Editing Tony Hancock (section)

==Peak years==
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Working with scripts from [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]], ''Hancock's Half Hour'' lasted for seven years and over a hundred episodes in its radio form, and, from 1956, ran concurrently with an equally successful BBC television series with the same name. The show starred Hancock as "Anthony [[Aloysius]] [[St John (name)|St John]] Hancock", living in the shabby "23 Railway Cuttings" in [[East Cheam]]. Most episodes portrayed his everyday life as a struggling comedian with aspirations toward straight acting. Some episodes, however, changed this to show him as being a successful actor and/or comedian, or occasionally as having a different career completely, such as a struggling (and incompetent) barrister.<ref>"The Lawyer: The Crown v James S: Hancock QC Defending", series 3 programme 9, BBC-TV, 2 December 1957</ref> Radio episodes were prone to more surreal storylines, which would have been impractical on television, such as Hancock buying a puppy that grows to be as tall as himself.

[[Sid James]] featured in both the radio and TV versions, while the radio version also included regulars [[Bill Kerr]], [[Kenneth Williams]] and, successively, [[Moira Lister]], [[Andrée Melly]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/andree.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010819095822/http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/andree.html|title=Biography of Andrée Melly|archive-date=19 August 2001}}</ref> and [[Hattie Jacques]]. The series rejected the variety format then dominant in British radio comedy and instead used a form drawn more from everyday life: the [[situation comedy]], with the humour coming from the characters and the circumstances in which they find themselves. Owing to a contractual wrangle with producer [[Jack Hylton]], Hancock had an [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] series, ''[[The Tony Hancock Show]]'', during this period, which ran in 1956–57.

During the run of his BBC radio and television series, Hancock became an enormous star in Britain. Unlike most other comedians at the time, he was able to clear the streets while families gathered together to listen to the eagerly awaited episodes. His character changed slightly over the series, but even in the earliest episodes the key facets of "the lad himself" were evident. "Sunday Afternoon at Home" and "The Wild Man of the Woods" were top-rating shows and were later released on an [[LP record]].

As an actor with considerable experience in films, Sid James became more important to the show when the television version began. The regular cast was reduced to just the two men, allowing the humour to come from the interaction between them. James's character was the realist of the two, puncturing Hancock's pretensions. His character would often be dishonest and exploit Hancock's apparent gullibility during the radio series, but in the television version there appeared to be a more genuine friendship between them. Hancock's highly-strung personality made the demands of live broadcasts a constant worry, with the result that, starting from the autumn 1959 series, all episodes of the series were recorded before transmission. Up until then, every British television comedy show had been performed live, owing to the technical limitations of the time. He was also the first performer to receive a £1,000 fee for his performances in a half-hour show.

Hancock became anxious that his work with James was turning them into a double act, and he told close associates in late 1959, just after the fifth television series had finished being recorded, that he would end his professional association with Sid James after a final series.<ref>Fisher, pp. 282-83</ref> Hancock left others to tell James.<ref>Fisher, p. 287</ref> His last BBC series in 1961, retitled simply ''Hancock'', was without James. Two episodes are among his best-remembered: "[[The Blood Donor]]", in which he goes to a clinic to give blood, contains some famous lines, including "I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That's very nearly an armful!"; in "[[The Radio Ham]]", Hancock plays an [[amateur radio]] enthusiast who receives a mayday call from a yachtsman in distress, but his incompetence prevents him from taking his position. Both of these programmes were re-recorded a few months later for a commercial 1961 LP, produced in the same manner as the radio episodes.

Returning home with his wife from recording "[[The Bowmans]]", an episode based around a parody of ''[[The Archers]]'', Hancock was involved in a car accident and was thrown through the windscreen. He was not badly hurt, but suffered concussion and was unable to learn his lines for "The Blood Donor", the next show due to be recorded. The result was that his performance depended on the use of [[teleprompter]]s, and he is seen looking away from other actors when delivering lines. From this time onwards, Hancock came to rely on teleprompters instead of learning scripts whenever he had career difficulties.