The Glam Metal Detectives

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The Glam Metal Detectives
Also known as"GMD"
Genre Comedy
Created by Peter Richardson
Written by Peter Richardson
Lloyd Stanton
The cast
Directed by Peter Richardson
Starring Gary Beadle
Mark Caven
Phil Cornwell
Doon Mackichan
Sara Stockbridge
George Yiasoumi
Opening theme"Everybody Up"
Composers Lol Creme
Trevor Horn
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes7
Production
Executive producer Michael White
Producer Nira Park
Running timeapprox 30 mins.
Original release
Network BBC 2
Release23 February (1995-02-23) 
6 April 1995 (1995-04-06)

The Glam Metal Detectives is a comedy show produced by the BBC in 1995. [1] Shown on BBC2 on Thursday nights at 9, it combined sketch and sitcom elements. As with other shows launched in this timeslot, The Glam Metal Detectives attempted to innovate and combine genres. The show consists of a single series of seven episodes. [1]

Contents

The series starred Gary Beadle, Phil Cornwell, Doon Mackichan (playing most of the female roles), Sara Stockbridge, George Yiasoumi, and Mark Caven. The scripts were written by the cast, director Peter Richardson, and Lloyd Stanton. The show was designed to appear as if the viewer was channel surfing through a multi-channel wasteland, happening upon spoof adverts, short sketches, and recurring show elements. Like other BBC content of the mid-1990s (such as KYTV), it often lampooned the low-budget quality of satellite television available in the UK at the time.

Content

Show segments included:

In other media

The series' theme "Everybody Up!", by Trevor Horn and Lol Creme, was released as a CD single, [2] with the main cast appearing in character on Top of the Pops . A soundtrack album [3] was also released.

A one-shot magazine special was published by Marvel UK to coincide with the launch of the show. It mirrored the channel hopping style of the show by featuring various magazine formats and comic book styles. The special was co-written by Peter Richardson, Robert Popper, the cast of the show and the magazine's editor, cartoonist and writer David Leach, who had previously created Psycho Gran for the cult British Kids comic, Oink. The special featured the artwork of - among others - Lew Stringer, David Leach and Art Wetherell. The magazine also used the same artwork for its cover that was used for the show's opening titles and subsequent video release. The special was intended to test the waters for a regular title should the show have been a success, but no more issues were made.

The first three episodes of the series were later released on VHS video. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Glam Metal Detectives". BBC Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 23 February 2005.
  2. "ZTTaat entry for "Everybody Up!" single". Zttaat.com. 6 March 1995. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  3. "entry for Glam Metal Detectives album". Discogs. 20 October 1995. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  4. "entry for VHS release". Amazon.co.uk. 20 March 1995. Retrieved 19 March 2010.