The Horne Section
The Horne Section is a British musical comedy band, appearing on radio, television, podcast, and stage. Led by frontman and comedian Alex Horne, the band comprises Joe Auckland, Mark Brown, Will Collier, Ben Reynolds and Ed Sheldrake. The band specialises in comedy/spoof songs in a variety of genres. The band is made up of professional musicians, including two childhood friends of Horne, and first performed together in May 2010, with the current line-up finalised during 2012. The Horne Section have performed at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as touring the UK, and celebrity guests at their shows have included Harry Hill, Simon Amstell, Jimmy Carr, Tim Minchin, Josie Long, Al Murray, and John Oliver as well as musicians including Neil Hannon and Suggs. Their BBC Radio 4 series – Alex Horne Presents the Horne Section – ran for three series from 2012 to 2014. The band have also released five albums of music.
The Horne Section Podcast has run since 2018. It was in the top 10 most streamed podcasts from the Deezer platform in 2018, and in April 2019 it was nominated in the 'Best Comedy' category of the British Podcast Awards. The podcast has featured a range of guests including comedians, presenters, sportspeople, performance poets, and musicians.
The band featured in The Horne Section Christmas, a nine-minute Christmas-carol themed TV special, shown on Sky Arts in 2015. In April 2018 they recorded a two-hour live show at the London Palladium entitled The Horne Section Television Programme, featuring celebrity guests including Sue Perkins and Nadine Coyle, and broadcast on Dave on 24 May 2018.
A Channel 4 six-part programme The Horne Section TV Show was released on 3 November 2022, and is a mostly scripted comedy about the band, combining elements of musical comedy, talk show and sitcom.
Horne and the band have often appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as the dictionary corner guest, and chaired Never Mind the Buzzcocks in November 2012. The Horne Section were the 'house band' for The Last Leg of the Year on New Year's Eve 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, where they contributed backing music as well as playing a number of their own songs. They provided music for the lockdown-themed series The Last Leg: Locked Down Under and Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer in 2020, and joined Crouch again in 2021 for Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live. The band created the theme music for Horne's Taskmaster, as well as for The Guardians cricket podcast The Spin.
Album discography
These albums are distributed by the group's Bandcamp page. The third album was released on 5 June 2020 featuring songs from the isolation podcasts. The band also have a Patreon which gives subscribers to commission short songs and have shout-outs.| Released | Music featured |
| 2010 | The Horne Section Journey To Happy, ''The Horne Section, Battleships, Advice For A Student, The Hair Suite, Sidemen, The Egg Sketch, Friends Forever |
| 2018 | Three Great Songs and Eight More Songs Chinese Five Spice, Chris Hoy Loves A Saveloy, Drum and Bass, Happy Accident, If I Were, Is it the Police?, Less is More, Record Player, Seasons, Small Talk, Hardness of Water |
| 2020 | The Most Beautiful, Talented People In The Whole World Introduction, Summer Banger, Hear the Word, Pam Ayres Eats Pom Bears, Savvy, Joan Armatrading, I Smell a Rat, Those Were the Days, Shredded Wheat, One Lump or Two, Crossed Wires, Newton's Laws, Road Safety, Hear the Word, Time Wasting, Blessings, Manifesto, Phobias, The President, Hear The Word, Children Say The Funniest Things, I Smell a Rat, Spool Fools, Hat Mancock, I Miss People, The Angry Chef, Hear the Word, Monkey Music |
| 2020 | The Horne Section Christmas Family Album Introduction, Fiddly Christmas, Being With You, Buckaroo Intro, Buckaroo, Cabbage, Christmas Number 2, Connect 4 Intro, Connect 4, Dinosaur, Guess Who Intro, Guess Who, Head Shoulders Etc., Manger Danger, Monger, Midnight Intro, Midnight, Monday Tuesday..., Noel, A Thing, There Was A Dog, Midwinter Monkey |
| 2021 | ULTRABULK Donkeys, No Chairs, Ain't Got No Scruples, Flies On You, Um Bongo, Worm, Love Triangle, Time v Persons, Legacy, Ten Million Henrys, A Lesson In Humility, Mumford, Midnight Feast, Drive On, Sensible Guy, Potaconut, The Mighty Andrew Marr, Midnight Farts, Funny Old Game, UFO Jingle, I Am Funny, 12 Days Of Yoga'' |
''Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section''
Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section was a BBC Radio 4 show that ran from 2011 to 2014 and was broadcast in the 6.30pm weekday comedy slot. The programme followed a similar format to the live Edinburgh festival shows with Horne and the band performing songs and jokes in front of a live audience, with assistance from a special guest - usually from the world of comedy. The pianist during series 1 was former member Joe Stilgoe, and from series 2 onwards was Ed Sheldrake.Pilot (2011)
| Episode | Guest | Broadcast | Music featured |
| 1.0 | Benedict Allen | 14 Mar 2011 | Ode to Kim's Retirement, I Got Rhythm, Song for Richard, Let the Credits Roll |
Series 1 (2012)
| Episode | Guest | Broadcast | Music featured |
| 1.1 | David O'Doherty | 5 Mar 2012 | Those Were the Days, Sidemen, Spotlight on a Musical Instrument, Latin Song + Italian Music Terms Song, Everybody Speaks English, Let the Credits Roll |
| 1.2 | Nick Helm | 12 Mar 2012 | Bald Man, One Man and His Dog, The Attenboroughs, Dinosaur Song, Love Holds the Power, Spotlight on a Musical Instrument, Friend Forever |
| 1.3 | Isy Suttie | 19 Mar 2012 | Ode to Jens’ Beard, Groupies, The Hardness of Water, The Maiden and the Slovenian Prince, Battleships, Spotlight on a Musical Instrument, Party for all Human Kind |
| 1.4 | Kevin Eldon | 26 Mar 2012 | Ode to Tash’s Fashion Sense, Coles' Law, English Food, CABBAGE, Eggy Pop, Potholing Song, Spotlight on a Musical Instrument, Kitchen Drums, Horne Section Diet |
A bonus episode recorded from the Edinburgh Festival was broadcast later that year.
| Episode | Guest | Broadcast | Music featured |
| 1.5 | Al Murray & Tim Key | 2 Sep 2012 | Rolling Up to Edinburgh, Connect 4, Song for Swanee Whistle, Pancake Day, Incy Wincy Spider, Scottish Medley |
Series 2 (2013)
A New Year's Eve Special episode was broadcast at the end of 2013.| Episode | Guest | Broadcast | Music featured |
| NYES | Milton Jones, Jenny Bede & Beardyman | 31 Dec 2013 | This Is Not the Show, Manger Danger, Chinese Five Spice, Christmas Jumper, No-L, Party Like We're Parents, Brussels Sprout Blues, Long Old Sign |
Series 3 (2014)
Television appearances
''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' (2013–present)
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a panel show combining the longstanding Channel 4 game format of Countdown with the lively comedy style of 8 Out of 10 Cats. Each episode introduces a celebrity guest as an assistant to etymologist Susie Dent in 'dictionary corner'. Alex Horne was previously a contestant on the main Countdown programme in 2008, and as the author of a book on 'Wordwatching' was a strong candidate for the role. More unusually, he brought his backing band, and The Horne Section contributed various comedy song items to the show, as well as stylistic parodies of the 30-second Countdown music.The Horne Section have appeared in a number of episodes over the course of the show, listed below with reference to the 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown episodes page. The saxophonist 'Pedro' appeared where shown as a deputy for one of the wind players.
| Episode | First broadcast | Teams' guests | Members | Music items |
| 9 | 12 Sep 2013 | Lee Mack / Bob Mortimer, Adam Hills | Joe, Ben, Will only | Countdown music, Drum and Bass, Samba Countdown, Hillbilly Countdown, Bagface, Jazz Countdown |
| 25 | 12 Sep 2014 | Trevor Noah, David Baddiel / Joey Essex | Regular members | Is It the Police?, Ragtime Countdown, Disco Countdown, James Bond Countdown |
| 27 | 29 Dec 2014 | Kathy Burke, David Baddiel | Regular members | No-L, Carols Countdown, Macarena, Henry Hoover, Original Lyrics Countdown |
| 39 | 19 Jun 2015 | Vic Reeves, Lee Mack / Sara Pascoe | Regular members | Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Hiya, Eggypop, German Drinking Countdown, CABBAGE |
| 40 | 26 Jun 2015 | Bob Mortimer, Sarah Millican / Katherine Ryan | Pedro | I Ain't Got No Story To Tell, Salsa Countdown, Baker Street, Benny Hill Countdown, Trumpet Magic |
| 49 | 28 Aug 2015 | Sara Pascoe, Josh Widdicombe / Alex Brooker | Pedro | Background music, Brown-Eyed Girl, Ska Countdown, Children's Instrument Countdown, Zumba |
| 55 | 5 Feb 2016 | Isy Suttie, Richard Osman | Regular members | Scotland advert, Film Themes Countdown, Mexican Countdown, Lovely Day, Bottles Countdown, Seasons |
| 69 | 15 Oct 2016 | Victoria Coren Mitchell, Lee Mack / Bob Mortimer | Pedro | I've Got Something to Tell You, Sexy Countdown, Tense Jenga music, Caveat Clauses, Chris Hoy Loves a Saveloy |
| 91 | 22 Sep 2017 | Jason Manford / Joe Wilkinson, Lee Mack / Fay Ripley | Regular members | Wannabe, Five Quiz Countdown, French Countdown, Fly Me To The Moon, Medieval Countdown, YMCA |
| 102 | 17 Aug 2018 | Richard Ayoade, Jessica Knappett | Pedro | Imagine All the Extra Notes, Future Countdown, Money's Too Tight to Mention |
| 120 | 9 Jan 2020 | Harry Hill, Rose Matafeo | Regular members | Abbreviated Songs, Gong Jazz Countdown, You Can Leave Your Hat On, The Coot or the Moorhen, I Scratched My Arse |