Press Gang is a British children’s television comedy-drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. The programme was based on the activities of a children’s newspaper, the Junior Gazette, produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school. Written by ex-teacher Steven Moffat, more than half the episodes were directed by Bob Spiers.
About Press Gang in brief
Press Gang is a British children’s television comedy-drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. The programme was based on the activities of a children’s newspaper, the Junior Gazette, produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school. Written by ex-teacher Steven Moffat, more than half the episodes were directed by Bob Spiers, a noted British comedy director who had previously worked on classics such as Fawlty Towers. The show interspersed comedic elements with the dramatic. As well as addressing interpersonal relationships, the show tackled issues such as solvent abuse, child abuse and firearms control. 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. 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. In one episode Lynda says she’s going to ‘butter’ Colin, and, if he was staying at the hotel, Colin replies: ‘I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t think up only the first time’ The series was filmed cinematically, with flashbacks, flashbacks and fantasies, on one occasion, a parody of the film Moonlighting. It’s a Wonderful Life’s final episode played by actress David Crocodiles – while the same actress played a number of Junior Gazette characters in the final episode of the final series.
The series has attracted a cult following with a wide age range. 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. In later series it was depicted as a commercial venture, and the show had a strong strong awareness of awareness of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. 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 finalepisode approaches drug abuse in series four’s \”SomethingTerrible’ The show had strong on-screen chemistry between the two leads, reflected off-screen as they became an item for several years. The writer recalls a long running argument with Geoff Hogg 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. Jeff Evans, writing in the Guinness Television Encyclopedia, writes that the series adopts a ‘far more adult approach’ than A Bunch of Fives.
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This page is based on the article Press Gang published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
