Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Galton & Simpson: The Collection cover art

Galton & Simpson: The Collection

By: Ray Galton, Alan Simpson
Narrated by: David Mitchell, Frank Skinner, Robert Webb, Rik Mayall, June Whitfield, Tony Hancock, Sid James, full cast, Stephen Merchant, Paul Merton
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Hancock’s Half Hour: Selected TV Soundtracks & more cover art
Hancock’s Half Hour: The Marriage Bureau cover art
The Missing Hancocks: The Complete BBC Radio Series cover art
Listen to Les cover art
Hancock's Half Hour Collectibles: Volume 2 cover art
Steptoe & Son: Series 3 & 4 cover art
Steptoe & Son: The BBC Radio Collection cover art
The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket cover art
Hancock's Half Hour cover art
Hancock's Half Hour: Series 5 cover art
Hancock's Half Hour: Series 4 cover art
Steptoe & Son: Series 5 & 6 cover art
A Life of Bliss cover art
Calling All Forces cover art
Jim the Great cover art
Beyond Our Ken: The Collected Series 1-4 cover art

Summary

A compendium of radio sitcoms and retrospectives celebrating the legendary duo.

Ray Galton and Alan Simpson were Britain's best-loved and most successful comedy writing partners. Together, they created two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son. This compilation brings together some of the finest programmes from their 60-year career, as well as interviews with them both.

Galton & Simpson's Half Hour comprises four comedy dramas: "You'll Never Walk Alone" (starring Frank Skinner), "Impasse" (starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb), "I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds" (starring Rik Mayall and June Whitfield) and "The Blood Donor" (a remake of the famous Hancock's Half Hour episode starring Paul Merton). Originally written for BBC TV, all are specially adapted for radio by Galton and Simpson and introduced by Paul Merton.

The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse features three more adaptations: "Naught for Thy Comfort" (starring Robert Daws and Nina Wadia), "A Clerical Error" (starring Keith Barron and June Whitfield) and "The Offer", a reworking of the TV script that inspired Steptoe and Son, starring Freddie Jones and John Thomson.

A fourth drama from Radio Playhouse - "Clicquot et Fils", starring Richard Griffiths and Roger Lloyd Pack - can be heard in "I Did It My Way: Galton and Simpson", in which the pair chat to Peter Reed and select some of their favourite work. Also included is Hancock's Half Hour: The Threatening Letters; 'Up Je T'Aime', Frankie Howerd and June Whitfield's parody of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg's hit song; the 1963 Royal Variety performance Steptoe and Son at Buckingham Palace; Steptoe and Son: Porn Yesterday and the classic Hancock's Half Hour TV episode, "The Radio Ham", recreated before a live audience for an album release in 1961.

Topping off our collection is Very Nearly an Armful: The Galton and Simpson Story. Talking to Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Stephen Merchant explores how their ground-breaking work brought social realism to British comedy, and helped lay the foundations for modern-day classics like The Office. Contributors include David Mitchell, Ben Elton, Denis Norden and Damaris Hayman, and among the archive interviewees are Tony Hancock, Sid James and Harry H Corbett.

Credits:

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

Thanks to Tessa Le Bars.

Collection compiled by Martin Gibbons.

With thanks to the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society.

Contents:

Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: "You'll Never Walk Alone"

Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: "Impasse"

Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: "I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds"

Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: "The Blood Donor"

The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: "Naught for Thy Comfort"

The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: "A Clerical Error"

The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: "The Offer"

I Did It My Way: Galton & Simpson

Very Nearly An Armful: The Galton & Simpson Story

©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about Galton & Simpson: The Collection

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • KT
  • 25-03-23

Disappointing collection

I love Ray and Alan's writing, and have listened to Hancock and Steptoe many, many times.

I bought this to hear some of the scripts I'd never come across.

While I can detect the underlying Galton and Simpson magic, the versions with modern performers were particularly flat and lifeless. Just underlines the talent of Tony and co, Harry and Wilfred.

Won't be relistening very often.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful