Fifty years ago today, we lost one of
our finest comic actors (and my personal favourite), the vastly
underrated Tony Hancock.
Hancock's a funny one as far as popular culture is concerned in that, despite being so successful in his time, drawing
massive audiences on TV and radio and commanding some of the highest fees of
the era, he has probably passed a lot of younger people by. This is a shame,
as much of his finest work is just as accessible and enjoyable today; listen to
or watch an episode of Hancock’s Half Hour at random and I’d nigh-on guarantee
it’ll make you laugh pretty quickly, plus you’d be able to draw parallels
between Hancock’s obvious character traits of frustration and exasperation with more modern-day sitcom creations like Basil Fawlty, Father Ted and
Alan Partridge.
Part of the reason he’s less known to younger audiences is probably due to the fact the poor-quality film-stock of the surviving TV episodes means they're seldom rebroadcast. At least the radio series fares better in this sense, though despite running weekly on BBC Radio 4 Extra, it probably doesn’t get the new listeners it deserves.
Sometimes people dismiss Hancock’s ability as being merely thanks to the writers he was most associated with, Galton and Simpson. While there’s no doubt they drew the best from Tony, the subtlety he brought to his performances was all his. What’s particularly extraordinary is how well his comedic ability translated from the script-in-hand world of radio to television, which was another example of his versatility.
His artistic fate probably wasn’t helped by his self-destructive behaviour in his later years and the sad circumstances surrounding his untimely death. Whatever the case, he deserves to be celebrated, and the tragedy shouldn’t overwhelm his wonderful work.
Thanks mush: stone me, you were good.
Part of the reason he’s less known to younger audiences is probably due to the fact the poor-quality film-stock of the surviving TV episodes means they're seldom rebroadcast. At least the radio series fares better in this sense, though despite running weekly on BBC Radio 4 Extra, it probably doesn’t get the new listeners it deserves.
Sometimes people dismiss Hancock’s ability as being merely thanks to the writers he was most associated with, Galton and Simpson. While there’s no doubt they drew the best from Tony, the subtlety he brought to his performances was all his. What’s particularly extraordinary is how well his comedic ability translated from the script-in-hand world of radio to television, which was another example of his versatility.
His artistic fate probably wasn’t helped by his self-destructive behaviour in his later years and the sad circumstances surrounding his untimely death. Whatever the case, he deserves to be celebrated, and the tragedy shouldn’t overwhelm his wonderful work.
Thanks mush: stone me, you were good.