hhhhancock

Thanks to crunchie I now have 6 of the 13 episodes of this series. Has anyone got the complete series please?

Lord Brett

No, but I'd certainly be intersted to read your views on the series. The show doesn't have a great reputation, but how does it seem to modern eyes.

Also, how's Tony's performance? I find The Blood Donor hard to watch now as it's so obvious he's reading his lines off boards, and it's said once he realised he could perform like this he never learned another line as long as he lived.

alan french

Hi.
The Blood Donor is from the last BBC series Hancock. The block capitals at the top refer to the 1963 ATV series which had different script writers and unfortunately went out, coincidece or not, at the same time as Steptoe And Son which of course emerged after Hancock left the BBC and his usual scriptwriters, Galton and Simpson, who in turn Wrote Steptoe and Son. I am not sure but I believe it featured short sketches, Patrock Cargill and the name Mckonky television
Alan French

batman

IIRC there was an ITV series which followed the same format as his classic BBC series but was very inferior. I believe it featured Wlifred Lawson as a newseller.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

orpheum

I seem to recall that because of power cuts many tv screens,including ours were blacked out,so little was seen of it.

Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

Lord Brett

Hi Alan,

Oh, I know The Blood Donor was made for the BBC, in fact from memory I believe it was the last episode of his final Galton and Simson series. My point was that this was the episode where Hancock discovered he could read all his lines off boards, as he recorded the show when still suffering fromt he after effects of a road accident.

That he could use boards was a great relief to him, as he always hated learning lines. I watched a recent interview with Galton and Simpson where one of them said that it killed his performance, as his face became this rigid mask, and from the evidence of The Blood donor he was dead right.

What I was wondering was if the ATV shows, which I've never seen, show this decline in Hancock's performance, and also if they are seen as so much of a disappointment than they were in the sixties. The Hancock character was a difficult one to write properly, as witessed by the Australian shows he made, where the character seems merely a rude, arrogant bore.

batman

Apparently this 'arrogance' was the problem with the ITV shows. The writers were unable to capture the essence of the original Hancock character and he became this boorish person. I have seen a couple of Hancock's, the night club thing, and it is dire. Hancock looks dreadful.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

orpheum

By the way remember that Bob Hope used to read off idiot boards.

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hhhhancock

The ATV series was certainly not up to the BBC Galton and Simpson scripted shows but have their amusing moments. Had Hancock stayed off the booze and realised his limitations were dictated by the quality of his scripts he may have gone on for many years entertaining us all.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case leading to his untimely end at the age of 44 in 1968. I suspect when one's expectations exceed one's individual talent that is bound to happen. Having said that I still believe Hancock was, along with another very strange character, Peter Sellers, the greatest English speaking comic talent of the 20th Century.

As far as Tony reading from 'idiot boards' from the Blood Donor on this came after he was involved in a car accident and he claimed that this had affected his memory (I expect a bottle or 2 of Vodka a day didn't help much). But, if you didn't know this would would you have noticed, he certainly did this very cleverly? I certainly didn't realise there was anything unusual when I watched the shows originally.

hhhhancock

The ATV series in 1963 was poorly written and produced, however, I think the Lad still had all his powers at that time. However 5 years on when he made the Oz series (or started it) his performance was seriously affected by the booze and his facial expression, which was part of his genius, was no longer there.

jonathanecoley

HI,

i was certain that 'Hancock's' Set in the nightclub, was absent from the archives with no surviving tapes/prints for any of the episodes. if anyone has access to any of these, i'd love to see them!

batman

I saw a couple of episodes years ago .... can't remember where though.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Harbottle

Indeed I thought so too, I have about a minute of one episode as part of a disk full of bits and bobs.

batman

Then what the heck am I thinking of? Did he do a guest spot on someone's show and I am getting mixed up?

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Wee Sonny MacGregor

I seem to recall that Hancock also compered an ITV variety show from Blackpool. I'd always enjoyed anything he did but that stuck in the mind particularly because it was so poor. I'm sure he did his George Arliss impression when even by the mid 60s, hardly anybody knew who it was. Great shame.