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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 419787" data-attributes="member: 23">I'm working my way merrily through Hancock's Half Hour. Having now completed Series Five (the first not to have numerous missing episodes) I've dipped into the first three episodes of Series Six.While I find myself with surprisingly little to say, that's no reflection of my enjoyment. While not every episode is a great - some feel noticeably longer than others due to the pacing - each has been watchable enough.Most episodes seem to either be about  fixation of Tony's or a fad of the week, each one tapping into a monomaniacal obsession, and I suppose these have certainly become sitcom staples. In Hancock terms, these range from the wild sleuthing to find out whodunnit when the last page of his library murder-mystery book is missing (from what I've seen,I'd say The Missing Page is a top tier episode) to the determination to prove that someone famous once lived in his house to the sudden drive to emigrate. I love how accessible each situation feels. With this character, the almost surreal image of him barging into the Australian Embassy, stuffed bird under one arm, roll of carpet under the other and demanding a flight right away feels no stranger than him raising his voice in the library, and possibly less strange than him acting out in silent mime the plot of a murder-mystery (which he actually got across as clearly as he did comically).This is the last series to feature Sid, and it's also quite surprising that a number of episodes for which the series seems best-remembered (The Blood Donor not least, but also The Radio Ham and The Bowmans) will not arrive until the final short , retooled series.I've also watched Hancock's Face To Face interview broadcast on June 1960, shortly after Series Six ended. I stumbled upon it after reading about it in Wikipedia:Watching it with this context made for fascinating viewing. Certainly, his discomfiture can be seen, and the camera holds in close ups or profile shots which even to me as a viewer make Tony seem very exposed with nowhere to hide. There are some moments that, particularly with hindsight, are significant. He mentions regularly clearing out the rubbish and hints at changes that were on the horizon which appear to be allusions to his parting of the ways with Sid (and, eventually, Galton & Simpson themselves) and the retooling of the series. Given the times, it also feels somewhat brave for him to go on record as having lost his faith. There's another moment where he states matter-of-factly that he doesn't believe anyone is ever truly happy that feels tinged with sadness given his well-documented depression and his suicide later in the decade: [MEDIA=youtube]lnkovGeASzE[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=youtube]Z3UMgqMCPQE[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=youtube]Df85XWfbcTs[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

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