"The Bowmans" is an episode of the BBC television situation comedy programme Hancock, the final BBC series featuring Tony Hancock, first broadcast on 2 June 1961.
Hancock plays Joshua Merriweather, a character similar to the soap opera's country bumpkin Walter Gabriel.
Hancock has difficulties finding new work, but audience reaction compels the BBC to resurrect his character by discovering a long-lost twin brother, Ben, in a new programme called The Merriweathers, with Hancock's involvement resuming under a lucrative new contract.
In the first episode of the new serial, a substantial portion of the village – i.e. the original Bowmans cast – are killed off, falling to their deaths down a disused mine-shaft, and Ben proposes repopulating the village with his other relatives (all to be played by Hancock).
The supporting cast includes Patrick Cargill as the producer, Peter Glaze as an animal impersonator and Brian Oulton as the actor portraying the patriarch of the Bowmans family.