Omnibus – Tony Hancock, From East Cheam To Earls Court, 1985
Omnibus was an award winning BBC documentary TV series. When we started this site the aim was to feature the best of British comic talent and nostalgic TV alongside the stories and documentaries that went with them.
In 1985, it presented an episode looking at the life of comedian Tony Hancock. It was this short film that first introduced me to Tony Hancock’s comic genius along with a series of BBC repeats on a Sunday Afternoon.
Tony Hancock’s TV shows are almost forgotten, they don’t get a repeat on the popular digital channels and neither, like so many classic comedies, get picked up by the streaming services.
Summary
Tony Hancock committed suicide in Australia in 1968. From 1954 to 1961 he was one of the most acclaimed and certainly the most popular of BBC radio and television comedians.
The documentary celebrated the years when Hancock, ‘the lad’ himself, was at his peak. It included extracts from some of his most memorable half-hours including: Twelve Angry Men, The Ladies’ Man, The Radio Ham, The Bowmans and The Blood Donor.
Looking back on Hancock’s career in the film include interviews with his friends and collaborators. among them scriptwriters Alan Simpson and Ray Galton, radio producer Dennis Main Wilson and BBCtv producer Duncan Wood, along with Bill Kerr, Patrick Cargill, Hugh Lloyd, Patricia Hayes and Eric Sykes.
Clips
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Contributions From
Scriptwriters Alan Simpson and Ray Galton,
Radio producer Dennis Main Wilson
BBCtv producer Duncan Wood
Friends and Co-stars
Bill Kerr
Patrick Cargill
Hugh Lloyd
Patricia Hayes
Eric Sykes
Details
Channel: BBC1
Original Transmission Date: 26th April 1985