This afternoon, I was lucky enough to attend the recording of the last two remaining lost Hancock's Half Hour episodes for the BBC Radio 4 series The Missing Hancocks (my third time in the audience, man & boy), which was once again performed pitch-perfectly by Kevin McNally and the cast and left me feeling suitably inspired and uplifted as I exited Broadcasting House and made my way back to the tube at Oxford Circus.
I must admit visiting the BBC always gives me a bit of a lift, as the child inside still can't help but be excited by the many inspirational ghosts that occupy the building, metaphorically speaking (subject to a proper paranormal assessment); I've only been to Broadcasting House once in a work context - to do a radio interview for the Buddy Holly show I was in - and went to Television Centre once in a non-audience-member capacity - for a meeting with a producer with Glyn - but the part of me that longs to be on the other side of the mic there is always keen to downplay the thrill. At the very least, it was nice to be included on the guest list (thanks to the kindness of Kevin Eldon) as I could kid myself that I wasn't just a punter.
Whatever the context of my attendance, the chance to watch another two shows be brought back to life with such humour and affection was joyful. I've often daydreamed about being able to witness my favourite sitcom being made first time around, and while that's an impossibility, The Missing Hancocks has afforded me the next best thing three times now. As always, the quality of the writing was staggering; by rights, the last two episodes in five years of cherrypicking what they wanted to record should have been the weakest, but they were great; the second show - in which Tony was an independent MP with the deciding vote in a Parliament split exactly down the middle - was scarily topical in the wake of the current Brexit mess. Speaking of topicality, the Have I Got News For You team captain (and massive Hancock fan) Paul Merton made a cameo appearance in the first show, which was an added treat. The audience even had a line to deliver in unison, which I enunciated to the best of my ability; the things you do for a CV credit.
I must admit visiting the BBC always gives me a bit of a lift, as the child inside still can't help but be excited by the many inspirational ghosts that occupy the building, metaphorically speaking (subject to a proper paranormal assessment); I've only been to Broadcasting House once in a work context - to do a radio interview for the Buddy Holly show I was in - and went to Television Centre once in a non-audience-member capacity - for a meeting with a producer with Glyn - but the part of me that longs to be on the other side of the mic there is always keen to downplay the thrill. At the very least, it was nice to be included on the guest list (thanks to the kindness of Kevin Eldon) as I could kid myself that I wasn't just a punter.
Whatever the context of my attendance, the chance to watch another two shows be brought back to life with such humour and affection was joyful. I've often daydreamed about being able to witness my favourite sitcom being made first time around, and while that's an impossibility, The Missing Hancocks has afforded me the next best thing three times now. As always, the quality of the writing was staggering; by rights, the last two episodes in five years of cherrypicking what they wanted to record should have been the weakest, but they were great; the second show - in which Tony was an independent MP with the deciding vote in a Parliament split exactly down the middle - was scarily topical in the wake of the current Brexit mess. Speaking of topicality, the Have I Got News For You team captain (and massive Hancock fan) Paul Merton made a cameo appearance in the first show, which was an added treat. The audience even had a line to deliver in unison, which I enunciated to the best of my ability; the things you do for a CV credit.