Skip to content
Hot Metal poster

Hot Metal

Series19862 seasonsEnded

Comedy
Not rated

Where to watch

Details

Creator
Language
English
Episodes
13
Episode length
30m

Community score

5.48 votes on TMDB

Confidence

Rating weighted by how many people voted

6.4

Actor Hub

Scene work for this title — private technique journals.

Open journal →

The story

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.

The room

Ask. Discuss. Find the next one.

Stay with Hot Metal: ask what it is actually doing, talk it through, then follow the traits that made it land.

Ask

Talk it through

Grounded in the film — and in your map, when you have one.

Try asking

3 free asks left without an account.

Actor journal

Private scene work lives in Actor Hub — not on this title page.

Characters

Star up to 5 favourites in Hot Metal. Rank them if you want — picks feed Cinematic DNA; journals stay private.