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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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The Missing Hancocks

Comedy: Sitcoms

Long-lost, classic Tony Hancock comedies, freshly recorded and starring Kevin McNally.

Long-lost, classic Hancock's Half Hour comedies, freshly recorded. Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and starring Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.

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Kevin McNally

Kevin Eldon

Simon Greenall

Robin Sebastian

Susy Kane

Ray Galton

Alan Simpson

Ed Morrish

Neil Pearson

The Missing Hancocks: Series 1: The Hancock Festival

14/11/2014

The Hancock Festival

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - The Missing Hancocks, Series 1, The Hancock Festival

Inspired by Somerset Maugham's pay packet, Tony becomes a writer.

Inspired by Somerset Maugham's pay packet, Tony becomes a writer. His friends are recruited to bring his dramatic offerings to life.

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself. 

Tonight's episode: The Hancock Festival. Inspired by Somerset Maugham's pay packet, Tony becomes a writer. His friends are recruited to bring his dramatic offerings to life.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The Hancock Festival was only ever broadcast once, in November 1954. 

Produced by Ed Morrish and Neil Pearson.

The Missing Hancocks: Series 1

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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