Original title
Drop the Dead Donkey
Released
8/9/1990
Origin country
GB
Genre
Comedy
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
6
Number of episodes
65
Drop the Dead Donkey is a situation comedy that first aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of “GlobeLink News”, a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. It was created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The series had an ensemble cast, making stars of Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson. The series began with the acquisition of GlobeLink by media mogul Sir Roysten Merchant, an allusion to either Robert Maxwell or Rupert Murdoch. Indeed, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin note on their DVDs that it was fortunate for their libel lawyers that the two men shared the same initials. The series is mostly based on the on-going battle between the staff of GlobeLink, led by editor George Dent, as they try to maintain the company as a serious news organisation, and Sir Roysten’s right-hand man Gus Hedges, trying to make the show more sensationalist and suppress stories that might harm Sir Roysten’s business empire. The show was awarded the Best Comedy Award at the 1994 BAFTA Awards. At the British Comedy Awards the show won Best New TV Comedy in 1990, Best Channel 4 Comedy in 1991, and Best Channel 4 Sitcom in 1994.
Introducing the Globelink newsroom. A standalone pilot rather than an 'episode 0', as it includes characters that join again in the first two episodes.
Sir Roysten takes over at Globelink News, and puts Gus in charge. The Editor George tries to sack Damien for seeding crash sites,while he is filming , but Gus intercedes and Damien is only reprimanded.
As Britain is threatened by Saddam Hussein with the Gulf war about to break out the staff have a bigger problem to contend with. The arrival of a new news reader, Sally Smedley.
Gus tries to get Alex on his side in order to pressurise George to censor a story about a chemical spillage from a company owned by Sir Roysten. Dave updates the obituaries but Henry accidentally sees his and gets upset.
Damien is doing a story on slum landlords but when they view the footage, Alex is staggered to learn that her ex husband is involved in the story. Sally and Henry have elocution lessons, and Sally appears on a TV telethon for charity.
Henry's nephew comes to the office to gain work experience but everybody gets worked up as to just how young he is.
Alex has obtained a top secret audio tape, that the Government wants banned. Sally is taped making love to the sound man, but when Dave makes Henry a copy of Sally's tape, he accidentally uses the secret tape, thus erasing it.
Gus brings in a stress therapist to interview the staff and after a group session, a fight breaks out between Dave and Henry, so Gus fires the therapist. Dave persuades Henry to put money into a racehorse which turns out to be rubbish.
Sally gets flowers from a secret admirer and when she loses her purse, Dave comes under suspicion, because he has been trying to borrow money. Gus goes on an economy drive.
On location, Damien fakes a firing squad. He also gets injured organising an animal rights protest, but before he can film it, Alex steps in and the raid is cancelled. To make up for the cancellation and while he is in hospital he tries to film a heart operation.
Gus wants Sally to interview the Prime Minister when she comes to the studio, but Alex and George want Henry to do the interview. When an electrician fuses the lights the interview is called off. After Damien fakes another report, George threatens to sack him.
The book on Globelink News' coverage of the Gulf War is about to be published and George is to be interviewed on TV about it. Sally goes on childrens TV and gets dunked in the gunge tank. Sir Roysten's daughter comes to work at the office and starts dating Dave.
Gus brings in an office efficiency expert to help with the job cuts he has in mind. Henry's legs are paralysed due to stress brought about by his experiences in the Korean war. To stop the job cuts, the staff agree to pay cuts as long as Gus is included.
Sally brings her dog Dido into the office. Henry dates a young actress. Dave, trying to find out how she feels about Henry, ends up sleeping with her, but when Henry finds out, he knocks his computer on to the floor and kills Dido.
The staff are drafted into Gus's baseball team, just because he wants to get revenge on his older brother Julian. Meanwhile, the staff also use a photocopier repairman to see which stories are the best.
Sally complains to George that she is getting all the depressing stories. A Government Minister shows up for Henry's interview dead drunk. Damien tries to do his report from the streets and keeps getting interrupted. Gay rights protesters break into the studio just before they go on air.
While George is on holiday Alex runs the office and gets involved with a Russian and his interpreter, who are here to see how the station is run. The Russian proposes, Alex turns him down, but the interpreter accepts. Dave gets her off the hook, by posing as her fiance. Damien is under pressure from Lynn Yates, a reporter from another TV station, to get the best stories..
Henry spends the whole episode trying to solve the last clue in the times crossword, when the answer comes from a surprising source. Sally's mother dies and after the cremation she brings the urn into the office. Damien meets the source who has hoaxed him on several stories.
Sally has found religion. Henry is writing an obituary of a fellow journalist, who is seriously ill. George is under pressure to shelve Henry's documentary on human rights.
While Damien lives on the streets to get to the bottom of a big story, Dave uses his credit cards. George's marriage is on the rocks.
The Reverend Earl Johnson wants Globelink to cover his shows, but Alex says no. Sally comes to her senses when Earl makes a pass at her. Damien reads the tarot cards, George becomes very upset over his marriage breakup.
On the day George has to bring his delinquent daughter to work a television company makes a documentary about the newsroom for 'Hidden Eye'. Damien's good relations with the police force are threatened when the editors want to air a tape Damien made of a botched raid.
Dave goes to a counsellor to cure his gambling. Gus gives Dave a very important video tape to take to Sir Roysten, but during the trip the taxi is involved in a accident, and the tape is stolen.
During the Christmas party things start to get out of hand, and Dave finally sleeps with Alex, who regrets it in the morning. George gets drunk falls asleep and wakes up at Oxford Station.
After Alex leaves, Gus and George start to look for a replacement. When just two people (Peregrine and Helen) are left in the hunt, Dave and Henry come up with a plan to get Gus to choose the person they want.
Henry has money troubles so he gets Sally's accountant to help him out, but the accountant skips town with all his money. Henry interviews real life M.P.s Teddy Taylor and Ken Livingstone.
Dave finally wins big on the horses, but Henry goes off on a bender with the betting slip, after hearing that his ex wife is getting married again.
'Jim'll Fix It' gets Sally to agree to read the news with a little girl who has told the program that her mother has just died. Damien is following a story on prostitutes but Gus discovers that one of the girls is seeing Sir Roysten and wants the program cancelled.
A new sports reporter joins the team. He is an ex-goalkeeper who conceded an easy goal during a cup tie and never lived it down. Sally sues a newspaper and wins her case but receives only 15 pence as her award.
Damien tries to interview a war criminal but realises that he has got the wrong man. Gus is seduced by Sir Roysten's wife.
A new news reader joins the staff but she is so good that Henry and Sally try to get her the sack. George tries to pluck up courage to ask Helen out but then he learns that she is a lesbian. Dave and Damien go pot holing and get trapped.
Joy is seeing a married man. After some advice from George, Joy tells his wife, he gets stabbed and Joy is a suspect. Henry and Sally argue over desk space. Dave and Damien fall out.
Gus takes the office on a war game weekend but Henry gets a black eye which forces him to drop out of a documentary that he was about to film. Damien discovers that Dave has slept with Helen.
Damien gets caught in South Africa when a dictator wants information on dissidents in the UK. Joy and her friend go to see the Chippendales, so Henry and Dave try to show that they can go one better. George hunts for his daughter who is living rough with a bunch of squatters.
The office go to an awards dinner but Joy and Sally turn up in the same dress. Gus hears a rumour that Sir Roysten is pulling out of Globelink. Henry wins a life achievement award.
After going to the funeral of a colleague, Gus becomes very upset at the thought of death. Dave and Henry go on a bender. Damien is banned from driving. Sally goes to the opera.
Helen meets her daughter's new teacher. Damien and Henry bet Dave that he can't date Joy so he trains with her in preparation for her appearance on Gladiators. Gus is still in hospital after his heart scare. Dave has to read the new book on Princess Diana.
Gus is back from hospital and delegates more responsibility to Helen. Damien's mother shows up and is still criticising him. Helen sorts out a problem of expenses between Henry and Sally. George goes to his ex wife's wedding.
Damien gets a death threat from the drug barons he featured in one of his reports so Gus gets him a bodyguard. Is Sally pregnant? Someone claiming to be Henry's son shows up.
Helen asks Dave to be her boyfriend at a dinner party she is holding for her parents so she doesn't have to tell them that she is gay. Sally turns out to be pregnant. George thinks he is love with Anna. Henry beats Damien at chess but he is getting all his moves from Joy.
Anna is marrying George but she has an alternative motive. Sally is being interviewed by the TV Times. Joy propositions the photographer. Sally loses her baby.
Gus proposes a new crime programme fronted by Sally and Damien but is unhappy with the director so he shoots the program himself. George still wants to marry Anna so Dave finds a way to stop them. When George finds out he goes berserk. Anna turns down Gus's offer of marriage.
George sends Sally and Henry out to Acapulco for an international conference after shedding his wimpish image.
George is scared stiff that he will be interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on BBC TV. Henry tries to date the new girl reporter who has just joined the team but she turns him down. Damien tries to break into several high profile places to test their security.
Most of the staff are out on strike because of job cuts but Gus, Sally, George and Damien are still working so Gus brings in Russian back room staff to cover. Dave plays poker with the police who are on picket duty. George's wife has published an account about their life together.
Dave organises a stag night for a member of the staff but it is Gus who is stripped naked at the end of the evening. Henry's house is occupied by the builders so he has to stay with Gus who turns out to be very boring. Joy is put in charge of the stationery cupboard.
A new weather girl joins the show and Dave ends up dating her, but he discovers that it is too dangerous to keep on seeing her so Damien tries his luck. Henry is to be featured on 'Living Legends' but he refuses to take part because he has confided in Dave that he may be impotent.
Sally returns from a mental hospital. Helen is carjacked. Henry is offered a job at the BBC.
Gus is eager to impress a Japanese delegation of potential financiers while the newsroom are introduced to a novel concept - religious belief - except for George, who's lost all faith in public transport.
Gus hires a new security firm. Joy applies for a job at the BBC.
Joy's friend comes to work at the office but unwittingly lets slip some of their secrets from while they were growing up. Damien interviews John Major and has trouble staying awake. Gus chats to a girl over the internet but before asking her out he wants to practice on Sally but she gets the wrong idea.
Helen holds a dinner party to introduce her lesbian friend to the rest of the office but Damien tries to break them up. Gus finally dates the woman he has been chatting to on the internet but he wants to use Dave's chat up lines. Sally does a radio advert.
George buys Henry's old Jaguar and immediately has to spend 2000 pounds on a new gearbox. Sally is thinking about cosmetic surgery and Dave might break the habit of a lifetime and propose marriage to his girlfriend.
Sally does an old age pensioners advert, but it backfires on her. Dave is beginning to have second thoughts about getting engaged, then he finds out that his fiance is dumping him. One of Gus's old girl friends, who now works for Sir Roysten, comes to give Globelink the once over. Damien is the first subject on a new reality TV show. Damien interviews M.P.s Anne Coates and Tony Banks.
Henry's newspaper column is causing problems among the office staff. Gus is trying to sell tickets to Sir Roysten's benefit and he gets Joy to become a waitress for the evening.
Gus brings in a psychologist to interview the staff. Henry and Damien think that Dave is dating Princess Diana but have a surprise in store. George brings in his home made wine.
Damien ends up in hospital with a broken leg after being pushed down stairs by Liam Gallagher. Sally acts in a pantomime with Rosemarie Ford. Dave clears his debts with a bet on the football.
Most of the staff end up back at the office on the graveyard shift. Dave and Helen see the report on the drug tests that Gus has taken showing George with traces of ecstasy. Joy brings her brother who has been sleeping rough back to the office and he beats Gus's record score on a video game.
Henry finds out that he is dying so goes on a bender to end all benders but there is a surprise in store. Gus is having sex nightmares about Joy so he asks Dave for advice but the nightmares continue with someone else.
A documentary crew films the demise of Globelink News.
Roy Merchant promises to not cut jobs.
Helen tells her father she's a lesbian. Henry and Sally look for other jobs. Dave tries to get fired.
Sally begins dating older men. George meets Henry's niece. Helen tells her mother she's a lesbian.
George goes out on a date with Henry's niece Sue. With the threat of unemployment looming ahead Damien starts to suffer from a nervous condition. And can Sally's future husband save Globelink News?
Damian's fainting spells get worse. Henry gets a job on children's TV. Joy's sketches are displayed in a gallery.
The staff prepares big changes in their second careers, but nothing goes as plans.
This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
