ONE Man, Many Voices is the strapline for James Hurn’s stage show, coming to Millom next month.

Far from being a bombardment of the latest satirical impressions, however, the hour-and-a-half performance represents a much bigger challenge for the former Dead Ringers voice actor.

Hancock and Co is a celebration of the legendary Hancock’s Half Hour, in which Hurn acts out three episodes - two of them his own - playing every single character in the process.

“When I first decided to do this show, there were three of the five characters that I was happy with, but two that I wasn’t too confident about,” he says.

“Even if other people tell me they are great, if I’m not happy, I’ll abandon them. I worked at it until I was comfortable with them all.

“I have a couple of props on stage, and I play the show dressed in Hancock’s hat and coat, but it doesn’t detract from the other characters, so it is easy enough to follow.”

As well as starring on BBC2 impressions sketch show Dead Ringers, Hurn also played Jacobson in The Band of Brothers, directed by Tom Hanks, and put his voice talents to work in shows such Channel 4’s Sven and Blaired Vision.

A master at recreating the accents and personas of such iconic 20th Century British favourites as Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams, Hurn was made aware of a ‘lost’ episode of Hancock’s Half Hour by the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. Sid James’ Dad had been performed as a radio comedy, but only a crackly recording exists, with many of the lines inaudible.

In this live show, he has revived the script - giving many fans their first taste of this episode - to feature alongside his own creations, The Metal Detector and Halloween Hancock. He will perform them all at the Beggar’s Theatre, in Millom, on Thursday October 4.

The challenge when first creating his own tribute episodes was to write in the style of Hancock’s Half Hour’s creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. He has been prised for their authenticity, with some even believing them to be originals.

Hurn says: “I consider myself to be a big fan, but I’d never even heard f this episode. It’s lost in the sense that only a recording that sounds like it was taped off the radio by someone exists, and you can’t even hear it all properly.

“Millions of people saw the original Hancock’s Half Hour series, and a lot of their children and grandchildren have seen them since. I knew that for my own episodes to work, the biggest challenge would be to please the biggest fans - the sort of people that are in the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. They have been so supportive of me, advertising my shows and things like that.

“I’ve had plenty of people come up to me after a show and ask me the name of the episodes because they have never heard of them before - they wouldn’t have though, as I’ve written them.

“There are four of my own now, and the plan is to eventually write six that can serve as a series, and who knows - maybe someone will take a chance and put it on the radio?”

Even though Hancock’s Half Hour was first broadcast more than 60 years ago, well before Hurn himself was born, he has been a lifelong fan. Fronted by Tony Hancock as a down-at-heel comedian living in East Cheam, the series featured a number of regular characters - all of which feature in this tour.

Believing the show would only attract the older generation, he has been surprised by the number of passionate younger audience members that have attended his shows.

Hurn says: “I thought it would only appeal to one generation of person.

“But I realised that if I’m into it, and I’m only 43, there would be others who are the same. At one of the first shows there were two teenagers who were quoting lines from other episodes to me, and I loved that.

“It is family-friendly, but it also has a timeless quality, and that’s thanks to the writing of Galton and Simpson.”

James Hurn performs Hancock and Co at the Beggar’ Theatre, in Millom, on Thursday October 4. Tickets are available from the venue’s box office.