Jack Dee tells Chris Evans about new documentary on legendary Tony Hancock

Virgin Radio

13 Jan 2023, 11:35

Comedian Jack Dee joined The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his new documentary on the life of Tony Hancock.

Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful is a two hour retrospective feature on the comedian who Dee has described as “the godfather of British sitcom”.

Using previously unseen scripts, scrapbooks and production files, as well as personal letters and photos of the comedian, Dee takes a look at the life and career of the legendary Hancock with exclusive clips from his 1963 ATV series- which hasn’t been broadcast in 50 years.

Speaking about the title of the doc, Dee explained: “It alludes to a line in one of his most famous episodes, The Blood Donor, where he's asked to give a pint and he says, ‘A pint? That's very nearly an armful’.

“That's the famous line that he came up with. And for me, I think, he’s the kind of godfather of British sitcom. He was there before anyone else.”

When asked why he chose to explore Hancock, he added: “If you're interested in any genre of anything, you kind of tend to want to go back, don't you? Like everyone goes take music back to the Beatles or to Elvis, you know, and if you want you can take the blues all the way back to Robert Johnson. Well, in comedy terms, that's what Tony Hancock is. That's how big he is of a figure in our comedy world.”

The impact Hancock has had on modern day comedians is something Jack says is everywhere and revealed the likes of Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais with David Brent have both been inspired by his comedy.

Tony is probably best known for his BBC series Hancock’s Half Hour, which was first broadcast on radio in 1954 and moved to TV from 1956- and it was one of the most viewed shows on telly.

Dee explained: “It regularly had ratings of 20 million. Can you imagine 20 million people that's like a royal wedding? You wouldn't normally get ratings like that any other time and barely anybody had a telly. People would go around to each other's houses and watch apparently, and pubs would empty out and people would go and watch it.”

As well as the documentary, Gold has commissioned two episodes from the infamous series to be exclusively colourised and available to view for the first time in 50 years. The two episodes are The Blood Donor and Twelve Angry Men, which will air on 14th January at 10:05pm.

Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful airs 14th January at 8pm on Gold.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.