With commentaries from Paul Merton and Diane Morgan

Paul Merton and Diane Morgan have recorded material for a new release of Tony Hancock’s big-screen ventures. 

The Rebel and The Punch And Judy Man are to be re-issued on DVD and Blu-ray on March 3, more than 100 years after the star’s birth on May 12, 1924.

Die-hard Hancock fan Merton has recorded a commentary on both films, while Morgan offers her take on ‘the lad himself’ as an extra for The Rebel.

Released in 1961, the satire on the pretensions of the art world features the comic as a self-taught painter with an enthusiasm that far exceeds any ability who moves to Paris to live his dream. 

Written by Hancock with his most celebrated collaborators, Ray Galton

and Alan Simpson, it co-stars, George Sanders, Paul Massie, Margit Saad, Nanette Newman, Irene Handl and Dennis Price.

The extras on the new StudioCanal DVD also include the writers’ commentary on the movie. 

The Punch and Judy Man, released in 1963, was written by Hancock and Phillip Oakes and co-stars Sylvia Syms, John Le Mesurier, Barbara Murray and Ronald Fraser

Content to scratch out a living in the faded seaside town of Piltdown, puppeteer Wally Pinner (Hancock) is unhappily married to Delia (Syms), a gift-shop owner with social pretensions. 

When Wally is invited to perform at the town's anniversary gala reception, however, Delia senses a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise the couple’s social standing...

Having struggled with declining mental health and alcoholism for some years, Tony Hancock died in Australia in 1968 at the age of 44.

Order the Punch & Judy Man here and The Rebel here, both priced £14.99

Published: 12 Jan 2025