Hot Metal

- Season 1

(1986)

What will the tycoon owner of Rathouse International do to Harry Stringer's respectable but doomed Daily Crucible? Who is the mysterious new editor, Russell Spam, that no one has ever heard of? And what scandalous front-page story will they have to think up to rocket the Daily Crucible to the top of the market? All is revealed.

After successfully relaunching the Daily Crucible with his Royals Porno Storm story, editor Russell Spam is about to unveil his Sensational Sex Secrets of the Soviets - from the mouth of Nikita Khrushchev, who reporter Greg Kettle has found alive in Switzerland. Meanwhile, the government would like a little support on a humanitarian matter.

Twiggy Rathbone's Daily Crucible is determined to keep abreast of the competition and Page Three is an outstanding target area. Meanwhile, young reporter Bill Tytla unearths the first clues to an international scandal bigger than anything Russell Spam could ever dream up.

While the Daily Crucible makes hay with its outrageous depiction of Father Teasdale as a militant Marxist, its proprietor Twiggy Rathbone finds reason to denounce public misrepresentation. Meanwhile, Bill Tytla's on the trail of a murderer.

Russell Spam has come up with yet another gimmick to boost the sales of the Daily Crucible - and Harry Stringer finds himself smack in the firing line as usual. Summoning all his courage, he decides to do something about it - and a story begins to develop.

With Bill Tytla threatened at gun point, pressure to suppress the story he's been unearthing is getting very heavy - and is about to get heavier still.