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''The High Life'' is a British
situation comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
written by and starring
Forbes Masson
Forbes (Robertson) Masson (born 17 August 1963 in Falkirk) is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances ...
and
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...
as Steve McCracken and Sebastian Flight. Cumming and Masson met at the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...
and united after several solo projects to create the theatrical
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
sitcom, ''The High Life''. The two leads were based heavily on their famous Scottish comedy alter-egos, Victor and Barry.
The series followed the cabin crew at the fictional airline, Air Scotia, flying out of
Prestwick Airport
Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...
. The crew consisted of the camp, alcohol-loving, narcissistic and vindictive steward, Sebastian; his sex-obsessed colleague Steve; their up-tight, antagonistic chief stewardess, Shona Spurtle; and the eccentric pilot, Captain Hilary Duff.
Sebastian and Steve longed to be promoted to long-haul flights to see exotic locations, instead of the current short-haul trips with their superior Shona, played by
Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles.
Early life
Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...
, whom they described as '
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
in tights', '
Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
in Micromesh' and '
Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
in a Gossard'. The deranged pilot, Captain Duff, played by
Patrick Ryecart
Patrick Geoffrey Ryecart (born 9 May 1952) is an English actor.
Early life and career
Ryecart was born in Warwick, Warwickshire.
His first West End appearance was in Bernard Shaw's ''Candida (play), Candida'' at the Albery Theatre, playing t ...
, would need to be frequently reminded who he was, where the cockpit was and where he was flying to.
''The High Life'' was interspersed with surrealism, childish humour, sarcasm and theatrical song and dance numbers. It only ran for one series due to Cumming's increasingly successful film career in
Hollywood; however during an interview, Masson claims that a second series was written, yet not acted upon.
Despite its short run, it is remembered for Steve and Sebastian’s joint catchphrase: 'Oh dearie me!' and for the opening sequence which featured the cast performing a dance routine to the title song. During an interview on BBC television, Cumming noted that he accidentally mimed a Hitler-style salute during the opening sequence, due to being in the musical ''
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
'' at the time.
The series ran for six thirty-minute episodes. An initial pilot was broadcast in the ''Comic Asides'' anthology strand on BBC2 at 9pm on Sunday 9 January 1994. The series of six episodes were broadcast on Friday nights at 9.30pm between 6 January and 10 February 1995.
The entire series (including the pilot) was released on VHS and DVD in 2002, and was re-released in May 2009. The complete series was re-run on BBC Four early in 2009 and
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...
in 2019.
Cast and crew
*
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...
- Sebastian Flight
*
Forbes Masson
Forbes (Robertson) Masson (born 17 August 1963 in Falkirk) is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances ...
- Steve McCracken
*
Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles.
Early life
Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...
- Shona Spurtle
*
Patrick Ryecart
Patrick Geoffrey Ryecart (born 9 May 1952) is an English actor.
Early life and career
Ryecart was born in Warwick, Warwickshire.
His first West End appearance was in Bernard Shaw's ''Candida (play), Candida'' at the Albery Theatre, playing t ...
- Captain Hilary Duff
Crew
*
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...
- Writer
*
Forbes Masson
Forbes (Robertson) Masson (born 17 August 1963 in Falkirk) is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances ...
- Writer
*Tony Dow - Director (pilot)
*Angela deChastelai Smith - Director (series)
*Tony Dow - Producer
Episode guide
* Pilot - "The High Life"
: Shona lands the job of presenting the Air Scotia’s in-flight video, much to Sebastian’s annoyance.
* Episode 1 - "Feart"
: Steve and Sebastian decide to find a way out of short-haul flights. The impending arrival of the staff inspector could make these dreams come true.
* Episode 2 - "Birl"
: Air Scotia employees attend a weekend of intensive training. Steve finds love with flight-attendant, Heather.
* Episode 3 - "Winch"
: Sebastian returns from his holiday in Florida to discover something has happened between Shona and Steve.
* Episode 4 - "Choob"
: An almost total reshoot of the Comic Asides pilot episode.
* Episode 5 - "Dug"
: Sebastian decides to enter the Song For Europe contest as Scotland’s first entry, in the hope of finding fame and fortune, and some girls for Steve. Meanwhile, the Air Scotia crew host a birthday for Aurora Borealis, the precocious daughter of Shona's favourite rock star.
* Episode 6 - "Dunk"
: The crew become involved in a small-business espionage plot involving biscuits, in a spoof of the 1960s series of ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:High Life, The
Scottish television shows
Scottish television sitcoms
1994 Scottish television series debuts
1995 Scottish television series endings
Aviation television series
Television shows set in Glasgow
1990s Scottish television series
Television shows set in Scotland
1990s British sitcoms
Television series about flight attendants