Lee and Herring (radio series)

Lee and Herring was a British radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995, named after the comedy double act who hosted it, Lee and Herring.
The show ran for three series and a total of nineteen hour-long episodes. It followed on from their previous Radio 1 series, "Fist of Fun", and was one of a number of comedy and music shows being produced for Radio 1 at the time: other notable examples being shows hosted by Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci. The fact that the bulk of the show was live, and to some extent unscripted, gave the programmes a more relaxed feel, with the presenters somewhere in between their genuine personalities and the comic personas adopted for their act. The show was produced by Chris Neill, Sarah Smith and Kathy Smith.
The series served as a testing ground for new ideas, and many of the characters and items introduced in the series were adapted for later television projects. Lee and Herring were keen to pursue a fourth series, but Radio 1 ceased its comedy output at the beginning of 1997.
Presenters.
Ostensibly the straight-man of the pair, Lee's character was that of a passive, sarcastic and often pretentious curmudgeon. He also provided a great deal of the music for the programmes (as the show was made by the Light Entertainment department, and the duo had to bring in their own records), and his rather idiosyncratic tastes made for some interesting musical interludes.
In contrast to his comic partner, Herring's persona was that of a cheerful, optimistic and naive character. He apparently contributed less music to the show, but occasionally poured scorn over Lee's odder musical selections.
Regular contributors.
Peter Baynham reprised his tragic comic persona, first heard in "Fist of Fun", for the new series. Portrayed as a lonely, 30-year-old unemployable virgin living in a bedsit in Balham, he was an unlikely choice for 'lifestyle guru', and was continually bullied by Herring. In the later series, the character was renamed from 'Peter Baynham' to simply 'Peter'.
A longstanding Lee and Herring contributor, Kevin Eldon read out the Listings as well as playing numerous characters in sketches. At the end of the first series he was unmasked as a hair-obsessed alien and was killed by some Immac hair remover. He returned in the second series with little explanation and resumed his role. In the third series, he took on the persona of an apparently angry but mediocre anti-establishment comic, often denouncing the government as 'fascists', to the mockery of Lee and Herring.
Characters.
Numerous fictional characters were introduced during the series, many of whom later transferred to television.