Off-screen Sid and Tony were great friends, but Tony found fans increasingly asked him on the street 'Where's Sid? Tony Hancock had felt that the problem with Williams's character (nicknamed Snide) was that he simply didn't feel real, and after appearing in well over thirty episodes had ended up repetitive; a catchphrase-riddled cliché. The Conjurer offers a great introduction to Hancock's legendary radio series, while The Radio Ham is a TV episode that truly showcases Hancock's ability to carry a farce almost single-handedly.

Hancock very quickly became a household name however he later became dissatisfied with the format of his show and 'Hancock's Half Hour' came to an end in 1960. This isn’t often the case with comedy – much of it is so topical that it’s only funny while its themes and characters are current, but Hancock’s Half Hour first aired in 1955, and in 2009, the skits still made me laugh outloud in my car (luckily the windows were closed). So, with no clue as to where Tony was, or when, if ever, he would be back, Hancock's Half Hour went ahead without Hancock. The complete final series of the ground-breaking BBC Radio comedy starring Tony Hancock - plus five bonus episodes. Co-written with Philip Oakes, The Punch And Judy Man ( 1962) saw him put a remarkable amount of his real life on screen.

Finally, The Missing Page has become a classic, now steeped in poignancy; a fan has written a real novel starring the fictional lead, Johnny Oxford, of the book referred to in the episode's title, based on the details that Tony and Sid shared with us of Lady Don't Fall Backwards. Image shows from L to R: Sidney James (Sid James), Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock (Tony Hancock), Bill Kerr (Bill Kerr). It never occurred to him that he had neither the talent or the acumen in making his plans bear fruition. This collection of 10 episodes represents the complete surviving archive from the third radio series, along with PDF booklets featuring episode guides, series notes, cast biographies and specially written introductions by Galton and Simpson.

The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree. Among these hilarious Half Hours, Hancock enters an eating competition; sets out to save a local landmark; becomes the director of Sid's guided tours company and enjoys an evening of abstract verse with his avant-garde friends.

This then relatively novel format, of what was in effect a single sketch each week lasting the entire half-hour (though in the radio version James and the others sometimes played different roles), was reflected in the show's title, which aptly described the series as Hancock's "half-hour". From "The New Nose" where Tony resorts to desperate measures to change his old nose that happens to be the height of hilarity according to all the girls he dates! Instead of the traditional variety mix of sketches, guest stars and musical interludes, the show's humour derived from characters and situations developed in a half-hour storyline. Now Caine delves into the real stories behind the gangs we think we know so well, revealing the hidden realities behind the myths. What can you say about "Hancock's Half Hour" - just the most superlative of comedies, one that has you laughing just as hard today as in the fifties!

He was also a snob who aspired to be social climbing but was let down by his own gullibility and stupidity or the burdening presence of his shady friend Sidney Balmoral James. The Greatest Secret, the long-awaited major work by Rhonda Byrne, lays out the next quantum leap in a journey that will take the listener beyond the material world and into the spiritual realm, where all possibilities exist.It's hard to contemplate, or indeed articulate, just how extraordinary it is that these episodes still remain funny and charming, well more than half a century later. Although not officially a spin-off from Hancock's Half Hour, his character in it is all but identical. The episodes included are: The Pet Dog; The Jewel Robbery; The Bequest; The Blackboard Jungle; The Diet; Hancock's Heir; The Student Prince; The Greyhound Track; The Conjurer and The Test Match. Each week listeners would be admitted to the sometimes fantastical, sometimes mundane life of "the lad 'imself". We are delighted to be back at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on Sat 4th November for three more Hancock's Half Hours on the big screen and again on the 9th December for a Christmas special.

It was ventriloquism on the radio (yes, really): Tony played Archie's grumpy tutor, who had grown tired of the puppet's antics, and became a popular feature on the show with his catchphrase "flipping kids! or rather, he had been enjoying it up until he found the last page torn away; that page that revealed the murderer.It was also a film that saw Tony put his best friend, John Le Mesurier, front and centre alongside him.