Rebus actor stars in BBC4 drama

Hancock & Joan will focus on the comic’s affair with Joan Le Mesurier, the wife of Dad's Army star John Le Mesurier, who was one of his best friends.

Maxine Peake, who has previously played Moors murderer Myra Hindley on screen, will be playing Joan in the one-off, hour-long drama.

The project has already upset Hancock’s widow, 76-year-old Freddie, who has said: ‘The BBC are milking a cow that’s got nothing left. This all happened 40 years ago and most of Tony’s fans are probably dead by now.'

Joan fell for Hancock only months after her marriage, at a time when the troubled comedian was fresh out of rehab for his drink problem.

John stood by as the affair unfolded, but Hancock’s drink and violent depression took its toll. Finally, Joan gave him an ultimatum: If he could revive his career in Australia, where he had a sitcom, and not drink for a year, she would leave John and marry him. But Hancock killed himself in a Sydney hotel room.

The script for Hancock and Joan - which will air in the sping – was written by Richard Cottan, based on Joan Le Mesurier's autobiography Lady Don't Fall Backwards and Edward Joffe's Hancock's Last Stand.

But Freddie has previously sniped at Joan for raking over the past: ‘You almost have to feel sorry for her,’ she said. ‘She has nothing else in her life but this project. I assume she has got no other form of income. I don’t really remember much about her, but Tony told me I met her once when she was a barmaid.’

Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s head of drama commissioning, said: ‘It's a sign of the calibre of Ric Cottan's funny, moving, and powerful script that it has attracted Ken Stott and Maxine Peake, who we're delighted to welcome to BBC Four.

‘Hancock remains a much-loved national treasure and this is an extraordinary insight into the mind of a comic genius.’

BBC Four has previously had a hit with Fantabulosa!, a dramatized biography of another troubled comedian, Kenneth Williams.

Published: 23 Nov 2007