Climb aboard The High Life
Published: Sunday 2nd March 2025
In the 1980s, Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson were working in Scotland with their double act Victor & Barry. A mixture of camp comedy, cabaret, song and dance, Masson and Cumming were able to utilise the full range of their skills; singing, dancing, improv, pantomime and everything in between. Like all classic double acts, they had that indefinable magic, that connection that made their patter seem effortless and they soon rose up the ranks of the Scottish comedy scene, from shows at the Edinburgh Fringe to headlining their own unique production of Babes In The Wood.
While Cumming was gradually building a career in television, including playing the title role of Bernard in Richard Curtis' 1991 cult classic Bernard And The Genie, and Masson played the Stan Laurel waxwork droid in Red Dwarf Series 2 episode Meltdown, it was Victor & Barry that continued to climb higher up the showbiz ladder. After more than a decade of shows, in 1992 Cumming and Masson killed their characters off in the most apt location - on stage at the London Palladium.
Comic Asides was a series of comedy pilot episodes which also spawned Steven Moffat's Joking Apart, Norman Lovett's I, Lovett and KYTV, the television version of radio sketch show Radio Active, written by Angus Deayton and Geoffrey Perkins. The High Life began as one such pilot, broadcast in 1994. A series was commissioned shortly thereafter, and it was broadcast on BBC Two in 1995.
The High Life saw Cumming play Sebastian Flight, a sharped-tongued, narcissistic, rather vindictive flight attendant, whilst Masson played his sex-starved colleague Steve McCracken. The duo work as the crew on the low budget shuttle service between Prestwick Airport and London Heathrow. They have a brotherly relationship; they are the closest of friends but spend much of their time engaging in petty squabbles, like the following in regards to Sebastian being late, taken from the fifth episode, Dug:
Steve: This is the fifth time this week your chronological crapness will have caused chaos to my karma.
Sebastian: Eh?
Steve: Don't you 'Eh' me pal, you know damn fine what I'm going on about.
Sebastian: I'm sorry to disabuse you Steve but I am in a state of total flummoxness. Since you picked me up this morning the verbal hyperbole ejaculating from your gob has been shooting straight over my head.
Completing the cast were Siobhan Redmond as the uptight Chief Stewardess Shona Spurtle - described variously as "Hitler in tights", "Mussolini in Micromesh" and "Goebbels in a Gossard" - and Patrick Ryecart as the mentally disturbed, Star Trek obsessed Captain Hilary Duff, who would be an excellent pilot if he could find the cockpit or remember where they are meant to be flying to. He frequently speaks in either Star Trek references or nonsensical non-sequiturs like "And the rest, as they say, is yet to come".
The memorable opening title sequence sets the tone for the show, as Cumming and Masson lead the cast in a Busby Berkeley-esque extravagant dance number. The show also sparked the catchphrase "Oh dearie me", usually said by Sebastian and Steve in unison following a joke or insult. Cumming and Masson often wove song and dance numbers into the show, using their experience in live performance and cabaret - in Episode 2, Birl, Steve and Sebastian are forced to sing the Air Scotia anthem, which morphs into a musical number with onscreen lyrics so the audience can sing along.
Masson and Cumming had never written a sitcom prior to The High Life, and in an interview Masson described how their comedic stylings would occasionally clash with those of the script editor: "There was one scene where the passengers were going to be slightly older. There was going to be some turbulence and [their characters] Steve and Sebastian had to go down the aisle and ask people to remove their false teeth. They would put them in the fridge, then when the time came for them to distribute the false teeth back to the passengers, the teeth had frozen, so we had to put them in the microwave to thaw them out. Then they were hot, so we were handing them out going, 'Hot teeth, sir? Hot teeth, madam?' So we wrote this, then we went in for a meeting about the script. The person who had been assigned to us as a script editor had, at one point earlier, given me a booklet entitled: 'How to write a sitcom'. This person then said, 'that wouldn't happen on a plane'. I was like, 'it's not a documentary!"
The humour in The High Life is frequently gloriously immature, especially Sebastian and Shona's barbed badinage:
Shona: I was writing up my notes on this morning's class, I'm getting a little behind.
Sebastian (glancing at her bum): Oh, when's it arriving?
And
Sebastian: Hello Ms Spurtle, how's your arse for love bites?
Shona: Fine thankye, how's ye ear for dermatitis?
Far from being annoying, the childish humour is woven into Sebastian and Steve's worldview and it is part of what makes the show work so well, whether it's Shona giving Sebastian a Chinese burn for being irritating or Sebastian and Steve greeting passengers with smiles immediately followed by perfectly harmonized bitchiness. However, this also goes a long way to ensuring that duo are immensely likeable, as they battle the boredom of the job. Episode 6, Dunk, leans into full on parody, as Sebastian and Steve become embroiled in a business espionage plot involving biscuits, filmed in the style of 1960s' Batman, complete with onscreen graphics and fighting sound effects.
By the time the series aired, Cumming's burgeoning Hollywood career put paid to any more episodes. Speaking to a Red Dwarf fan site, Masson said: "There was a possibility of a second series, but then that all fell by the wayside. I wrote scripts but it never saw the light of day. There was a change of management at the BBC and Alan had other work commitments, but prior to the change of management they were keen for it to go ahead without Alan. Angie [de Chastelai Smith], the director, was on board - but then it just fizzled out".
Cumming forged a prolific, and eclectic, career in the United States, which included several hugely successful stints as The Emcee in the Broadway production of Cabaret, which he originally played in the 1993 West End show. Meanwhile Masson continued in the theatre, writing, directing and acting in countless productions.
The High Life was not the only show to mine the world of air travel for laughs. Other shows include From A Bird's Eye View, a 1970 transatlantic sitcom starring Millicent Martin and Patte Finlay as flight attendants on a London-European route; ChuckleVision episode High Jinx; John Finnemore's much loved Radio 4 sitcom Cabin Pressure; the controversial Matt Lucas and David Walliams sketch show Come Fly With Me; and Channel 5's improvised mockumentary Borderline.
Fans still hold a great deal of affection for The High Life, and even though it only ran for seven episodes, Cumming has said in numerous interviews that, whenever he comes back to the UK, it's what people stop him to talk about.
Cumming and Masson continue to collaborate. 2024 saw them co-write a book about their Victor & Barry years called Victor and Barry's Kelvinside Compendium. There's also talk of reviving The High Life as a stage musical. So, in the words of Sebastian and Steve in the theme tune:
If you're feeling kinda tedious, and life is seriously mediocre, here's how to get that adrenaline flowing, just get aboard a Boeing going high....
Where to start?
Episode 5 - Dug
Sebastian enters the Song For Europe contest as Scotland's first entry with the song Piff Paff Poff - "Piff Paff Poff! I want to have it off 'till I cough!" - in the hope of finding fame, fortune, and hopefully some girls for Steve. This episode was broadcast a year before Father Ted episode A Song For Europe. Meanwhile, the Air Scotia crew host a birthday party for Aurora Borealis, the spoiled daughter of Shona's favourite pop star Guy Wersch, played by Dear John.... actor Peter Blake.
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Love comedy? Find out moreVictor And Barry's Kelvinside Compendium: A Meander Down Memory Close
Victor And Barry's Kelvinside Compendium includes Cumming and Masson's reminiscences about their Victor and Barry characters alongside scripts, interviews, memorabilia and "fond memories" from fans including actor David Morrissey, television presenter Kirsty Wark and a foreword from former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
First published: Thursday 25th July 2024
- Pages: 144
- Catalogue: 9781912489930
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The High Life - Series One
Alan Cumming stars in this campy comedy series about the zany antics amongst the crew of a charter jet.
Includes all six episodes of the first (and only) series, the Comic Asides pilot episode (no pun intended), and a Pebble Mill interview with Alan Cumming.
First released: Monday 6th April 2009
DVD- Distributor: 2 Entertain
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Minutes: 205
- Subtitles: English
- Catalogue: BBCDVD2958
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