Our own Neddie Seagoon returns to the airwaves this month in a newly rediscovered and restored recording. It’s an episode of Hancock’s Half Hour which was originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 10th May 1955.
The history is that, as the second series was about to begin, Tony Hancock fled to Italy while suffering “nervous exhaustion”. The producer, Dennis Main Wilson (of Goon Show series 1 and 2 fame) turned to Harry Secombe to fill in for Hancock, a stint which lasted for three episodes. Hancock came back before the show was renamed ‘Secombe’s Half Hour’ and in the fourth episode ‘A Visit to Swansea‘ Hancock goes to Swansea to thank Harry for filling in. This is the episode which has been rediscovered.
Sadly, no original recordings exist of the other three episodes which starred Harry Secombe. However, they were remade in 2017 for the Missing Hancock’s series, with Andy Secombe playing the part of his dad.
Those 2017 recordings are available to listen to here on BBC Sounds.
The recovered and restored ‘A Visit to Swansea‘ will make its debut on BBC Radio 4 Extra at 6.15pm on Sunday 12th May, introduced by our friends from the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. It’s part of five hours of programming on that evening to celebrate the centenary of Tony Hancock’s birth.
Link to the newly restored show on BBC Sounds
The Goon Show Preservation Society 