Tony Hancock, The Final Series, Australia 1968,Scene In Flat

[@withnailandi8718]

God bless you Tony, for the joy and laughter you brought into so many people's life's.

[@rentaghostokish5628]

He was only 44 here, but looks more like 64! So sad to see him washed up like this, like an old champion boxer reduced to fighting bums at carnivals for a few pennies. Can't bear to watch anymore.

[@Londonfogey]

Rentaghost okish Agreed. It's hard to believe this was the same man who appeared in 'The Rebel' only a few years earlier. It's like seeing a beloved relative ending up in a geriatric ward.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

No neither can I

[@None-zc5vg]

@@vonnoosh He was an advanced alcoholic by 1968 and in a hole that he could never have climbed out of: he knew he was finished. His ex-wife Cicely died the following year aged 39: she was also an alcoholic and the drink probably caused her fatal fall.

[@floppyfairy99]

A man out of his own time. RIP Tub

[@charlesnelson5187]

He was always a sad character. There was a certain cruelty to finding him funny...when he topped himself and that stereotype was confirmed the 'cruel pleasure' evaporated and left a dark hole. Hancock was always doomed. That's why we watched him.

[@raydodge4121]

It was sad to think he ended it all over there on his own with no one around him that cared for him. I received a copy of this years ago, watched it once and never watched it again. I think it was Freddie who said she felt Tony got a glimpse of himself in one of his rare sober moments and could see what he had became and couldnt go on. Sad, RIP

[@janmcdonald3896]

Thank u 4 posting. Have never seen this. Great writing of Galton & Simpson much missed here.

[@snackleforkofemir]

Not a nice watch, but if you're a fan you have to! The canned laughter really is excrutiatingly bad.

[@demon27dan]

He was cremated out in Australia and was flown home by the comic author Willie Rushton. Rushton was asked at the airport by a customs officer what he had in his holdall. He replied "Tony Hancock." His ashes were given to his elderly mother, Lily, and his brother, Roger.

[@cousinsister69]

I have not seen this before and never will again. I love Tony Hancock and still frequently watch his work prior to this. Thank you for giving me so many laughs TH. 👏🤎📻📺🏆

[@Xx_Venom_Fox_xX]

The status of Hancock as all time No.1 in U.K. comedy was pretty well confirmed when some 25 million viewers, a record for any comedy, watched the Blood Donor black and white repeat in the 1980s-more than 20 years after it was made! Ironically some critics commented that he was reading his lines from cues - not realising that he had, at the time, just come-injured- from a car accident and had no time to properly rehearse.

[@markriley5863]

Tony Hancock was born in my home city, Birmingham, and in fact we have a statue of him in the city centre. The thing gnawing at him was that he tried to over intellectualise everything. He was obsessed with trying to improve his mind/intellect by reading very highbrow tomes, particularly philosophy and was obsessed with trying to deconstruct comedy to analyse It. He regarded comedy as a science and was driven to try to find the perfect formula - pure comedy. Also he was extremely disappointed by the fact that he was unable to break America. These things, added to his alcoholism and the realisation that his god given gift had gone caused him to end it all. It is very sad to watch his two series with ATV and this Australian abomination. A massive waste of talent but infuriatingly his demise was all of his own doing.

[@eenavid]

i coulnt even watch for more than a minute,,terrible shame ,,

[@davidskeeterskeeter1835]

Mark Riley a well balanced view,,Until you mentioned GOD ??

[@arthursteven7145]

Well written sir

[@markriley5863]

@@arthursteven7145 Thank you sir, appreciate your comment.

[@markriley5863]

@@davidskeeterskeeter1835 Yes it was a bit of a hackneyed phrase. I suspect from your reply that you are an atheist or at least an agnostic as am I. Thank you for your comment however.

[@chrisevans5259]

So sad to see, he's doing comedy but his eyes look dead (T.Hancock (rip)

[@paulmason8352]

According to John Fishers biography even if Hancock hadn't taken the final overdose he was terminally ill with his liver and he had a form of dementia due to his constant drying out sessions. And he was a heavy smoker, but other things would have killed him before lung cancer. I don't think he would have lasted beyond 45, especially as his ex wife and mother died in 1969. What a tragic waste.

[@martynhanson]

I went to HALL Green School off Southam Road and was only aware much later that Hancock was born there. Hancock was as insecure as most of the great artists. One thing is not in doubt - he is in the top five television performers in British television history. His popularity was so great it would be hard to explain to a young person. Remember, there wasn't the level of hype then.

[@CDash162]

I only found out about Hancock through a sketch in a free DVD from the newspaper. The sketch was the one where they wanted to kill off his character in a radio show. I thought it was so funny I researched who he was and bought a dvd. Now I have all episodes. He’s my very favorite comedian.

[@antonchristian873]

This is like a nightmare, and the canned laughter makes it worse, what possessed the man to do this.

[@SuperOldShows]

Ah. This is really sad to watch. Crap compared to his previous work.

[@stewartsanders4389]

Tony should have keep sid James and gaulton and Simpson that was Tony's down fall 🤔

[@twiceaseager]

Like many comedians Tony Hancock came to believe that he was the funniest part of his earlier comedy career - he didn't want to recognise that it was Galton and Simpson, plus a solid supporting cast, that made him what he was. Having purged himself of all that support, he became an unfunny embarrassment to himself and realised he'd screwed it up at the end.

[@nmfranklin66]

So true Harold although his own paranoia took him to this tragic state..He had it all and threw it all away trying to be funnier....he never realised how brilliant he was !

[@eddiesterling5705]

This is an embarrassment but, let's not forget, The Lad and his team bequeathed us 'Sunday Afternoon at Home'. Post-war humour was largely anarchic - men being silly (The Goon Show is a classic example) - and was a reaction to the regimentation of society. Rationing ended only in 1954, and the last National Servicemen left the Armed Forces in 1963. Amid it all was 'Hancock's Half-hour', which was outstanding on many levels ... and that is all that matters.

[@imonthebox1148]

If the truth was known, script writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson tapped into the depth in Tony Hancock's character, and it this writing that made people laugh. Tony Hancock needed his two writers. Tony Hancock without his two writers simply wasnt funny. I dont know who wrote the scripts when he went to Australia.

[@mashamorgan]

I found this painful or should I say saddening to watch having followed his entire career. Galton and Simpson were a big miss as were all the characters he worked with in the half hour's. Perhaps I cant see this as funny as he died whilst recording the series

[@edwardferry8247]

He fought so hard to break free from what made him brilliant only to end up as a worse version of the very thing he sought to escape. A life lesson for us all. A sad watch. 😢 At his peak a true comic great 🙌

[@greatwestern101]

Looks absolutely plastered. So tragic.

[@cousinsister69]

Yet he still has the shakes. He was a very ill man. More than the alcoholism. A sad genius.

[@262marcus]

If he had only stuck with Galton & Simpson, they really understood his character and the comic creation of Hancock that lived at Rail Cuttings, East Cheam. they wrote brilliantly. He was a great comic actor, rather than a joke teller, but he was only as good as the material he chose. He was a troubled, complex character and made some puzzling decisions that set his career back. If he had left things alone he would have gone on to even greater fame.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

I think Galton and Simpson were out of ideas too, they really had done everything, even way out far fetched episodes, the problem was the character had come to an end, the genius that was "Hancock " depended on several great talents, not just Tony

[@None-zc5vg]

@@RonWylie-gk5lc His sitcom persona (the scriptwriters' creation that 'worked' with the public) was played-out. His going solo worked well for a short time, but he needed the right writers and the right contexts for his talent.

[@tomkent4656]

I think he'd gone as far as he could go with the Galton & Simpson Hancock Personna.

[@julesthemadman]

I am inclined to agree. We know he had some botched encounters when drunk, towards the end. The sad thing watching this is to see how hard he wants to succeed, but his timing is...not off.. but different. A great loss.

[@mkukulelecoverversions5576]

Poor sod. I never knew he drank until I saw his interview. It only worked for a few years with G&S, and he became redundant. When he took up reading crap like Bertrand Russell, like a soppy soph, someone should have told him he'd lost it, but they were all reading the same perverse futurist plop.

[@brasseye25]

The fact is, the alcohol, combined with huge self-doubt and, what would almost certainly be diagnosed as bipolar syndrome destroyed his talent. His real skill was in reaction comedy, often the material wasn't that good. When he stopped being able to react to things he stopped being funny.

[@zthetha]

Hancock was the most loved comedian of his era and his early TV shows with Sid James were a national institution. Alas, his many insecurities led to the break up of that sublime partnership and his venture into script writing in the disastrous movie Punch And Judy Man signaled a tragic decline that ended with this sad self parody of his old b/w shows in England. RIP Tony - you were simply the best.

[@PEEMZEE]

@King Royal Then why are you here?

[@seanwilkinson3975]

Those more familiar with Tony shun these shows, and I can understand; on the other hand, I can appreciate even the lowered expectations of dropping Hancock into a stereotypical "wacky sitcom" since I've seen the worst sitcoms Hollywood has thrown at North America, and they make Tony look fantastic by comparison (even though I can definitely see the toll his drinking had on him here). Poor guy. God ease his soul.

[@John-jd3nr]

Love Hancock and him and sid were the funniest around. This is poor as the script is awful and the other guy on here is shocking.

[@karlmaldensnose5889]

John Coldicott He loathed Sid James and anyone who tried to steal his limelight

[@KaydeyRai]

He looks a lot older than 44 and this is not good at all

[@karlmaldensnose5889]

He was only funny when he had good writer's, the problem is Hancock was just a visual comic, what made him famous was genius writer's. He tried to carry on in the same character that made him famous, but that was largely down to the writing and everyone else in the show. Hancock hated that sid James was getting popular in 'Hancocks half hour' To him James had everything, And was trying to steal his limelight

[@esmeephillips5888]

If he was just 'a visual comic', how did he come to fame on radio?

[@haroldlockwood9688]

Hancock's heavy drinking destroyed his comedy timing.

[@ysgol3]

Crap script, crapper performances. How very very sad, he was once so so brilliant.

[@BackToTheBlues]

It looks to me like he's trying to do his best with some pretty bad material, must've been so hard alone and isolated in Australia. He needed friends around him, and better writers to give him confidence. Very complex man. His whole persona, from the stage act he developed to his screen characters, whether written by Galton & Simpson or others, was always about failing and a kind of 'tattiness', and I wonder in the end if it enveloped him in a cloud of despair.

[@julesthemadman]

This is better than biographers would have us believe...

[@egapnala65]

I was expecting good things from about the first 10 seconds or so, but the "business" with the push button kitchen etc. is so totally cliched and formulaic. One of the big things about his tv shows were the "reaction" shots. Here he is hard pressed to react comedically to anything. It is really sad, but there's still an occaisional sparkle. He saw one of the playbacks and commented "I look like a fucking frog."

[@tuco1099]

Hard to believe this is a 43/44 year old man. He looks in his 70s and ill. Booze ravaged him

[@zthetha]

Who wrote this script - G&S? I don't think it's too bad - I've heard Hancock get laughs from less promising material than this. Poor old Tony was clinically depressed at this stage of his life and not really fit to perform - though he probably saw it as therapy. His hang-dog expression which had served his immaculate comedy persona so well was now, alas, a true reflection of his inner state. The light had gone out behind his eyes and the timing was shot to pieces - he didn't even sound like himself anymore. Tragic. He was so gifted and so loved by his audience that when he died it felt like you had lost a close friend. His partnership with Sid James was the funniest, most endearing comedy duo of all time - and that includes Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, Morecambe & Wise, etc.

[@uxghmnrt5930]

+willie otoole Michael Wale and Hugh Stuckley (who went on to write neighbours) check out the book Hancock's last stand by Eddie Joffe

[@slyph63]

This quite sad. He looked ill and older than he was.

[@tomheslington2993]

I think i'd end it too after this.terrible

[@tomasaguirre1764]

As a drinker . .. now ex, I hope, it's obvious the booze has taken a heavy, heavy toll on him.

[@EdWood2006]

He was an alcoholic and depressed most of his adult life. He does look very old for his age. I remember seeing a photo circa 1967/1968 in the Radio Times in 1999 (marking his would be 70th birthday) and he looked all gray and worn. He looked about 60. Shocked me really

[@neilforbes416]

Because this is in colour, it was *NOT* made for Australia! Here in Australia, our TV was still monochrome and would not go to colour until the end of October, 1974 for test broadcasts, and full-time colour on 1st March, 1975. The only other show in colour production was *The Adventures Of Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo* which was also made for export. Europe adapted to colour in 1967 with the German-developed PAL system, Britain followed in 1968 but only on BBC-2. BBC-1 and all the ITV stations were still in monochrome probably until 1970.

[@demon27dan]

I'm afraid its years of alcohol abuse and chronic depression

[@withapulse]

I used to adore him on the radio on handcocks half hour and could literally listen to him over and over which i found truely hilarious with kenneth williams, hattie jakes and sid jakes etc...but now after seeing this footage i do question whether it was gaulton and simpson that were the genius script writers that made him...and not Handcock?.. when he severed the umbilical cord his comedy was pathetic after that and the postings seem to agree. read his bibliography...he was a tortured sole

[@mashamorgan]

We've always discussed Hancock's personal life and his subsequent demise but how much does Hancock's character play its part ?? I've always wondered !!

[@jokergame]

He was a fantastic comedy talent but quite clearly this was not his best. I really think he was more suited to the East Cheam backdrop and Sid was a big loss

[@neilforbes416]

This sequence shows clearly that Hancock on his own was as funny as a headache. He *desperately needed* Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and Bill Kerr around him to provide the *REAL* comic talent.

[@neilforbes416]

@King Royal Precisely! Hancock came to Australia in his last year alive to make some shows in colour for the British market as Australia did not yet have colour TV. I saw an example of his work(?) here on KZbin recently, and without Hattie Jacques, Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Bill Kerr(an Aussie) around him, he was the proverbial *fish out of water!*

[@roddles49]

I agree with H.Lockwood (below), the heavy drinking destroyed his comedy timing; but with scripts like these it's enough to drive a sober artist to drink and/or drugs. How lonely & sad.,

[@dangerman8625]

To many props, canned laughter, this man has lost his humour.

[@withapulse]

i totally agree ...i think it was galton and simpson who made him.....they were the genuis behind the equaly classic steptoe and son...never underestimate the scripwriters....the australian "comedy" we see now is truely pathetic....the radio shows were the pinnacle i thought...you could let your imagination run with it...no matter how outlandish and hilarious it was

[@digitalmediafan]

Never knew about this series and in colour even though Australia didn't get colour until 1975 though

[@thephilpott2194]

Christ Almighty. I think i need to listen to The East Cheam Drama Festival to get over that. Poor bloke.

[@williamwallacedebruce9221]

When you step back Hancock was only a legend in is own mind and the sycophants that were in his company. the true master was Sid James and Hancock knew it, and that's what drove him to suicide.

[@robjones2408]

Very poignant to see this once-great comedian reduced to an alcoholic shadow of his former glory. I couldn't watch any more than a minute of this shabby show. Remember your heroes for what they once were, and not what they became.

[@SamLowryDZ-015]

A truly tragic figure plagued by demons of his own making. This last outing is not as bad as people have made out over the years. The material and direction is biggest problem. Had it been handled by others with a better understanding about what made the original Radio and TV shows special the outcome could have been so different and he may have finally come to terms with and embraced Hancock in the same way Coogan was able to with Partridge.

[@Rockford108]

The original episodes are classics but this is terrible, im not suprised he killed himself after 3 episodes. :/

[@Krzyszczynski]

I still don't know which was the more tragic - Hancock's suicide itself, or the fact that it came as no surprise to me whatever.

[@robertgregory6530]

Just sad to see. He was wonderful with Sid, Ken, Hattie and Bill Kerr. As others say, he looks well past 54, let alone 44. The script is dire - totally stranded. And the people behind the idea clearly had little imagination as to how to present the concept of Hancock Down Under. Totally woeful compared with Galton and Simpson.

[@HHM706]

Christ this is awful. That canned laughter is desperate 🤦

[@Jacques-Le-Marois]

Nothing like the original stuff written by Galton and Simpson it’s sad to say. Hancock was a genius back then👍👍👍👍👍

[@mooseing22]

Absolute brilliant comedic timing. When the cabinet played the glockenspiel I had a heart attack. My nan ate her own head because she was mental.

[@Theslavedrivers]

His wrecked features are a major distraction - He could still have done great work on the radio, though ......

[@saxongreen78]

Ah...a red STC rotary dial phone - a little flicker of jolly amid the gloom!

[@trevorbrown6654]

You know a show is in trouble when canned laughter is added to it and this is no better. Hancock also looks tired and old and whilst he proves he can still carry off a monologue, he was far better when he had Sid or Kenneth or Hattie or Bill to bounce his dialogue off (and usually insult whilst he's at it). Hancock never made a colour series in the UK so the three shows he completed in Australia are a bit of an anomaly. Australia didn't start full time broadcasting in colour until 1975, six years after the UK, so it's a bit difficult to see why this was shot in colour. Was there limited colour broadcasting in Oz in 1968 or was the show made with an eye on selling it to the UK for transmission when they went to colour the following year?

[@MarkHarrison733]

"The Adventures of Long John Silver" was filmed in colour in Australia in 1954-55.

[@trevorbrown6654]

@@MarkHarrison733 I've never heard of let alone seen that series so had to look it up on IMDb. I stand corrected as It was indeed made in colour and sold to ABC in the U.S. It was made a couple of years before Australia had a TV network. The BBC showed it in 1957 although in black and white. What particularly interested me was that some of the episodes were directed by Byron Haskin, probably better known for directing elaborate and expensive sci fi movies in glorious Technicolor in the 50s and 60s.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@trevorbrown6654 He had directed the two films.

[@Rock74]

This painfully bad compared to the Galton and Simpson stuff...so sad.

[@Schnoodles46]

Sid and Hattie Ken hardly fared any better but we didn't expect as much from them. Like Marylin and Marlon the weight of expectation was ruinous.

[@Defglb71]

An insult to his name

[@MiniUsyk]

Brought it on himself.

[@matt2house]

Well remember galton and simpson were getting sick of doing hancocks hour and so they went on to do steptoe and son. Besides hancock was a jealous man, he was even more jealous of kenneth williams.

[@anthonyfrew1571]

I have viewed all three episodes - not as bad as it has been made out - however it remains an incomplete work due to Tony's passing - it has its moments - would it have revived Tony's flagging career? maybe - but other things were going on - not least his drinking - even had he not taken his own life - the drinking was so advanced - it is unlikely he would have lived long into the 1970s' - but Tony - in what there is of this series remains watchable - but his great days had ended - not as many believe in 1961 and it is up to them - but good work remains up until 1966

[@MarkHarrison733]

He had no talent, and the character was a decade out of date.

[@farmbrough]

Depressing. Hancock is as good as ever, but he needs a good script. And not sub- Michael Crawford visual effects with Swannee whistle sounds.

[@prideparkheroes]

very sad to see such a genius reduced to this drivel.laurel & hardy went one step too far as well.very sad.lets remember tone at his peak.

[@eza180896]

please dont say that was albert / tony hancock if so get in touch

[@midguardz]

Whats worse than Hancock killing himself in Australia is the fact that Australia hasn't advanced since 1968 in being sport mad with no sport panels etc no Aussie theater sports or poetry or much culture even with the influx of multiculturalism i was at least hoping they would bring theater art music and other great things to liven up Australia but no, they didn't even bring that except what Australia wants other forms of sport and gangster rap with his harsh noise depicts the harsh landscape we live in.

[@knockedoutloaded279]

isn't Clive James australian, he;s a goood poet/writer.

[@mikedowns8293]

What about the superb contribution of Australian Film Cannon ? Films like Picnic at Hanging Rock / The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith / Wake in fright / 10 canoes (Abo) combine great drama with a harsh / beautiful landscape.

[@sternuens]

Theatre, art, music can always be found when you switch off the TV and go outside, your favourite type of art is happening somewhere, or create it yourself. Those crazy artistic types will appreciate the support,.

[@floppyfairy99]

Hard to watch.

[@villagorilla]

Painful to watch. Such a shame.

[@RexOrwell]

If you'd like to understand better why this man committed suicide then read these comments, for it's often the empty, shallow, diluted personalities of ordinary people, with their cruel judgements, selfish expectations, callous vitriol and programmable natures that contribute towards making clever men's lives an abject misery.

[@uxghmnrt5930]

+Rexor Lexor he committed suicide because alcoholism had destroyed his talent and his personal life.

[@RexOrwell]

There were all sorts of contributory factors. Alcoholism is typically symptomatic of other problems, mostly well documented in Hancock's case.

[@watchtowersociety6995]

Rex Or...so u think this crap is comedy...?

[@knockedoutloaded279]

If your intelligent, people will isolate you..

[@SpeccyHorace]

Bollocks.

[@nickoakley69]

can't beleive this is the same hancock as the 'blood donor'& such like.

[@nmfranklin66]

Great comedian but also a self destructing neurotic alcholic who lost the plot ..for me the damage started the day he sacked his writers Galton and Simpson. This is just shameful and not worth watching...sad really ..very sad .

[@None-zc5vg]

Maybe Hancock didn't realise that his comedy persona only ever WAS Galton and Simpson and that they were irreplaceable. Hancock did break away for a time from the East Cheam scenario in the solo shows (still by G.& S.) like "The Radio Ham", but once he'd dumped G.& S. he had poor material from then on, written by people who didn't know how best to use his talent.

[@Dermot2927]

Jesus, that’s bad.

[@jonmelon9792]

Embarrassing

[@sternuens]

This isn't that bad-maybe because I'm Australian?

[@markxist]

@JuanMacready He wasn't! Stop trolling

[@MrGavinReid]

He dosen't look well during these recordings.

[@vtruescot]

hancock was a master of his craft , he was fact was an alcholic , most alchololics are bi polar , pity he wasnt diagnosed back then , then maybe he would have been round for a few years more , saddly missed.

[@juloph]

i love hancock but this is just crap i wish he didnt shoot off galton & simpson

[@barryispuzzled]

The best comedians can't do anything with a weak script. The canned laughter is poorly integrated, producing laughs when there isn't even a joke. It trivializes the whole show.

[@intelligencelimited2708]

Hard not to see this as karmic payback for his brutal treatment of Galton and Simpson. Still, when Edward Joffe (the co writer) compiled a rough cut of the material to show to a test audience, the response was pretty favourable.

[@bryanhudsonyork]

Now we know why he killed himself a few weeks later. Hardly the Blood Donor is it.

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

comedy is often a mask for pure misery nothi ng shows this more than Hancocks final years made major mistakes splittih with wrjters affair with Freddy and hitting the bottle murder for any artist

[@markxist]

@JuanMacready When? Who? and where do you get these spurious revelations? Even if he was homosexual, or bisexual or had leanings towards either, so what? You make it sound as if you're offended by it? And he had a rather straightforward upbringing, tainted only by the tragedy of losing a father at the age of 11 and then losing two brothers in the war.

[@virusinsideus]

harsh

[@archiebald4717]

Awful. Embarrassing.

[@peakyblinder8244]

Christ he looks old for 44. To much drink but with rubbish scripts like this no wonder he ended it all.

[@markxist]

@JuanMacready What do you get from spouting such nonsense? A hard on?! Get your facts straight and a taste for culture while you're at it.

[@candosmith1127]

hilarious

[@tonyjohn1395]

Appalling canned laughter. Sad and unfunny. Should have stayed in Britain with Kenny.

[@MarkHarrison733]

Hancock had zero talent.

[@nickycotton6137]

Troll off you Hancock BOT. 🤬

[@nickycotton6137]

Says some flid like you.😙 LOL another account eh... Joined this year with NOTHING on your channel!! (I wonder why! ;-)) 🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥