulders, and he appears to be buckling under the weight. Without the added support, his shortcomings are exposed and it's suddenly evident he is not actually that engaging.

The Bedsitter was practically a twenty five minute monologue and I found myself glazing over, which is a huge shame as I'm usually a fan of such lengthy, wordy, minimalist scenes.

The Bowmans was, I suppose, a kind of precursor to Acorn Antiques: a satirical pastiche of a contemporary serial. In this case it's The Archers. One gets the idea, of course, but I suspect it has lost much of its currency over the years due to its specificity. The fictional series within a fictional series is no doubt progressive for its time, and the idea of a poor actor who tries to sabotage his own character's on-screen demise is quite timeless. But it suffers from something that's been a running vein throughout each episode in this final series: Hancock himself is actually rather irritating.

Much of it rides on Hancock The Character being hapless and messing up when trying to carry out a straightforward action. But it was so overdone I quickly found it repetitive and tiresome. Compounding this, since much of the episode was just Hancock in his bedsit with his radio equipment, there was very little to diffuse things.

This has been most evident in The Radio Ham. Compounding the character's frustrating actor Hancock The Actor seems overeager for the audience to like him. A good deal of time was spent looking at them and appearing to drink in the affection they were giving. Sadly, this in-house kind of connection has the opposite effect on the viewer at home.

It's almost needy, which is understandable given Hancock's personal struggles, and the fact that the series at this point hinges more than ever on one's enjoyment of his screen persona (and probably to a good extent on Hancock himself) . Truthfully, I'm not feeling this as much as I could. Those little moments with Sid where Tony would break character after one of them fluffed a line were indeed very endearing to watch. But with his fourth wall breaking involving the audience I felt less involved because I could only see one end of it. I started to feel that he was so busy getting his ego stoked that he dropped the ball with the actual performance. In other words, he was riding on his reputation while no longer giving a performance to warrant it.

I've read that Hancock started using teleprompters due to his car accident immediately after The Bowmans. If The Radio Ham was filmed after The Bowmans that would explain a lot of the fourth wall breaking. Given the way his eyes were moving round, it's safe to assume this was done using the teleprompters. Probably the kindest thing I can say is that I'm glad only a few episodes were filmed this way.

In my mind, The Blood Donor is THE Hancock episode. It's the only one I was really aware of ahead of time, and I've long wanted to watch it. Reading that it's considered by some to be one of his poorest performances, I'm trying to keep expectations low.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

And that's that... I've now watched the entire series.

As far as the revamped Hancock series goes, I'm happy to say that The Lift and The Blood Donor were the two most enjoyable Sid-less episodes. How ironic that the best of these would come after Tony's performance became poorer through reliance on idiot boards, but then good writing will shine through and these two were well-written and with a great supporting cast.