Product Description

Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's select four of their favourite radio episodes. In the first of their quartet of classics, "Sid's Mystery Tours", Sid talks Hancock into becoming the director of his guided tours company - but it doesn't even possess a coach. "The Wild Man of the Woods" shows Hancock's desire to get away from it all. It leads him to camp first in a bus shelter on Clapham Common, and then in a bit of forest rented from Sid. "23 Railway Cuttings" is a scene of boredom and inactivity as the occupants try to while away a British Sabbath in Sunday Afternoon at Home whereas, in "The Poetry Society", an evening with a group of Hancock's new avant-garde friends produces gems of abstract poetry, not only from the group but also from Sid and Bill. Featuring a star cast that includes Sid James, Bill Kerr, Warren Mitchell, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and Fenella Fielding, these are four very special episodes which show the master of misery at his very best, as chosen by Galton and Simpson, the masters of mirth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8231 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-05
• Released on: 2005-09-05
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

The Very Best Indeed
Thank heavens! I was about to spend a small fortune on the complete radio series, just so that I could listen to perhaps a dozen episodes, but this has turned up. It really does contain the best of the radio series, and I hope that vols 2 & 3 complete the dozen episodes I'm most after. The writing is inspired craziness (spot the origins of Monty Python's dead-parrot sketch, for instance) that becomes lyrical at times, and the cast is terrific. The four episodes on this CD were previously available as cassettes, but in a shortened form. Here they are complete and very welcome. This is a superb introduction to Hancock's radio humour. If you don't like these, you probably won't like any of his other work. Only one warning: it'll help to know (or to quickly guess) the meaning of dated slang from the mid-50s. Not necessarily a big problem, but one to be aware of.

A tour de force !
what else can you say ? Tony Hancock was a genius for his impeccable timing, the cast including Bill Kerr, Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Hattie Jacques were sublime and the scripts are so well written. This is classic Hancock's Half Hour without the intrusion of later commercial interests.
If you like Hancock buy this !

Worth buying for new material
These 'best' episodes have previously been available on LP record and cassette. These new CD's contain material which was edited out of the original releases - particularly from "Sid's Mystery Tours" and "Sunday Afternoon at Home", while "Wild Man of Woods" includes a lovely verbal slip from Bill Kerr. So if you think you know these episodes, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised to find new lines, and new laughs.