Press WHO?

Last month in my entry about British TV Steven Moffat taking over the reins at Doctor Who, I mentioned that the writer's credits included Coupling, Jekyll and Press Gang. Since then it's been brought to my attention that not everyone in the US knows Press Gang, which is a very good point, and a very sad state of affairs. (Although it aired on the US cable station Nickelodeon at some point, it has yet to receive a North American VHS or DVD release. Get yourself a region free DVD player and treat yourself to the UK boxed set available on Amazon's UK site.)

Where to begin? Technically Press Gang was a children's television show that ran on ITV in the UK between 1989 and 1993. I say "technically" because, though it was aimed at a young audience and starred young people, it remains in many ways one of the most grown up shows ever made.

Now we're not in the Beverly Hills 90210 land of "grown up" television here, where "grown up" is shorthand for heavy-handed "very special" episodes about drinking, drugs and pregnancy that have plagued television in one form or another since the '50s. While Press Gang hit upon drug abuse and gun control in some of its episodes, the series as a whole concerned itself more with what it's like to be a teenager during those moments when the curtain slips and you catch a glimpse of the darker, more complex workings of the world around you.

The teens in this case work for the Junior Gazette, a newspaper affiliated with the town's major daily that concentrates on news relevant to young people. Nearly all of the writers, editors and other personnel have been forced (or "press ganged," if you will) to work on the paper by their school as a disciplinary measure, in many cases the last stop before out and out expulsion.

The Junior Gazette is run by control freak editor Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha, better known Stateside as daughter Saffy on Absolutely Fabulous) who rules her newsroom with an iron fist, very much a junior exaggeration of Margaret Thatcher. Her constant foil/sometimes love interest Spike (Dexter Fletcher, an English actor), a smart-ass American newly transplanted to the UK, brings her out of herself even as he infuriates her. Other characters include shy overachiever Sarah (Kelda Holmes), Lynda's loyal assistant editor Kenny (Lee Ross), and money-obsessed ad salesman (salesboy?) Colin (Paul Reynolds).

While it's hard to believe Spike's one-liners were ever very funny, there is a great deal of genuinely effective humor in Press Gang. Like most of Moffat's programs, the funny moments in this one are almost always derived from what the audience knows about the characters before they open their mouths. (Check out the clip above for a beautiful example of this.)

But be warned, this is not a comedy, but a drama that often has light moments. People die in Press Gang, and their deaths have consequences. And in one of the best pieces of dialog from the entire series, Lynda Day tells us a thing or two about consequences:

Look, I'm sorry you died, OK? 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? Pardon my saying, but it takes a lot to convince you there's a health risk.

I mean have you had a look at the world lately? Just how dumb do you think it's safe to be around here? 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.

You're dead and I do care. But you were weak and stupid and you made a bad choice. And actually that isn't a crime. It just happens to have the death penalty. You had a warning, you had a choice. You got it wrong. Sorry. That's life for you.