The Horne Section


The Horne Section is a British musical comedy band, appearing regularly on radio, TV and stage. Led by frontman and comedian Alex Horne, the band mix music with comedy and specialise in comedy/spoof songs as well as performing a wide variety of genres including jazz.
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 regularly at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as touring the UK. 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 Suggs and Neil Hannon.
Their BBC Radio 4 series - Alex Horne presents The Horne Section - ran for three series from 2012 to 2014. The band have also released three albums of songs which are available via the .
The band featured in The Horne Section Christmas, a nine-minute Christmas-carol themed TV special, shown on Sky Arts in December 2015 as part of a festive season of comedy shows. 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. The programme was broadcast on UK TV channel Dave on 24 May 2018.
The Horne Section Podcast has run regularly since 2018 and was in the top 10 most streamed podcasts from the Deezer platform in 2018. In April 2019 it was nominated in the ‘Best Comedy’ category of the British Podcast Awards. The podcast has featured a diverse range of guests including comedians, presenters, sportspeople, performance poets, and musicians.
Horne and the band have often appeared on Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as the dictionary corner guest, performing various songs and jokes, and chaired the BBC Two comedy/music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks in November 2012. The band provide the theme music for Horne's Taskmaster TV show, as well as those for The Guardian's cricket podcast The Spin. The Horne Section were the 'house band' for Channel 4's The Last Leg of the Year on New Year's Eve 2018 and 2019, where they contributed backing music as well as playing a number of their own songs. During 2020, they provided music for The Last Leg: Locked Down Under and .

Album discography

These albums are available to download at the group's Bandcamp page. The third album was released on 5 June 2020 featuring songs from the recent isolation podcasts. The band also have a where listeners can commission short songs and shout-outs.
ReleasedSongs featured
2010The Horne Section
Journey To Happy, The Horne Section, Battleships, Advice For A Student, The Hair Suite, Sidemen, The Egg Sketch, Friends Forever
2018Three 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
2020The 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

''Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section''

Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section was a BBC Radio 4 show that ran from 2012-2014 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. During series 1 the pianist was former member Joe Stilgoe, and from series 2 onwards was Ed Sheldrake.

Series 1 (2012)

Series 2 (2013)

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 guest 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.
EpisodeFirst broadcastTeams' guestsMembersMusic items
913 Sep 2013Lee Mack / Bob Mortimer, Adam HillsJoe, Ben, Will onlyCountdown music, Drum and Bass, Samba Countdown, Bagface, Jazz Countdown
2729 Dec 2014Kathy Burke, David BaddielRegular membersHighway Maintenance Vehicle, Ragtime Countdown, Disco, Countdown, James Bond Countdown, No-L, Carols Countdown, Macarena, Henry Hoover, Original Lyrics Countdown
3919 Jun 2015Vic Reeves, Lee Mack / Sara PascoeRegular membersYour Love is Lifting Me Hiya, Eggypop, German Drinking Countdown, CABBAGE
4026 Jun 2015Bob Mortimer, Sarah Millican / Katherine RyanPedro I Ain't Got No Story To Tell, Salsa Countdown, Baker Street, Benny Hill Countdown, Trumpet Magic
4928 Aug 2015Sara Pascoe, Josh Widdicombe / Alex BrookerPedro Background music, Brown-Eyed Girl, Ska Countdown, Children's Instrument Countdown, Zumba
555 Feb 2016Isy Suttie, Richard OsmanRegular membersScotland advert, Film Themes Countdown, Mexican Countdown, Lovely Day, Bottles Countdown, Seasons
6915 Oct 2016Victoria Coren Mitchell, Lee Mack / Bob MortimerPedro I've Got Something to Tell You, Sexy Countdown, Tense Jenga music, Caveat Clauses, Chris Hoy Loves a Saveloy
9122 Sep 2017Jason Manford / Joe Wilkinson, Lee Mack / Fay RipleyRegular membersWannabe, Five Quiz Countdown, French Countdown, Fly Me To The Moon, Medieval Countdown, YMCA
10217 Aug 2018Richard Ayoade, Jessica KnappettPedro Imagine All the Extra Notes, Future Countdown, Money's Too Tight to Mention
1209 Jan 2020Harry Hill, Rose MatafeoRegular membersAbbreviated Songs, Gong Jazz Countdown, You Can Leave Your Hat On, The Coot or the Moorhen, I Scratched My Arse

''The Horne Section Television Programme'' (2018)

The Horne Section Television Programme was a two-hour special show recorded for UKTV in front of a live audience at the London Palladium in April 2018. The show was subsequently broadcast in September 2018 on the Dave channel. The show featured a number of guests performing with the band including Sara Pascoe, drag singer Le Gateau Chocolat, Nadine Coyle, Joe Wilkinson and Sue Perkins. The programme interspersed the live performance with supposed studio rehearsal footage in which Horne berates the band for their ability and refuses to allow certain songs to be part of the show.
Songs featured
Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Hiya, Is It The Police?, Sara Pascoe: The Musical, Caveat/Mistake Music, Macarena, All By Myself/Nessun Dorma, The Promise, Henry Hoover, Chinese Five Spice, Seasons, Acronym Song, This Is What It's All Been For,You Can Leave Your Hat On, The Day I Forgot My Underpants, Less Is More

''The Last Leg: Locked Down Under'' (2020)

The band appeared in a regular guest slot to close each show of this special series of The Last Leg, originally shown on Fridays at 10pm on Channel 4 during May-June 2020. Though the show was broadcast live from the homes of the hosts in Britain and Australia and via livestream with the individual guests, each member of the band pre-recorded their musical and visual contributions which were combined into a music video. The songs chosen were variously new podcast material, parody, and reworked previous podcast material.
First broadcastSong featured
18 May 2020Blessings
215 May 20207 Days
322 May 2020Time Wasting
429 May 2020I Miss People
55 June 2020Summer Banger

''Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' (2020)

The eight-part BBC series was planned during the time of Coronavirus isolation to "bring the biggest names from the worlds of sport, comedy and music back into our lives" for summer 2020. It features Peter Crouch, Maya Jama, and Alex Horne and The Horne Section, with a range of sporting and entertainment guests,, and was aired on BBC1 on Saturday evenings during June-July 2020. The Horne Section contributed various programme jingles and parody songs, including a closing song of appreciation for some of the "unsung heroes" of the lockdown period.

''The Horne Section Podcast''

The Horne Section Podcast is a regular musical comedy show featuring The Horne Section and hosted by Alex Horne. Each show features a 'one-person guest audience' at the recording, typically someone from the world of stand-up comedy, music or television. Episodes feature comic songs from Horne and the band, including some about the guest themselves, as well as music-themed games and comedy. The British graphic designer Haiminh Le created the podcast art, plus various other graphics for the band.
The first series of eight weekly episodes was broadcast in early 2018 and produced in association with the web-based streaming service Deezer. The podcast was listed in the top 10 most streamed podcasts from the Deezer platform in 2018 and named in The Week’s best new podcasts of 2018 list.
The podcast returned for a second season in October 2018, running on a fortnightly basis until June 2019. No longer with Deezer, the show was funded by listener donations through Patreon, often in exchange for a specially-written 'dingle' about the contributor or shorter 'holler' in a regular song. Along with regular guest episodes, a number of Christmas 'bonus' episodes were released during December 2018. During that month, the podcast was also named in The Guardian’s Top 15 Podcasts of 2018.
Series 3 returned in September 2019 and reverted to eight weekly episodes. The episodes were preceded by a series 3 trailer featuring the song Summer Banger. In January 2020, the podcast was named Best Music Podcast in the inaugural Podbible Awards, which described the show as: "an absolute joy...manages to blend music with comedy amazingly".
The fourth series, another eight-episode weekly series, ran from Wednesday 29 January until 18 March 2020. Following the necessary postponement of dates in the early part of the 2020 live tour, the fourth series was extended by five weekly 'Isolation Specials', with the individual band members recorded in their own homes and connected by an internet link.

Series 1 (2018)

Note: Additional series 1 content, which was available for Deezer subscribers, has not been listed.

Series 2 (2018–19)

Note: Bonus content at the end of episodes in series 2 has been included.

Series 3 (2019)

The third series was announced on 21 August 2019 as an eight-episode weekly series, and ran from 11 Sep until 30 October 2019.
Guest / ShowFirst releasedSongs featured
0Series 3 trailer21 Aug 2019Summer Banger
1Greg Davies11 Sep 2019Learn a Language 1 - Parrot, Feast, Learn a Language 2 - Monk, Nans, The Horse Song 4, Hey Jude, Wind the Bobbin Up, Learn a Language 3 - Cauliflower, Summer Banger
2Katherine Ryan18 Sep 2019Dream Man, Brainy Quotes, Ob-La-Di-Hell, Abbreviated Songs, Saab Slogans, Henry Hoover Theme, The Coot or the Moorhen, The Song that Everyone Should Pick When They Are on Desert Island Discs Because it will Actually Help You Survive, Those were the Classified Scores
3Ben Shephard25 Sep 2019Dr Elmo , Ben Shephard - hard but not herd, Extinction , The Dinner Time Song, Service Stations Rap
4Angellica Bell2 Oct 2019Everybody, The One Show theme, The A-Team, Never Gonna Believe This But All These People Were Born in the Same Month, Altogether Now, This IS the way to Amarillo, Party Time
5Nick Helm9 Oct 2019You Must Remember This, Simply Nick Helm, Nothing Something then a Thing, Memories, Tequila Mockingbird, Mark's Musical
6Scroobius Pip16 Oct 2019It Takes Six, The Scroobius Pip, Little Pig 1, Some People Play, Little Pig 2, Chinese Five Spice, All the James Bond Theme Tunes in 80 seconds, Little Pig 3, Just the Six of Us
7Angela Scanlon23 Oct 2019Waterloo Women, Los Angelas, Loft Interview music, Top Trumps, The One Show theme, Flexitarian, Dream Man, The Knock-On Effect, Let's Hear It!
8Al Murray30 Oct 2019Caveat Music 3, Don't Worry/Al Murray, Corridor Thank You Song, The Coot or the Moorhen, Grandaddy, That Figures

Series 4 (2020)

Another eight-episode weekly series was announced in a short trailer released on 22 January 2020. Series 4 began in full on Wednesday 29 January and ran until 18 March 2020.


Guest / ShowFirst releasedSongs featured
0Series 4 trailer22 Jan 2020Tudors vs Vikings
1Ed Gamble29 Jan 2020Deep Down in your Soul, Veal for Every Meal, Heavy Metal Nursery Rhyme 1 - Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea, Ed's New Ringtone, Heavy Metal Nursery Rhyme 2 - There Was a Lady All Skin and Bone, Heavy Metal Nursery Rhyme 3 - I Married my Wife on Sunday
2Katy Wix5 Feb 2020Friends on the Water, Weetabix/Katy Wix, Flush the Bog, Anteeksi - the Finnish Song, Yoko Oh No, Excuse me - the Finnish Song
3Pat Cahill12 Feb 2020The Brown Train, Announcement arpeggios, Patman, Two Puppies, I've Got a Pen, A Canoe is Just a Canoe, Infinite Antiques Roadshow, Jorge and Jesus, Otamatone Final Countdown, Coconuts, Forgetful Granny, Flies Undone
4Lauren Pattison19 Feb 2020Russian march introduction, The ballad of the girl who was banned from Byron's, When You Wish Upon a Star, Decisions, Phil songs, Sad preview music / Party of one, Thank-you music, Come Dance With Me
5Dan Jones26 Feb 2020Dan Jones's Career So Far, Dan Jones vs Dow Jones, Mid-period Kate Bush music, Hocus Pocus by Focus, As Long as You Love Me, Football Music, Richard III, Tudors vs Vikings / Greensleeves
6Spencer Jones4 Mar 2020Mr Jones, Trying to Leave Loop, A Spaceman Came Travelling / Monkey Music, This New Job of Mine, Do You Remember My Mum, Jorge and Jesus, Monkey Music reprise, Where Have All the Good Men Gone
7Rob Auton11 Mar 2020Rob Rob Rob Auton, Good Boy, Dog or Duck or Dock, The Aeroplane Safety Announcement Song, One Creature Zoo, Captain Big-Bum's Empty Slipper, We Have All the Time, Rubbery Water, Alex's Composition
8Sara Pascoe18 Mar 2020Carefulonia, House Music, Sara Pascoe Has Been on TV, Your Song, Chillout Music, I Saw the King, I Don’t Care, I Have Nothing, Wear a Mac, Haddock and Chips, Sing a Snooker Table, Brass Monkey Music

The 'Isolation Specials' were announced as a response to the Coronavirus concerns growing in the UK, and the consequent necessary postponement of the early dates in the Horne Section's planned 2020 tour. The first episode appeared only a week after the last of the eight scheduled episodes of series 4. They are recorded with each individual band member performing in his own home and connected by video link, interspersed with clips from a prior telephone call to the guest.
Guest / ShowFirst releasedSongs featured
IS1Tim Key25 Mar 2020Hear the Word, Negative Music, Joan Armatrading, Savvy, Pam Ayres Eats Pom Bears, I Smell a Rat, I Smell a Rat
IS2Tim Key9 Apr 2020Peppa Pig, Manifesto, I Themed a Theme, The Man from the North, Boum, One Lump or Two, Hear the Word, Newton's Laws, Last of the TV Theme Tunes
IS3Max Rushden22 April 2020Road Safety, The Warm Up on Talksport with You, Rockingham Cindy, There Ain't No Binman, Three Hundred Thousand and Thirty Four Nine Hundred and Seventy-Four Thousand, What a Wonderful World, Ambient Music, In Your Back Garden, Hidden MPs, Shreds, Phobias, Puccini Music
IS4Robbie Williams6 May 2020Blessings, Yes Today, Lovely Piano Music, The Angry Chef Song, Thought of the Day, Hear the Word, Hat Mancock, Angels, Thought of the Day
IS5Rose Matafeo20 May 2020Rose's Taskmaster song, Jokes jingle, Crossed Wires, If Drummers Were Musicians, Kids Say the Funniest Things, I Miss People, Hear the Word, Misty Spring Morning, Honk Oi Wah, Do Go Br My He, Thought of the Day, Oi Honk Squeak Honk