The Illustrated Hancock by Roger Wilmut

Introduction

Television has always been essentially an ephemeral medium; programmes, once transmitted and perhaps once repeated, tended to disappear from public view for ever. However, the emergence of the domestic video recorder and the pre-recorded 'videogram' changed all that, and it was natural that the BBC in particular should take advantage of this new medium to make some of the best of its output available once again. It might have seemed surprising that among the glossy colour productions were a number of half-hour comedies which were over twenty-five years old and which featured a performer who had been dead for seventeen years, and that these programmes were subsequently repeated on television in peak time; but the name of the performer alone was sufficient explanation - Tony Hancock.
      Despite the fact that these programmes had not been seen for many years, Hancock's popularity remained undimmed since his peak in the late 1950s. Long-playing records from his radio shows were still selling steadily; three books had been written on his life and work; there had recently been a major television documentary on him; and also two solo plays purporting to examine his inner conflicts. No other comedian has ever retained so much of his popularity so long after his best work. Tommy Handley, the best-loved comic of the Second World War, now sounds old-fashioned and difficult to understand; the other top radio and television comics of the 1950s now sound singularly dated (with the one exception of the Goons, who served a rather specialized cult market); and even the top comics of the 1970s, Morecambe and Wise, seem unlikely to retain quite the aura of Hancock.
      Hancock was an instinctive comedian who, in collaboration with his best writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, raised the more naturalistic type of broadcast comedy to entirely new heights; from his start in the Variety theatres he made a highly successful transition to radio and television, creating a character who has become a permanent part of the national consciousness. Lines from his most famous shows are still quoted in ordinary conversation - sometimes by people who are too young to have seen the original transmissions - and the repeat series already mentioned demonstrated a comic power that transcended the black-and-white and poor technical quality of the recordings, which would have lessened the effect of most performers for a modern audience.
      Something of the quality of Hancock's work can be seen in the photographs presented in this book, which - though lacking the movement and sound of his performances - nevertheless convey to a surprising degree the personality of the comedian. His expressive face could speak volumes, and even in the more relaxed rehearsal and off-screen photographs the underlying and instinctive comic persona of the man is apparent. The text accompanying the photographs will explain the stories of the shows from which they come, or give the background to the pictures. However, this book is not a biography as such, nor a close study of his work - that has already been done elsewhere - and in particular it will not deal with his inner troubles or the sad final few years leading up to his suicide in 1968, when his difficulties had made him only a shadow of the man he was; it is the Hancock of his peak years, as he is best remembered today, who is presented here.
      His professional career ranged from just after the war, in 1945, to his last uncompleted work in Australia in 1968; and encompassed live theatre, radio, television, and (to a lesser extent) the cinema. The character he created emerged gradually, taking its complete shape in the late 1950s - the unsuccessful, lone, self-opinionated and not over-bright loser, neatly described by Galton and Simpson as 'a shrewd, cunning, high-powered mug'. He was very much a part of the 1950s - although his appeal remains intact in a world changed almost beyond recognition.
      It was in some ways an uneasy decade; although there was increasing material prosperity, and many people were living in much better circumstances than they could have hoped for before the war, the shadow of the atomic bomb and the memories of wartime coloured most of the period. Most radio comedy - and the relatively small amount of television comedy - aimed to reassure people rather than rock the boat in any way. Undemanding domestic situation comedies and predictable sketch shows abounded (again, the subversive Goon Show was an honourable exception) and even the best broadcast material tended to have what seems today a very cosy atmosphere.

      The emergence of Hancock's Half-Hour as the greatest of all situation comedies did not happen overnight; but by the end of the 1950s the series, both on radio and television, achieved a quality not only of comedy but of depth of characterization which was far beyond anything of the period. Though lie never played for sympathy or pathos, Hancock gained the understanding of his listeners as he railed against his own failures and the failure of life to be what he felt it should be; and Galton and Simpson's scripts reflected the underlying uncertainty of the decade instead of offering the easy reassurance of most comedy. Many people have attempted to sum up their style, but it was perhaps best described by Clive Hodgson (in the National Film Theatre's programme booklet when they showed a season of Hancock material) when he said that Galton and Simpson's scripts 'were closer to Waiting for Godot (change forever promised but never realized) than to conventional situation comedy (change constantly threatened, but always avoided)'.
      Hancock's Half-Hour was of course his most famous vehicle, but there were also other television shows for ITV, plus two major and three minor film appearances; and in this pictorial celebration glimpses of these as well as some of his greatest performances, and some personal photographs, are presented as a tribute to a comic who was not only the greatest of his time but whose appeal remains as fresh today.
Roger Wilmut

There were two publications of this particular book. They date from: 1986 to 1987, and are as follows:

1st, Macdonald Queen Anne Press, hardback, published in 1986

2nd, Macdonald Queen Anne Press, paperback, published in 1987

 

Use your browsers button to go back