Robert Hardy
Hot Metal (1986)
Season 1
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.
Released Feb. 16, 1986
Episode 30 min
None+
Genres: Comedy
Keywords: tmdb.newspaper, tmdb.media, tmdb.satire, tmdb.reporter, tmdb.sitcom, tmdb.workplace-comedy, imdb.sitcom + 12 more, imdb.satire, imdb.workplace, imdb.british-humour, imdb.newspaper, imdb.tabloid, imdb.scandal, imdb.tabloid-reporter, imdb.sleaze, imdb.sitcom-comedy, imdb.satire-comedy, imdb.laugh-track, imdb.female-nudity
Network: Channel 4
Country: United Kingdom
Languages:
English
S1E1 - The Tell-Tale Heart
Entrepreneur Twiggy Rathbone buys a failing Fleet Street newspaper, The Daily Crucible, and the first coup of the new managing editor Russell Spam is an exclusive smear of Prince Andrew's latest girlfriend and the discovery of Nikita Khrushchev, alive and well in Switzerland.
Feb. 16, 1986, midnight
S1E2 - The Modern Promethius
The Crucible launches an all-out campaign supporting a return to capital punishment by interviewing murder victims through a seance and interviewing the brother of a state executioner who hanged himself. Spam discovers the man identified as Khrushchev is a fake, and the fellow dies during a live televsion interview.
Feb. 23, 1986, midnight
S1E3 - Beyond the Infinite
Spam launches an anti-Red campaign against Father Teasdale, and introduces ""Wobblevision"" to the page three beauties as a circulation ploy. Bill Tytla receives a mysterious tip that a nurse knows something sinister about the death of Donald Kubelsky, the Khrushchev impersonator.
March 2, 1986, midnight
S1E4 - Casting the Runes
Kettle and Spam continue their persecution of Father Teasdale by adding charges of lycanthropy, Rathbone rails against Spitting Image, and Tytla looks into charges (from an anonymous source calling himself ""Sore Throat"") that the police are involved in covering up the Kubelsky murder.
March 9, 1986, midnight
S1E5 - The Slaughter of the Innocent
Rathbone negotiates a compromise to keep Father Teasdale's church open, Kettle stumbles on a multiple birth, and Tytla is caught while searching for Sore Throat's papers.
March 16, 1986, midnight
S1E6 - The Respectable Prostitute
Stringer springs back into action as he gets to the bottom of the Khrushchev impersonator's death and uncovers a political sex scandal.
March 23, 1986, midnight
Network: Channel 4
Episode Runtime: 30 min.
Season Runtime: 30 min.
Released: Feb. 16, 1986
Last Air Date: March 10, 1989, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: NR
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