Interview with Tony Hancock on his Return from Aden

The self-destructive genius of comedy, Tony Hancock, returns home from a 5-day tour entertaining British troops in Aden. In this Tyne Tees TV interview, a morose Hancock recalls his RAF Gang Shows during World War Two and talks about performing for live audiences in comparison to TV studio cameras. At the time, Hancock's career was on the wane and his comments about a return to film reveal the comedian's anxiety, fuelled by his increasing dependence on alcohol.

At his peak, Tony Hancock created some of the country's best-loved "loser" comedy characters on radio and TV, achieving stardom with the BBC sitcom Hancock's Half Hour (1954-1961) and later Hancock (1961), wonderfully scripted by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. However, he parted ways with both his co-star Sid James, and his writers in 1961. The quality of his comedy declined. His move into film with The Rebel (1960) and The Punch and Judy Man (1962) was unsuccessful, in Britain and the United States. Increasingly, Hancock turned to drink as his career floundered, an addiction he explained would "send away the tigers". Whilst on a tour of Australia in 1968, Tony Hancock committed suicide, aged 44.