Press Gang

''Press Gang'' is a British children's television comedy drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, and screened on the ITV network in its regular weekday afternoon children's strand, Children's ITV, typically in a 4:45 pm slot (days varied over the course of the run).

Aimed at older children and teenagers, the programme was based on the activities of a children's newspaper, the ''Junior Gazette'', produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school. In later series it was depicted as a commercial venture. The show interspersed comedic elements with the dramatic. As well as addressing interpersonal relationships (particularly in the Lynda-Spike story arc), the show tackled issues such as solvent abuse, child abuse and firearms control.

Written by ex-teacher Steven Moffat, more than half the episodes were directed by Bob Spiers, a British comedy director who had previously worked on programmes such as ''Fawlty Towers''. Critical reception was very positive, particularly for the quality of the writing, and the series has attracted a cult following with a wide age range.

Storyline

Famous journalist Matt Kerr (Clive Wood) arrives from Fleet Street to edit the local newspaper. He sets up a junior version of the paper, ''The Junior Gazette'', to be produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school before and after school hours.

Some of the team are "star pupils", but others have reputations for delinquency. One such pupil, Spike Thomson (Dexter Fletcher), is forced to work on the paper rather than be expelled from school. He is immediately attracted to editor Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha), but they bicker, throwing one-liners at each other. Their relationship develops and they have an on-off relationship. They regularly discuss their feelings, especially in the concluding episodes of each series. In the final episode of the third series, "Holding On", Spike unwittingly expresses his strong feelings to Lynda while being taped. Jealous of his American girlfriend, Zoe, Lynda puts the cassette on Zoe's personal stereo, ruining their relationship. The on-screen chemistry between the two leads was reflected off-screen as they became an item for several years.Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, ''Press Gang: Series 2'' DVD audio commentary

Although the Lynda and Spike story arc runs throughout the series, most episodes feature self-contained stories and sub-plots. Amongst lighter stories, such as one about Colin accidentally attending a funeral dressed as a pink rabbit, the show tackled many serious issues. Jeff Evans, writing in the ''Guinness Television Encyclopedia'', writes that the series adopts a "far more adult approach" than "previous efforts in the same vein" such as ''A Bunch of Fives.'' Some critics also compared it with ''Hill Street Blues'', ''Lou Grant'' "and other thoughtful US dramas, thanks to its realism and its level-headed treatment of touchy subjects."

The first series approached solvent abuse in "How To Make A Killing", and the NSPCC assisted in the production of the " Something Terrible" episodes about child abuse. The team were held hostage by a gun enthusiast in series three's "The Last Word", while the final episode approaches drug abuse. The issue-led episodes served to develop the main characters, so that "Something Terrible" is more "about Colin's redemption rom selfish capitalist rather than Cindy's abuse."

According to the British Film Institute, "''Press Gang'' managed to be perhaps the funniest children's series ever made and at the same time the most painfully raw and emotionally honest. The tone could change effortlessly and sensitively from farce to tragedy in the space of an episode." Although the series is sometimes referred to as a comedy, Moffat insists that it is a drama with jokes in it. The writer recalls "a long running argument with Geoff Hogg (film editor on ''Press Gang'') about whether ''Press Gang'' was comedy. He insisted that it was and I said it wasn't – it was just funny." Some innuendo leads Moffat to claim that it "had the dirtiest jokes in history; we got away with tons of stuff ... We nearly got away with a joke about anal sex, but they spotted it at the last minute." In one episode Lynda says she's going to "butter him up", and, when asked (while on a date in a hotel's restaurant) if he was staying at the hotel, Colin replies "I shouldn't think so: it's only the first date."

Jeff Evans also comments that the series was filmed cinematically, dabbling in "dream sequences, flashbacks, fantasies and, on one occasion, a ''Moonlighting''-esque parody of the film ''It's a Wonderful Life''." The show had a strong awareness of continuity, with some stories, incidents and minor characters referred to throughout the series. Actors who played short-term characters in the first two series were invited back to reprise their roles in future episodes. David Jefford (Alex Crockett) was resurrected from 1989's "Monday – Tuesday" to appear in the final episode "There Are Crocodiles", while the same actress (Aisling Flitton) who played a wrong number in "Love and the Junior Gazette" was invited to reprise her character for the third series episode "Chance is a Fine Thing." "Attention to detail" such as this is, according to Paul Cornell, "one of the numerous ways that the series respects the intelligence of its viewers."

After the team leaves school, the paper gains financial independence and runs commercially. Assistant editor Kenny (Lee Ross) leaves at the end of series three to be replaced by Julie (Lucy Benjamin), who was the head of the graphics team in series one.

Characters

Main

* Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha) is the editor of the ''Junior Gazette''. She is strong and opinionated, and is feared by many of her team. Moffat has said that the character was partly based on the show's "ball-breaking" producer, Sandra C. Hastie. Although she appears very tough, she occasionally exposes her feelings. She quits the paper at the end of "Monday-Tuesday", and in "Day Dreams" laments "Why do I get everything in my whole stupid life wrong?" Intimidated by socialising, she hiccups at the idea. She is so nervous at a cocktail party, in "At Last a Dragon", that she attempts to leave on several occasions. The mixture of Lynda's sensitive side and her self-sufficient attitude is illustrated in the series' final episode "There Are Crocodiles." Reprimanding the ghost of Gary (Mark Sayers), who died after taking a drug overdose, she says:

:

Look, I'm sorry you're dead, okay? I ''do'' care. But to be perfectly honest with you, I don't care a lot. You had a choice, you took the drugs, you died. Are you seriously claiming no one warned you it was dangerous? ... I mean, have you had a look at the world lately? ... There's plenty of stuff going on that kills you and you don't get warned at all. So sticking your head in a crocodile you were told about is not calculated to get my sympathy.

* James "Spike" Thomson (Dexter Fletcher) is an American delinquent, forced to work on the paper rather than being excluded from school. He is immediately attracted to Lynda, and he establishes himself as an important member of the reporting team having been responsible for getting their first lead story. He usually has a range of one-liners, though is often criticised, particularly by Lynda, for excessive joking. Spike often consciously uses humour to lighten the tone, such as in "Monday-Tuesday" when he tries to cheer up Lynda after she feels responsible for David's suicide.

: The character was originally written as English, until producer Hastie felt that an American character would enhance the chance of overseas sales. This meant that English-born Fletcher had to act in an American accent for all five years. Moffat says that he isn't "sure hatlumbering Dexter with that accent was a smart move." The American accent had some fans surprised to learn that Fletcher is actually English.

* Kenny Phillips (Lee Ross) is one of Lynda's (few) long-term friends and is her assistant editor in the first three series. Kenny is much calmer than Lynda, though is still dominated by her. Despite this, he is one of the few people able to stand up to Lynda, in his own quiet way. Although he identifies himself as "sweet", he is unlucky in love: Jenny (Sadie Frost), the girlfriend he meets in "How to Make a Killing", dumps him because he is too understanding. His secret passion for writing music is revealed at the end of series two, which was influenced by Ross' interests. Colin organizes and markets a concert for him, and the second series ends with Kenny performing "You Don't Feel For Me" (written by Ross himself). Lee Ross was only able to commit to the first six episodes of the 12-episode series three and four filming block because he was expecting a film role. Thus, by series four, Kenny has left for Australia.

* Colin Mathews ( Paul Reynolds) is the Thatcherite in charge of the paper's finances and advertising. He often wears loud shirts, and his various schemes have included marketing defective half-ping-pong balls (as 'pings'), exam revision kits and soda that leaves facial stains. Rosie Marcel and Claire Hearnden appear throughout the second series as Sophie and Laura, Colin's mischievous young helpers.

* Julie Craig (Lucy Benjamin) is the head of the graphics team in series one. Moffat was impressed with Benjamin's performance, and expanded her character for the second series. However she had committed herself to roles in the LWT sitcom '' Close to Home'' and ''Jupiter Moon'', so the character was replaced by Sam. The character returns in the opening episode of series four as researcher on the Saturday morning show ''Crazy Stuff''. She arranges for Lynda and Spike to be reunited on live television, but the subsequent complaints about the violence (face slapping) results in Julie's firing. After giving Lynda some home truths, Julie replaces Kenny as the assistant editor for the final two series. She is a flirt, and, according to Lynda, was the "official pin-up at the last prison riot."

* Sarah Jackson (Kelda Holmes) is the paper's lead writer. Although she is intelligent she gets stressed, such as during her interview for editorship of the ''Junior Gazette''. Her final episode, "Friendly Fire", shows the development of her friendship with Lynda, and how the latter saw her as a challenge when she first arrived to Norbridge High. Together they had established the underground school magazine: ''Damn Magazine''. Her first attempt to leave the newspaper to attend a writing course at the local college is thwarted by Lynda, but she eventually leaves in series five to attend university (mirroring the reason for Holmes' departure).

* Frazer "Frazz" Davis (Mmoloki Chrystie) is one of Spike's co-delinquents forced into working on the paper, his initial main task writing the horoscopes. Frazz is initially portrayed as "intellectually challenged", such as not understanding the synonymous relationship between "the astrology column" and the horoscopes. Later episodes, however, show him to be devious, such as in "The Last Word: Part 2" when he stuns the gunman using a large array of flashguns.

Recurring

* Sam Black (Gabrielle Anwar) replaced Julie as the head of the graphics team in the second series. Sam is very fashion conscious and a flirt, and is surprised when an actor rejects her advances in favour of Sarah. Anwar had auditioned for the role of Lynda. (Many actors who unsuccessfully auditioned for main characters were invited back later for guest roles.) Moffat had expanded the role of Julie after the first series, but Lucy Benjamin was unavailable for series two. Sam, therefore, was basically the character of Julie under a different name, especially in her earlier episodes.

* Danny McColl (Charlie Creed-Miles) the paper's photographer. Creed-Miles became disenchanted with his minor role and left after the second series.

* Toni "Tiddler" Tildesley (Joanna Dukes) is the junior member of the team, responsible for the junior section, ''Junior Junior Gazette''.

* Billy Homer (Andy Crowe) was also a recurring character. A tetraplegic, he is very competent with computer networks, sometimes hacking into the school's database. His storylines are some of the first representations of the Internet in British television. Moffat felt that he was unable to sustain the character, and he appears only sporadically after the first series.

The main adults are deputy headmaster Bill Sullivan (Nick Stringer), maverick editor Matt Kerr (Clive Wood) and experienced ''Gazette'' reporter Chrissie Stewart (Angela Bruce).

Production

Inception

Bill Moffat, a headmaster from Glasgow, had an idea for a children's television programme called ''The Norbridge Files''. He showed it to a producer who visited his school, Thorn Primary School in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, when it was used as the location for an episode of Harry Secombe's ''Highway''. Producer Sandra C. Hastie liked the idea and showed it to her future husband Bill Ward, co-owner of her company Richmond Films and Television. When she requested a script, Moffat suggested that his 25-year-old son Steven, an English teacher, should write it. Hastie said that it was "the best ever first script" that she had read.

All 43 episodes were written by Steven Moffat. During production of series two, he was having an unhappy personal life after the break-up of his first marriage. His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter dropped on his foot.Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, "The Big Finish?" ''Press Gang: Series 2'' DVD audio commentary This period in Moffat's life would also be reflected in his sitcom ''Joking Apart''.

Central Independent Television had confidence in the project, so rather than the show being shot at their studios in Nottingham as planned, they granted Richmond a £2 million budget. This enabled it to be shot on 16 mm film, rather than the regular, less expensive videotape, and on location, making it very expensive compared with most children's television.O'Brien, Stephen. "Picking up the Pieces" ''Breakfast at Czar's'' Issue 1. vailable as a PDF file on the ''Press Gang'' Series 2 DVD/ref> These high production costs almost led to its cancellation at the end of the second series, by which time Central executive Lewis Rudd was unable to commission programmes by himself.

Directors

More than half of the episodes were directed by Bob Spiers, a noted British comedy director who had previously worked on ''Fawlty Towers'' amongst many other programmes. He would work again with Moffat on his sitcom ''Joking Apart'' and ''Murder Most Horrid'', and with Sawalha on ''Absolutely Fabulous''. According to Moffat, Spiers was the "principal director" taking an interest in the other episodes and setting the visual style of the show. Spiers particularly used tracking shots, sometimes requiring more dialogue to be written to accommodate the length of the shot. The other directors would come in and "do a Spiers". All of the directors were encouraged to attend the others' shoots so that the visual style would be consistent."Interface: Sandra Hastie, part 2" ''Breakfast at Czar's'' Issue 2. vailable as a PDF file on the ''Press Gang'' Series 5 DVD/ref>

The first two episodes were directed by Colin Nutley. However, he was unhappy with the final edit and requested that his name be removed from the credits. Lorne Magory directed many episodes, notably the two-part stories "How To Make A Killing" and "The Last Word." One of the founders of Richmond Films and Television, Bill Ward, directed three episodes, and Bren Simson directed some of series two. The show's cinematographer James Devis took the directorial reins for "Windfall", the penultimate episode.

Location

Whilst the show was set in the fictional town of Norbridge, it was mostly filmed in Uxbridge, in the west of Greater London. Many of the scenes were shot at Haydon School in Pinner. The first series was filmed entirely on location, but after the demolition of the building used as the original newspaper office, interior shots were filmed in Pinewood Studios for the second series, and the exterior of the building was not seen beyond that series. Subsequent series were filmed at Lee International Studios at Shepperton (series three and four) and Twickenham Studios (series five).

Music and title sequences

The theme music was composed by Peter Davis (who after the second series composed the rest of the series alone as principal composer), John Mealing

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