Duncan Wood (Director)

Tony Hancock: From East Cheam to Earls Court

Ex-colleagues reflect on the comic genius and sometimes difficult character of Tony Hancock.

Release Date1985-04-26

Charactersd Self

Hancock's Half Hour

Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.

Release Date1956-07-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count8

The Bargee

After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. He then refuses to open his locks - causing barges to pile up in every direction until the guilty party confesses.

Release Date1964-04-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count12

Beyond the Fringe

A TV version of the stage show originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe (August 1960) and in London (Fortune Theatre, May 1961) and Broadway (October 1962).

Release Date1964-12-12

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count3

Citizen James

Citizen James is a BBC sitcom that ran for three series between 24 November 1960 and 23 November 1962. The show featured comedian and actor Sid James and Sydney Tafler with Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser appearing in early episodes. It was initially written by the comedy writing team of Galton and Simpson, who based the characters very much on the "Sidney Balmoral James" and "Bill Kerr, the dim-witted Australian" roles that they had played in Hancock's Half Hour. The first series was set around 'Charlie's Nosh Bar', a cafe in Soho, and centred around Sid's get-rich-quick schemes. He is helped by "Billy the Kerr" and quite often frustrated by the local bookmaker Albert Welshman. Liz Fraser played Sid's long-suffering girlfriend who has been waiting for seven years for Sid to set the date. Changes were made to the format after the first series. Sid James' character was changed to be something of a people's champion, campaigning for social justice. Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser departed and Sidney Tafler played a different character: Charlie Davenport. The location switched from Soho to Sid and Charlie sharing a house. Later episodes were written by then Morecambe & Wise writers Sid Green and Dick Hills.

Release Date1960-11-24

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count5

Vote Count5

The Cuckoo Patrol

Freddie and the Dreamers play part of a Scout troupe that get caught up in a series of misadventures on their way to camp.

Release Date1967-07-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count8

The World of Beachcomber

The World of Beachcomber was a surreal television comedy show produced by the BBC, inspired by the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express newspaper. The show, like the column, consisted of a series of unrelated pieces of humour. Links between the items were provided by Spike Milligan, dressed in a smoking jacket and cap, as in the cartoon logo above the newspaper column. The other actors were a Who's Who of British comedy of the time, encompassing almost every supporting player seen or heard in comedy, not excluding people of diminutive stature. In all, 19 episodes were produced beginning in 1968. Unfortunately, like many shows of the time, the original videotapes were wiped. Only one complete episode, on black and white 16mm film, now survives in the BBC archives, from the penultimate edition.

Release Date1968-01-22

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count6

The Galton & Simpson Playhouse

A series of seven individual sitcom pilots from writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Release Date1977-02-17

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count7

Some Will, Some Won't

Four people go to great lengths to obtain the fortune left in a will by a very wealthy practical joker.

Release Date1970-04-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count4