All three series of the comedy drama set in the chaotic world of arts broadcasting

Featuring comedy A-listers Alistair McGowan, Rebecca Front, Harriet Thorpe and Geoffrey Whitehead, with Kevin Eldon and Felicity Montagu, this hilarious sitcom follows the ramshackle production of highbrow TV review show Arting About.

Over 14 episodes, we eavesdrop behind the scenes and in front of the camera, as the hapless team endeavour to capture the zeitgeist and stay ahead of the cultural curve. From exposing heavy metal band Tanks n’ Daisies as closet anoraks, to interviewing sizzling Animalistic Impulse star Karen Stone and schmoozing Hollywood royalty at the Cannes Film Festival, they’ll do anything to boost the show’s ratings – and their own profiles. But whether they’re tangling with a country-and-western legend, delving into lottery corruption or facing an alien incursion, things rarely go according to plan...

Originally broadcast in 1993, the first series of Hair in the Gate aired on Radio 5. After that station’s demise, it was rescued and remade for Radio 4, where it ran for two series between 1995 and 1996. Created by award-winning journalist and writer Clive Coleman (Chambers), it’s full of brilliant banter and droll dialogue, and will appeal to anyone who loved Drop the Dead Donkey and His Master’s Voice.


Production credits
Written by Clive Coleman, with Henry Naylor and Andy Parsons
Produced by Paul Schlesinger and Jo Clegg

Starring Alistair McGowan, Forbes Masson, Harriet Thorpe, Lorelei King, Geoffrey Whitehead, David Holt, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Kevin Eldon, Felicity Montagu, Rebecca Front, Joanna Monro, Chris Walker, Martin Hyder, Wayne Forester, Neil Conrich and Jonathan Rogers

First broadcast BBC Radio 5, 17 September-22 October 1993 (series 1), BBC Radio 4, 3-24 August 1995 (series 2) and 14 November-5 December 1996 (series 3)