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 Thompson (Dexter Fletcher), is forced to work on the paper rather than being 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 season. In the final episode of the third season, "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.
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 season 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 season 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, 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 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 seasons 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 season 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 season three to be replaced by Julie (Lucy Benjamin), who was the head of the graphics team in season one.
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