The Blood Donor
Encyclopedia
"The Blood Donor" is an episode from comedy
series Hancock
, the final BBC series featuring British comedian Tony Hancock
. First transmitted on 23 June 1961, the show was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
, and was produced by Duncan Wood
. Supporting Hancock were Patrick Cargill
, Hugh Lloyd
, Frank Thornton
and June Whitfield
. It remains one of the best known situation comedy
episodes ever broadcast in the United Kingdom, though the title is a retronym
.
to give blood
. "It was either that or join the Young Conservatives
", he tells the nurse (Whitfield), before getting into an argument with her about whether British
blood is superior to other types. After managing to offend some of the other waiting donors he amuses himself by reading the waiting room's wall posters out loud, finally singing "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases" to the tune of the German National Anthem
before being shown in to see the doctor.
After the doctor has taken a blood sample Hancock blithely assumes that that is all that is needed and prepares to depart. When the doctor tells him it was only a smear and that he must donate a pint of blood, he protests, "I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That's very nearly an armful!" The doctor finally persuades Hancock to donate the full pint by telling him he has a rare blood type
, which appeals to Hancock's snobbery. Having boasted of his lack of squeamishness, he faints while giving blood. Recuperating afterwards, Hancock has a chat about blood with a fellow patient (Lloyd), but since neither of them knows very much about blood the conversation is not very informative. As he prepares to leave Hancock is horrified to discover that the other patient has stolen his wine gums. ("If you can't trust a blood donor, who can you trust?")
After returning home, Hancock cuts himself on a bread knife and is rushed back to the same hospital, where he receives a transfusion
of his own blood — the only pint the hospital has of his rare blood type.
the problems of learning his lines after a delay in rehearsals. While it is not true Hancock never learned a line from a script again, he increasingly relied on the device mostly thereafter in his TV career. Many Hancock devotees reckon this is one of his poorest TV performances, and it is indeed quite noticeable to see Hancock's eye movements towards the teleprompters when addressing the other performers. Others, though, see no real difference between this and other classic Hancock performances, and lines from the episode have become a part of British comic folklore ("A pint? That's very nearly an armful!" "Rhesus? They're monkeys aren't they?"), giving it now legendary status.
In October 1961 Pye Records
produced an audio remake of "The Blood Donor" (duration: 28'10") starring most of the original cast, together with a remake of "The Radio Ham" (duration: 27'40") from the same series. These were produced in the style of the radio
shows, complete with an invited studio audience, and released as an LP
and first published 1961: Pye-Nixa PLP 1092, Pye NPL 18068, Pye Golden Guinea GGL 0270, Marble Arch MAL 872 (all 12" mono LPs). These recordings have been available more or less continuously ever since, and are also found on several British comedy compilation sets.
The original episode survives in the BBC Archive as a 16mm telerecording with a separate magnetic soundtrack, and has been released on Laser Disc (BBCL 7004), VHS
(BBCV 7034) and Betamax
(BBCB 7034) in 1985 and DVD
(2000) compilations of Hancock episodes. The original soundtrack from the episode was also subsequently released on CD
and audio cassette.
The script was re-recorded in 2009 for a BBC Radio 2
series of remakes of Galton and Simpson works. "The Blood Donor" starred Paul Merton
, with Suzy Aitchison
as the nurse, the role played by her mother 49 years earlier. It was first transmitted in March 2009.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
series Hancock
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
, the final BBC series featuring British comedian Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
. First transmitted on 23 June 1961, the show was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Galton and Simpson
Ray Galton OBE , and Alan Simpson OBE , are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming, on which the sitcom Get Well Soon was based...
, and was produced by Duncan Wood
Duncan Wood
Duncan Wood was a British comedy producer, director and writer. His best known achievements were to produce all of Tony Hancock's Half Hours for BBC TV during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and later, also with Hancock's former writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the classic British sitcom...
. Supporting Hancock were Patrick Cargill
Patrick Cargill
Patrick Cargill was a British actor known for his role on the British television sitcom Father, Dear Father.-Career:...
, Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
, Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...
and June Whitfield
June Whitfield
June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....
. It remains one of the best known situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
episodes ever broadcast in the United Kingdom, though the title is a retronym
Retronym
A retronym is a type of neologism that provides a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...
.
Story
Anthony Hancock arrives at his local hospitalHospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
to give blood
Blood donation
A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions or made into medications by a process called fractionation....
. "It was either that or join the Young Conservatives
Young Conservatives (UK)
The Young Conservatives was the youth wing of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party until the organisation was replaced in 1998 by Conservative Future.-Origins:...
", he tells the nurse (Whitfield), before getting into an argument with her about whether British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
blood is superior to other types. After managing to offend some of the other waiting donors he amuses himself by reading the waiting room's wall posters out loud, finally singing "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases" to the tune of the German National Anthem
Das Lied der Deutschen
The "'" , has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. The music was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 as an anthem for the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire...
before being shown in to see the doctor.
After the doctor has taken a blood sample Hancock blithely assumes that that is all that is needed and prepares to depart. When the doctor tells him it was only a smear and that he must donate a pint of blood, he protests, "I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That's very nearly an armful!" The doctor finally persuades Hancock to donate the full pint by telling him he has a rare blood type
Blood type
A blood type is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells . These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system...
, which appeals to Hancock's snobbery. Having boasted of his lack of squeamishness, he faints while giving blood. Recuperating afterwards, Hancock has a chat about blood with a fellow patient (Lloyd), but since neither of them knows very much about blood the conversation is not very informative. As he prepares to leave Hancock is horrified to discover that the other patient has stolen his wine gums. ("If you can't trust a blood donor, who can you trust?")
After returning home, Hancock cuts himself on a bread knife and is rushed back to the same hospital, where he receives a transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...
of his own blood — the only pint the hospital has of his rare blood type.
Recording
While returning from recording The Bowmans a week earlier, Hancock was involved in a car accident, and it was decided to place teleprompters around the set in order to save the comedianComedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
the problems of learning his lines after a delay in rehearsals. While it is not true Hancock never learned a line from a script again, he increasingly relied on the device mostly thereafter in his TV career. Many Hancock devotees reckon this is one of his poorest TV performances, and it is indeed quite noticeable to see Hancock's eye movements towards the teleprompters when addressing the other performers. Others, though, see no real difference between this and other classic Hancock performances, and lines from the episode have become a part of British comic folklore ("A pint? That's very nearly an armful!" "Rhesus? They're monkeys aren't they?"), giving it now legendary status.
Legacy
After "The Blood Donor", Hancock made one last half-hour for the BBC ("The Succession-Son and Heir"), before leaving the corporation somewhat acrimoniously, but more importantly severing his professional relationship with his writers, Galton and Simpson. His career never recovered from these decisions.In October 1961 Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
produced an audio remake of "The Blood Donor" (duration: 28'10") starring most of the original cast, together with a remake of "The Radio Ham" (duration: 27'40") from the same series. These were produced in the style of the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
shows, complete with an invited studio audience, and released as an LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and first published 1961: Pye-Nixa PLP 1092, Pye NPL 18068, Pye Golden Guinea GGL 0270, Marble Arch MAL 872 (all 12" mono LPs). These recordings have been available more or less continuously ever since, and are also found on several British comedy compilation sets.
The original episode survives in the BBC Archive as a 16mm telerecording with a separate magnetic soundtrack, and has been released on Laser Disc (BBCL 7004), VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
(BBCV 7034) and Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
(BBCB 7034) in 1985 and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(2000) compilations of Hancock episodes. The original soundtrack from the episode was also subsequently released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and audio cassette.
The script was re-recorded in 2009 for a BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
series of remakes of Galton and Simpson works. "The Blood Donor" starred Paul Merton
Paul Merton
Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
, with Suzy Aitchison
Suzy Aitchison
Suzy Aitchison is a British television actress and the daughter of famed actress June Whitfield. She is most notable for her role as Susie on Jam & Jerusalem...
as the nurse, the role played by her mother 49 years earlier. It was first transmitted in March 2009.