WHEN anyone mentions the name Tony Hancock, you can hear the words in your head, if you are a comedy student or ‘a gentleman of a certain age’ who is about to give blood, you are thinking those words almost immediately.

The words in question are: “I don’t mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That’s very nearly an armful.”

The sentence was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and spoke by comedian Tony Hancock in the guise of his character Anthony Aloysius St. John Hancock are ‘comedy gold’.

The sketch of The Blood Donor first broadcast on June 23,1961, are part of television and comedy heritage in Great Britain.

You now have the chance to enjoy some of the Hancock comedy magic when Hancock’s Half Hour comes to The Brewhouse in Taunton on February 14.

Hancock’s Half Hour ran on the BBC from 1956-1960 and as Hancock in 1961.

Classic episode of Hancock included The Blood Donor, Radio Ham, The Bedsitter and The Bowmans.

The Apollo Theatre Company which produced Round the Horne and The Goon Show are back with Hancock’s Half Hour.

They won’t be a blood donor sketch but what the company is serving up is three sketches written for Hancock’s Half Hour and first broadcast on the radio.

The three episodes are: Hancock and the police, The Americans hit town and The wild man of the woods.

Each episode will be faithfully reproduced and you will watch in just like the original audiences would have seen in back in the 1950s. The show will feature actors portraying Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams.

The actor taking on the role of Kenneth Williams ( who provided the voices for minor comic characters) is Colin Elmer.

He played Spike Milligan in The Goon Shows and portrayed Kenneth Williams in Round the Horne.He has also performed a one man show about Kenneth Williams called Cult Figure.

On the original Hancock’s Half Hour, Kenneth Williams provided the silly voices and catchphrases such as “Stop messing about”.

Colin who is 34, explained he had been a fan of Hancock’s Half Hour since age of six or seven when he first heard the shows.

Talking about Hancock’s Half Hour, Colin said: “This was the first time in England when there was a half hour show which was not a variety show.

“This was a sit com which dealt with one man’s attempts to be aspirational, to try and show he was more intelligent than he was and who was financially better off than he was.

“The great tragedy of it all was there were elements of Tony Hancock in Hancock.

“Hancock was a distinctive English character who was the epitome of melancholy from a person who has underachieved. Someone who is not as important as they think they are.”

In 1989, speaking about Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan said he was a: “Very difficult man to get on with. He used to drink excessively. You felt sorry for him.

“He ended up on his own. I thought, he’s got rid of everybody else, he’s going to get rid of himself and he did.”

This was due to the fact, Tony Hancock who became increasingly dissatisfied and got rid of all the other actors in the show and by 1961 he had parted company with Galton and Simpson who went on to write Steptoe and Son.

Hancock’s career after this split combined with his drinking simply lead his career to continue in a downward spiral. It all came to an end on June 25, 1968, when in Sydney, Australia, Tony Hancock committed suicide.

Colin added: “I do love Sunday Afternoon at home. It depicts Hancock at home with nothing to do, no place to go, the buses were not running and everything was closed on a Sunday. Tony Hancock’s comedic genius was to become a version of himself which brings humanity and realism to comedy. Nothing like this existed before and if you add the additional element of Tony Hancock himself you get a tragedy coated with comedy which is Hancock’s Half Hour.

“I remember Hancock’s Half Hour was one of the first comedies I loved. I didn’t have to know anything about it, I just enjoyed it for the comedy.”

Tickets for Hancock’s Half Hour at 7.30m cost £17.

Buy online at the brewhouse.net or call 01823 283244.