Radio 4 is to broadcast a one-off lockdown special of Down The Line, the groundbreaking spoof phone-in show hosted by Gary Bellamy and brought to you from the creators of The Fast Show, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson. Down The Line: Lockdown Special stars Rhys Thomas as Bellamy with Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Charlie Higson, Lucy Montgomery and Paul Whitehouse and is on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Thursday 14 May at 11pm.
Charlie Higson says: "It’s great to be back with this Down The Line one-off special. A spoof radio phone-in show is the perfect project to make in lockdown as all the cast can literally phone their performances in. So we have a great range of characters calling our host, Gary Bellamy, who are as weird, confused, angry and nuts as the callers on any other phone-in show.
"The only sadness is that this is the first Down The Line we’ve made without the inimitable Felix Dexter, whose unique characters were such a big part of the show. Otherwise, all of the original cast - Rhys Thomas, Paul Whitehouse, Lucy Montgomery, Simon Day, Charlie Higson, and Amelia Bulmore are back, as well as guest stars including Harry Enfield, Robert Popper and Geoff Schumann."
Bellamy made a television programme in 2010, Bellamy's People (of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). At the time he revealed when he had first become obsessed with talking on the radio: "I used to pretend to host radio shows in my bedroom when I was meant to be doing my homework," he said. "And I used to record whole programmes on my tinny little cassette recorder."
