The High Life: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Set aboard a plane for the ficticious Scottish airline, Air Scotia, The High Life was a vehicle for the up-and-coming young Scottish commedians Alan Cumming (now best known for his turns in Goldeneye and X-Men II) and Forbes Masson. The show mixed very camp humour with ludicrous situations and bizarre dance routines to great effect. The series span out of a pilot made for the series "Comic Asides" (this still exists and has been made available on the Region 0 DVD distributed by Network Videos) but sadly only one series of six episodes was made before the series was cancelled. Alan Cumming started taking higher profile movie roles whilst Forbes Masson returned to the theatre where he has gained much critical acclaim as a playwright. The show never really struck a chord with a wide audience, although it does still have a cult fanbase, but it was equally praised and derided for its breakneck pace and energy and for its use of Scots.

Series details

• Title: The High Life
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy
• Premiere date: 1994-01-04
• Final broadcast date listed: 1995-02-10
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC Two
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 2106

Cast and credited roles

• Alan Cumming — Sebastian Flight
• Forbes Masson — Steve McCracken
• Siobhan Redmond — Shona Spurtle
• Patrick Ryecart — Captain Hilary Duff

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1994-01-04; final listed air date 1995-02-10; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from The High Life on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.