History Radio / HancocksHalfHour

* PressureSensitiveInterface: 'The Lift'.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In "Twelve Angry Men", Tony makes two impassioned speeches to his fellow jurors pleading the defendant's innocence, painting (entirely invented) pictures of the defendant's family life. In his first speech, Tony says the defendant has a wife and small child; in the second, he says the defendant lives with his mother. For audiences from the 1980s onwards, this seems a contradiction. In fact, three generations of a family all living together was not unusual in 1960.

* ABNegative: Tony is found to be AB in 'The Blood Donor'. He is quite pleased about it, considering himself "one of nature's aristocrats".

* DiedDuringProduction: "The Missing Page" features an in-universe example. After spending the episode frantically trying to track down the missing last page of Darcy Sarto's murder mystery ''Lady Don't Fall Backwards'', Tony and Sid obtain a copyright edition and discover that the manuscript ends literally ''one word'' before the murderer is identified, as Sarto died while writing the book and his publishers decided fans of his detective, Johnny Oxford, would like to read the book anyway.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* ZanyScheme

''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also created ''Series/SteptoeAndSon''.

* {{Corpsing}}: Happened from time to time and [[ThrowItIn left in]] since either the shows were live or (later) done without retakes. Most noticeable when Kenneth Williams or Bill Kerr broke, but occasionally all the cast would be in tears - particularly in the episode "Wild Man Of The Woods":
--> '''Bill:''' Hey, Sid, look - what's that there up in the trees?\\
'''Sid:''' Ah nothing, probably a squirrel or something.\\
'''Bill:''' No, it's not a sirrel, Squ... ''[everyone starts laughing]''\\
'''Tony:''' If Mister Kerr will say 'It's not a sirrel, Squid' again... ''[everyone takes a moment to regain their composure]''\\
'''Bill:''' It's not a squirrel, Sid!

* BreakingTheFourthWall happens a number of times:

* {{Corpsing}} - Happened from time to time and [[ThrowItIn left in]] since either the shows were live or (later) done without retakes. Most noticeable when Kenneth Williams or Bill Kerr broke, but occasionally all the cast would be in tears - particularly in the episode "Wild Man Of The Woods":

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In ''The Missing Hancocks'', Susy Kane doesn't attempt a French accent while recreating Andrée Melly's performance.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: "The Missing Page" features an in-universe example. After spending the episode frantically trying to track down the missing last page of Darcy Sarto's murder mystery ''Lady Don't Fall Backwards'', Tony and Sid obtain a copyright edition and discover that the manuscript ends literally ''one word'' before the murderer is identified, as Sarto died while writing the book and his publishers decided fans of his detective, Johnny Oxford, would like to read the book anyway.

* LandmarkSale: In "Agricultural 'Ancock", Sid sells Lord's Cricket Ground to Tony, and Bill mentions that a someone tried to sell him Sydney Cricket ground but, at the time, he had no money left after buying Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bill goes on to mention that he was still having a fight against Sydney Borough Council about who owns the bridge.

** In one episode where Tony was planning to emigrate, he was continually mispronouncing Canada (he said it as if it rhymed with Grenada) despite everyone's attempts to correct him.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Tony sees one - or, rather, two - advantages to the height difference between himself and Jane Russell:
--->'''Tony:''' This could be the only chance I'll ever have to dance with Jane Russell!\\
'''Bill:''' A little shrimp like you? She'd be head and shoulders above you.\\
'''Tony:''' [[BuxomIsBetter I know.]]
** In 'The Blood Donor'.
--->'''The Nurse''' Have you had any of these diseases?\\
'''Tony:''' ''(Reads the list and looks insulted.)'' No, I have not and especially not ''that'' one!

The main character, a pompous self-important fool, was played by Tony Hancock. His boorish offsider, whose chief task it is to bring Tony back to reality, was played by Creator/SidneyJames. Bill Kerr also featured as Hancock's dim Australian boarder. (Hancock, James and Kerr's characters all used variations on their real names.) Moira Lister and then Andrée Melly played Tony's girlfriends. Later, Creator/HattieJacques played Hancock's secretary, the rather prim Miss Pugh. Creator/KennethWilliams featured as a number of characters, most notably one nicknamed 'Snide'.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: "The Radio Ham": Tony has a huge, valve-operated short-wave radio, for two-way communication all over the world: an interesting foreshadowing of modern social media. In the same episode, we see him storing milk in a bottle of cold water, instead of a fridge.

* CanisMajor: Tony buys a puppy for Andre which grows. And grows. And grows. Eventually Tony has to turn his house into a doghouse the dog has grown so big.

* LandmarkSale: In "Agricultural 'Ancock", Sid sells Lord's Cricket Ground to Tony, and Bill mentions that a someone tried to sell him Sydney Cricket ground but, at the time, he had no money left after buying Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bill goes on to mention that he was still having a fight against Sydney Borough Council about who owns it.

* LandmarkSale: Bill mentions in passing once about his argument with the Sydney Borough Council about who owns the Sydney Cricket Ground.