A profile of the comedy actor, best known for starring in many films of the Carry On franchise, with contributions from family, friends, co-stars and fans. The programme looks at his early life in South Africa, his start in films as a heavy in 1940s and 1950s crime thrillers, and his big break appearing in Hancock's Half Hour on radio and TV.
Ex-colleagues reflect on the comic genius and sometimes difficult character of Tony Hancock.
A study of the life and career of the actor Sid James, best known for the long-running Carry On series of bawdy British film comedies.
The difficult off-screen relationship between actors Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell who grew to hate one another during their years on screen. It charts their rise to fame with 'Steptoe and Son' in the early 60's, to their final falling out during an Australian stage show in the late 70's.
A documentary about comedian Spike Milligan.
A peek behind the scenes at the business of the comedian and how it is being expanded for film and television.
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.
