Down The Line
- Radio sketch show
- BBC Radio 4
- 2006 - 2020
- 34 episodes (5 series)
Spoof phone-in show starring Rhys Thomas as the clueless and tactless DJ Gary Bellamy. Also features Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, Lucy Montgomery, Felix Dexter and more.
Press clippings Page 3
Radio 4 Out Of Line With Hoax
A Radio 4 phone-in show which attracted complaints over its "racist and sexist" content was a spoof, the station has revealed. Appalled listeners have branded it "abhorrent" and "drivel" - but yesterday, the station admitted the show was a hoax.
Daily Record, 13th May 2006It's a joke, Radio 4 is driven to confess
It was announced as a "thought-provoking, controversial, intelligent and well-informed" live phone-in show, hosted by the award-winning talk radio DJ Gary Bellamy. But since the end of its first late-night slot on Radio 4, irate listeners have been phoning the BBC, setting the station's messageboards alight and writing to The Daily Mail to complain about the cringeworthy twaddle they have heard on Down the Line.
Michael Horsnell, The Times, 13th May 2006Gotcha! Whitehouse and Higson Interview
Not for the first time, Radio 4 listeners are up in arms. The cause is a 'sexist', 'racist', 'rubbish' phone-in show called Down the Line. But we've been had. As G2 can reveal, it's a spoof - from the creators of The Fast Show.
Stephen Moss, The Guardian, 12th May 2006Radio 4 gets a wrong number
The BBC has received more than 30 calls from bemused listeners after it broadcast a spoof Radio 4 phone-in show late last night.
Leigh Holmwood, The Guardian, 3rd May 2006BBC Message Boards Posts
This is just dreadful! I have signed up to the message board just to express my consternation.
BBC, 2nd May 2006