Forgotten Hancock script to finally be made into movie

Los Angeles: The script that led comic legend Tony Hancock to leave his hit writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, is going to be made into a film, more than 50 years after it was first written.

Galton and Simpson, who had penned all of Hancock’s television and radio series from the early Fifties onwards, came up with movie script The Day Off in 1961. But Hancock, who was keen to crack Hollywood at the time, insisted it ‘wasn’t international’ enough. He then split from Galton and Simpson - a move which is regarded as the biggest mistake of his career. While they went on to write the hit sitcom Steptoe And Son, Hancock succumbed to alcoholism and committed suicide in 1968. The script for ‘The Day Off’ was recently discovered in 81-year-old Galton’s Hampton Court home by him and Simpson’s biographer Christopher Stevens. Since then it’s been attracting a lot of interest from producers and filming may begin later this year. It is still unclear who will play Hancock’s part, although Little Britain’s David Walliams and Rev star Tom Hollander are rumoured to be among the frontrunners. The script will also have a one-off reading by an as yet unnamed celebrity cast at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank on January 29. “Since the script was re-discovered it’s been attracting a lot of interest in the industry,” the Daily Express quoted a source as saying. “More than 50 years later it could finally end up being the hit Ray and Alan hoped it would be,” the source said. ANI