Hot Metal
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Hot Metal was 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 (Robert Hardy). Its editor Harry Stringer (Geoffrey Palmer) is 'promoted' to Managing Editor, and is replaced in his old job by Russell Spam (also played by Hardy). 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 (Richard Kane), 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 (John Gordon Sinclair) gradually uncovering an actual newsworthy story that went to the very heart of government.
In the second series, Harry Stringer had left, vanished in a "mysterious aircraft accident", to be replaced as Managing Editor by former daytime chat show host Richard Lipton (Richard Wilson). The cub reporter investigating the running plot this time was Maggie Troon (Caroline Milmoe).
12 episodes were made in total.
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.
[edit] Comic Relief
In 1989 the show was briefly revived for a 13 minute Comic Relief special "The Rat Sat on The Cat" (AKA "The Satellite Years"), with Hardy and Palmer reviving his role from the first series (though the second series set was used).
