Face
to Face was a TV show in which John Freeman, former editor
of The New Statesman and later to become British Ambassador to
the USA, asked straight forward and often probing questions to,
usually, intellectually heavyweight personalities of the day.
Hancock was as surprised as anybody when he was asked if he would
like to participate in the show. After some deliberation Hancock
agreed and the resulting examination of Hancock's troubled personality
was so stark that the BBC had their doubts about whether or not
it should be aired at all; indeed, Freeman was forced to write
a letter to the Daily Telegraph following the broadcast
to counter the public criticism his interview style had received.
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Class-obsessed
Freeman's manner was neither aggressive nor provocative but the
questions were so forthright that, combined with the camera work
of the show which focused almost exclusively on the face of the
interviewee, the interview was more like a session on a psychiatrist's
couch and Hancock, his whole id layed bare for public scrutiny,
was made to look at times a rather pathetic victim and hopelessly
aspiring intellectual. |
This
interview came at a time when Hancock was in a state of professional
flux. He had just finished his last Hancock episode with Sid James
and was about to start work on The Rebel; in the interview,
Hancock alludes to developments he has in mind for the character
of Hancock but cannot give any details.
The truth was that Hancock was heartily sick of the series as
it was and wanted to, among other things, move from Railway Cuttings,
drop the colloquialisms like Stone Me,
drop the Homburg hat and drop Sid James! The Face to Face
interview had a profound effect on Hancock, causing him take a
long look at himself and his life. |
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