Hancock: The Best Of Hancock

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Very Best of Hancock isn't just a miscellaneous compilation of his television work, rather it is five of the six episodes from Hancock's last season with the BBC in 1961. Writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson followed Hancock to television after making him a star on radio, and it is to them as much as to Hancock's lugubrious persona that these few shows owe their classic status. In a conscious effort to throw the spotlight more firmly on himself, Hancock had parted company with his radio cohorts in the transition to TV, and here for the first time he also dispensed with stalwart comedy partner Sid James. Thanks to Galton and Simpson, however, the gamble paid off handsomely and these shows remain some of the best sitcoms ever created for British television. No longer a resident of Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, here we find Hancock in Earl's Court in the first episode, "The Bedsitter". Whether trying vainly to live the life of a carefree bachelor, playing an old country character in a thinly disguised version of "The Archers" ("The Bowmans"), wrestling with the complexities of valve radio ("The Radio Ham"), annoying everyone in an awkward situation ("The Lift") or giving that famous pint of blood ("The Blood Donor"), Galton and Simpson provide Hancock with every opportunity to exercise his wonderful pomposity and pretentiousness with scripts full of comic invention and eminently quotable lines. Hugh Lloyd and June Whitfield are among the supporting cast.

On the DVD: The disc includes a good recent interview with Galton and Simpson, who talk about their sometimes difficult relationship with the star. After Hancock used cue cards while recording "The Blood Donor", they reveal, he decided never to bother learning any lines again, even though this had a detrimental effect on his ability to use comic facial expressions ever afterwards. The picture and sound quality are what might be expected from TV of this vintage. --Mark Walker

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Customer reviews

review by: Tosh date: 2007-09-29 rating:
Sheer Brilliance
This DVD is pure brilliance. It's a pity about the missing episode but Amazon got it wrong saying this was his last series, he also did a series of 13 episodes in 1963

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review by: Miche date: 2007-05-08 rating:
You're never alone with a pilchard
In what was effectively the final series of Hancock's Half Hour (named simply Hancock because the running time was cut to 25 minutes with a view to overseas sales), Tony Hancock got rid of the astrakhan, the homburg, East Cheam and even Sidney James - but the pretentious, vainglorious and vulnerable Hancock persona remains. Here he is at the height of his powers: alone in a bedsit trying to get to grips with Bertrand Russell, stuck in a lift with John le Mesurier, getting the boot from a radio show suspiciously reminiscent of the Archers, trying to help a mariner in distress ("Yellowjack!") and, most famously, giving "very nearly an armful" of blood.

It is indeed a pity that the BBC opted to issue a "best of" containing five episodes out of six, leaving The Succession: Son and Heir as the only surviving episode not on DVD (though - whisper it - it's not a great episode). Nonetheless, the five shows on this volume provide terrific entertainment and a masterclass in comedy.

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review by: date: 2007-01-08 rating:
The Missing Episode!!!
Now that the BBC have released every existing episode of Hancock's Half Hour on a superb series of 4 DVDs, the time has come to delete this irritating volume and issue a new one containing all 6 episodes of "Hancock". Why the final ever episode, "The Succession", should have been omitted I cannot imagine, but the time has come to rectify this error. My low rating for this package is in no way a relection on the 5 brilliant episodes contained therein, only on the sloppiness of the BBC for leaving one episode off the disc.

And while they're about it, please include as a Bonus Feature on the new "Hancock" DVD the "Face to Face" interview with John Freeman. Some poignant glimpses there into the mind of a troubled comic genius. He was a great comic actor, but his aspirations to be a great comic writer were quite beyond his reach, and this perceived failing brought him great sadness.

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review by: mr_emerson date: 2004-09-23 rating:
The Lad Himself settles well on DVD
"Hancock's Half Hour manages to do the impossible - it shows it's age yet remains timeless."

This DVD is a beautiful companion volume to the newly released HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR VOLUME ONE.

Let's hope the Beeb recognise the demand and follow this with volume two quickly!


review by: date: 2003-08-11 rating:
At Last There Here!
At long long last we have a nice little DVD with five of the best Hancock's Half Hour, dititally restored and a resonably good sound quality. Obviously the picture cannot be like a modern day film but its pretty close to the mark concidering. It would be nice, somtime in the future to see a DVD with the entire Hancock's Half Hour series, including the ones with Sid James such as The Cold, The Economy Drive and The New Nose. But for now fan will have to make do with this. The episodes which are on this DVD are: The Bedsitter, The Bowmans, The Radio Ham, The Lift, The Blood Donor.
Altogether this is a nice little DVD and deserves a place on anyones shelf.

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Similar products

Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 1 [1961]
Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 4 [1960]
Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 2 - The Best Of
Tony Hancock Collection: The Punch And Judy Man / The Rebel
Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 3

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