Press Gang

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This article is about the British television series Press Gang. For the old military practice of 'pressing' men into service, see Impressment.

Press Gang
Opening titles
Format	Drama
Run time	25mins
Creator(s)	Bill Moffat Steven Moffat
Starring	Julia Sawalha Dexter Fletcher Lee Ross Kelda Holmes Paul Reynolds Lucy Benjamin Gabrielle Anwar Mmoloki Chrystie Joanna Dukes Charlie Creed-Miles
Channel	ITV
Production company	Richmond Film & Television
Air dates	16 January 1989 – 21 May 1993
No. of episodes	43

Press Gang was a British children's television comedy-drama, which ran for forty-three episodes in five series 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. Unusually for a children's series, it was shot on film rather than video, contributing to high production costs.

Aimed at older children and teenagers, the programme was based around the activities of a "children's newspaper" initially begun as a school project but in later series depicted as a commercial venture. The show was devised by ex-teacher Steven Moffat on the suggestion of his father Bill, a school headmaster. Moffat also penned all forty-three episodes, and the majority of episodes were directed by Bob Spiers, a noted British comedy director who had previously worked on Fawlty Towers amongst many other programmes, and would later direct Absolutely Fabulous and the Spice Girls movie.

The show was notable for the high quality and sophistication of the writing, as well as the chemistry between the two lead actors, Julia Sawalha who played the tough-as-nails editor Lynda Day, and Dexter Fletcher, playing wise-cracking American reporter Spike Thomson. Moffat tackled issues such as child sexual abuse, firearms and death, as well as the more mundane fare of interpersonal relationships, and drew out multi-faceted characters, to the point where ITV became concerned that the series was too sophisticated for its intended audience. The series received a BAFTA award in 1991 for "Best Children's Entertainment/Drama".

Moffat has said in interviews and on the commentary track of the DVD release that the character of Lynda Day was partly based on the television show's producer, American-born Sandra Hastie. Hastie was also responsible for making the character of Spike American (in the hope of an American sale of the series which never occurred, although episodes were aired in Canada on TVO), though this apparently happened after the casting of the English actor Fletcher. The on-screen chemistry between the two leads was reflected off-screen as they became an item for several years.

Whilst the show's geographic location, or the dates of events, were never specifically mentioned, shooting was mostly done in Uxbridge, a suburb of London. The first series was filmed entirely on location, but with 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 wasn't seen beyond that series. Subsequent series were filmed at Shepperton Studios (series three and four) and Twickenham Studios (series five).

1 The Junior Gazette team
2 DVD release
3 External links
- 3.1 Theme tune

[edit] The Junior Gazette team

Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha), editor of the Junior Gazette.
Spike Thomson (Dexter Fletcher), American reporter.
Kenny Phillips (Lee Ross), assistant editor of the Junior Gazette. Leaves at the end of season three to go to Australia.
Julie Craig (Lucy Benjamin), head of the graphics team in season one. Eventually returns in season four as assistant editor of the Junior Gazette to permanently replace Kenny.
Sarah Jackson (Kelda Holmes), The Junior Gazette's top writer.
Colin Mathews (Paul Reynolds), the financial brain behind the Junior Gazette.
Frazz Davis (Mmoloki Chrystie), horoscopes writer on the Junior Gazette.
Sam Black (Gabrielle Anwar), head of the graphics team, after Julie Craig left. Appears only in season two.
Tiddler (Joanna Dukes) - junior member of the team, responsibly for the children's stories.
Danny McColl (Charlie Creed-Miles) - photographer. Only appears in season one.

[edit] DVD release

The complete series of Press Gang is available on DVD (Region 2, UK) from Network. The series has also been released in Australia (Region 4). The second series DVD features commentary tracks by Julia Sawalha and Steven Moffat, amongst other extras, such as programme guides and scripts in PDF format.