Hot Metal(1986)
Comedy
First Air Date: 1986-02-16
Average Runtime: 30m
Rating: 5.4
Votes: 8
Seasons: 2
Episodes: 13
Hot metal is a London Weekend Television sitcom about the British Newspaper industry broadcast between 1986 and 1988. The daily crucible, the dullest newspaper in Fleet Street, is suddenly taken over by media magnate Terence "Twiggy" Rathbone. Its editor Harry Stringer is 'promoted' to managing editor, and is replaced in his old job by Russell Spam. Spam then takes the paper shooting downmarket and turns the crucible into a sensation seeking scandal rag, very much in the style of the British tabloids of the 1980s. He is helped along by his ace gutter journalist, Greg Kettle, who intimidates his tabloid victims by claiming to be "a representative of Her Majesty's press" and produces stories such as accusing a vicar of being a werewolf. Throughout the first series, a running plot involved cub reporter Bill Tytla gradually uncovering an actual newsworthy story that went to the very heart of government. Written by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall, it is very much a continuation in style from their previous sitcom Whoops Apocalypse!. It was produced by Humphrey Barclay.
Keywords
newspapermediasatirereportersitcomworkplace comedy
Seasons & Episodes
Season 1
Episodes: 6E01
The Tell-Tale Heart
Air Date: 1986-02-16
Entrepreneur Twiggy Rathbone buys a failing Fleet Street newspaper, The Daily Crucible, and the first coup of the new...
E02
The Modern Promethius
Air Date: 1986-02-23
The Crucible launches an all-out campaign supporting a return to capital punishment by interviewing murder victims th...
E03
Beyond the Infinite
Air Date: 1986-03-02
Spam launches an anti-Red campaign against Father Teasdale, and introduces ""Wobblevision"" to the page three beautie...
E04
Casting the Runes
Air Date: 1986-03-09
Kettle and Spam continue their persecution of Father Teasdale by adding charges of lycanthropy, Rathbone rails agains...
E05
The Slaughter of the Innocent
Air Date: 1986-03-16
Rathbone negotiates a compromise to keep Father Teasdale's church open, Kettle stumbles on a multiple birth, and Tytl...
E06
The Respectable Prostitute
Air Date: 1986-03-23
Stringer springs back into action as he gets to the bottom of the Khrushchev impersonator's death and uncovers a poli...
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