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The Missing Hancocks: Series 4
The Missing Hancocks: Series 4
Jan 8, 2026 8:04 PM

Author:Ray Galton & Alan Simpson,Susy Kane,Kevin Eldon,Kevin McNally,Robin Sebastian,Andy Secombe,Margaret Cabourn-Smith

The Missing Hancocks: Series 4

Eight brand new recordings of original Hancock's Half Hour scripts

Hancock's Half Hour was one of the most popular radio comedies of the 1950s, and the first modern sitcom. Over 100 episodes of the show were broadcast between 1954 and 1959, but 22 went missing from the BBC archives. Lovingly recreated by Radio 4 in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, they can now be heard for the first time since their initial transmission. Collected here are the final eight episodes from the fourth series - including a special premiere of The Counterfeiter, which was never recorded by the original team.

The episodes are: The Winter Holiday, Department Store Santa, The Diamond Ring, Prime Minister Hancock, Christmas at Aldershot, The Counterfeiter, The Christmas Eve Party and The New Year Resolutions.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

Produced by Neil Pearson, Paul Sheehan and Hayley Sterling

Music composed by Wally Stott, and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Levon Parikian

Thanks to Tessa Le Bars

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 6 December 2018-31 December 2020

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score re-recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, these hilarious episodes star Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself, with Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian, Susy Kane and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.

Reviews

A tale of young love and disenchantment, of missed opportunities and passion's elusive, flickering flame . . . reminiscent of Turgenev's First Love, with a hero every bit as gauche, and a twist every bit as bitter

—— Toby Lichtig , Financial Times

The magical novel about a Turkish man who falls in love with an artist in 1920s Berlin ... recreates a vanished era and dramatises a doomed relationship, and does so with verve, depth and poignancy. The result is a miniature masterpiece.

—— Malcolm Forbes , The National

A heart-breaker . . . it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby

—— Salley Vickers , Observer

A poignant coming-of-age tale, drenched in disillusionment. The gap between hope and reality, art and ordinary life, has been explored in many other novels, but rarely with the unaffected simplicity of Madonna in a Fur Coat.

—— William Armstrong , Times Literary Supplement

Moving and memorable, full of yearning and melancholy ... reading it is like taking a literary minibreak

—— Fiona Wilson , The Times

A gorgeously melancholic romance . . . a cautionary tale certain to beguile

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

The surprise bestseller ... read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages

—— Guardian

bizarre and often surreal, these stories act as an intriguing exploration into Murakami’s wacky mind and thought processes

—— Herald

Wind/Pinball makes a great introduction to Murakami for new readers, and is a real treat for long-time fans

—— Brendan Wright , Nudge

From the very beginning, it seems, Murakami has had the ability to make a story in which nothing happens seem completely irresistible. And to make almost any degree of bizarreness seem completely natural

—— Skinny

Both are honest and witty novels, colourfully written as ever, and come highly recommended to Murakami fans.

—— Luke Owain Boult , Buzz

The introduction alone makes Wind Pinball worth reading… Two perfectly shaped novellas, as experimental and pleasantly offbeat as they are easy to enjoy in Ted Goosen’s crystalline translation… Both tales showcase the loneliness and erotic pull that paint the sets of so many of Murakami’s surreal stages.

—— Nora Mahony , Irish Times

Which other author can remind you simultaneously of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and JK Rowling, not merely within the same chapter but on the same page?

—— Independent

This was such an emotional read and the perfect mix of humour and heartache

—— GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Both joyful and heartbreaking

—— HEAT

Deftly drawn... a warm debut about loss, healing and making new connections

—— MAIL ON SUNDAY

We loved this heartwarming story

—— CLOSER

Weaves together tales of man's best friend helping in the darkest days

—— HELLO! magazine

Waller's tormented, endearing and intriguing characters cross paths as they walk dogs on the Sussex Downs in a bittersweet, touching novel of waggy tails, wet noses and tear-filled eyes.

—— SAGA

A charming novel that focuses on the healing properties of man and woman's best friend

—— Choice Magazine

Waller has a lyrical way of weaving words that perfectly encapsulates a feeling or thought ... Funny, sad and reassuringly sage, Dog Days is a story of humanity, family and life.

—— Culturefly

A glorious read full of love and humour

—— THE IRISH EXAMINER

Combines two total opposites - sorrow and joy. The way Waller makes the two work together is outstanding

—— FEMALE FIRST magazine

A charming novel that focusses on the healing powers of man and woman's best friend

—— CHOICE Magazine

With its tightly plotted twists Dog Days is an exhilarating, at times even vertiginous ride... The mix of human passion and canine good sense works triumphantly..

—— Ed Stourton, author of Diary of a Dog Walker

'A tender, complicated novel of love, loss and self-discovery.'

—— SUSAN WILSON, New York Times bestselling author of One Good Dog and What a Dog Knows

An emotional tour-de-force that will leave you with the whole-hearted understanding that dogs really do bring people (even the most unlikely of us) together.

—— Annie England Noblin, author of Sit, Stay, Speak and Pupcakes

Where better to get lost than a mighty, make-believe kingdom reminiscent of Swift

—— i

Enchanting . . . Knox hits the mark

—— Herald

A devastating stripping back of the gendered and politicised conditions that shape desire, a revelation of the unnerving ways we are made vulnerable to others in unequal systems. Its crisp, knowing prose is unparalleled, its anger remarkable.

—— Anahit Behrooz , Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Nolan's intelligent, elegant first novel, a gripping portrait of love turned toxic.

—— Daily Telegraph

The star feature of Nolan's narration is her ability to cut through received ideas about women, relationships and even rape. Her headlong, fearless prose, feels like salt wind on cracked lips. You wince and you thrill.

—— Claire Lowdon , Sunday Times

A raw read of vulnerability, desperation, and most definitely a new voice in fiction

—— Chloe Brown , Cosmopolitan

A thrilling read...if you want a visceral, honest, unputdownable summer read then this is it. You'll devour it in a day.

—— Stylist, *Summer Reads of 2022*

A very elegant novel, with coercive control at the core. She has such a strong voice and not a sentence is extraneous

—— Emma Frost, author of BUSY BEING FREE , i

I read this in one go... I found it raw, honest, brutal and real.

—— Lykke Li , Observer

Written with acerbic style and wit, this is an intoxicatingly good look at romantic obsession, delusion and desire.

—— i

Beautifully written…and the short chapters keep things moving at an addictively fast pace. Most importantly, it’s shamelessly real

—— Crack
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