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 Count9

Life Begins at Forty

After 17 years of married life, Chris and Katy Bunting are faced with being parents for the first time. The repercussions are only just starting to become apparent.

Release Date1978-06-13

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count7

Vote Count3

Citizen James

At and around Soho cafe Charlie's Nosh Bar, Sidney Balmoral James ('Sid') is on the lookout for any get-rich-quick scheme. He is helped by William Montmorency Beaumont Kerr ('Billy the Kerr') and quite often frustrated by local bookmaker Albert Welshman. Meanwhile, Sid's long-suffering girlfriend Liz has been waiting for seven years for Sid to set the date.

Release Date1960-11-24

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count5

Vote Count5

Steptoe and Son

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973.

Release Date1962-01-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count55

Vote Count36

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

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 Count13

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.

Release Date1968-01-22

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count6

Vote Count1

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 Count5

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 Count4