Press Gang

Ah yes - Lynda's classic comeback: the only bad thing she could say about Spike *sigh* And who doesn't remember that eventual declaration: "I vole you."

Oh dear, I'm gushing like everyone else! This, as far as I'm concerned, wasn't a show for "young adults". It could be watched by "young adults", for sure, but the wildly comic and consistently excellent script and acting made it a delight for anyone. I guess I was around 20 when I first caught sight of it. My boyfriend at the time was 32 and he loved it too.

So many of the actors who started off in this, eg Julia, Dexter Fletcher (ok, he was in the Elephant Man as a kiddie, but surely this was his first romantic (!) adult role?), Gabrielle Anwar, Paul Reynolds (I) have gone on to... I can't say greater things necessarily, but many other excellent things at least.

I'm just desperately sad that my videos of PG, incomplete to begin with, have self-destructed over the years. I wish the ABC (Australia) would repeat the whole dang lot of it but knowing them it's gone for good.

To say Press Gang was unique in style and acting and writing was an understatment. This was a constantly enjoyable smart funny drama. In america it would have had a Prime time slot like Buffy Dawsons or 90210. But as itv saw it as Childrens tv it was left at 4.40pm though it won bafta awards for best childrens tv.

It pushed boundries with its subject matters, dealing child abuse (the award winning first season), drug abuse, bullying, and suicide and this was in the even from the very first few episodes and its humour was very adult for the time of day but the children watching would not have realised many of the more subtle oneliners.

Set in the news office of a local teen newspaper its follows the lives and loves of its reporters and editor Linda Day (Julia Sawalha) and her star reporter Spike Thompson. This setting allowed for some very funny comedy and top quality acting. Colin and the rabbit suit or the bird infestations or the ping pong balls.

like its audience it grew up very quickly but from the first episode was unmissable and like grange hill it spawned top actors who crop up every where. I was sad when it finished good thing i taped em really!

"Press Gang" is probably the best TV series I have seen. It has all the elements of good entertainment. This includes brilliant acting and realistic plots. This series is set at the office of the Junior Gazette, a newspaper run entirely by teenagers. The paper is funded by the Gazette with two purposes: a) to encourage people to read the Gazette and b) to keep some trouble makers off the street. The series runs through stories about what happens to the newspaper team while trying to put the Junior Gazette out for the week. I loved this series and found it very addictive. By using young actors it relates to teenagers better than most TV series. I hope that everyone gets a chance to see this series soon.

Oh, God, why did I write that. No-one will read any further; people make similar claims so freely about any old rubbish. -But in this case it's TRUE, dammit.

Hilariously funny in every episode, seriously emotional in some, tautly dramatic in most, with great performances from a very young cast (Julia Sawalha is more famous for other shows, but she has never had a better role)... look, trust me, everyone who has watched this show loves it. It represents the triumph of the script by an individual (Steven Moffat) over the script by committee.

I am watching 'The Last Word' episode of PG as I write this. My sister has quite a lot of PG's on video, and The Last Word is my fave.

Press Gang has got to be the best young adult TV series that was ever made. The drama is fantastic, and the comic moments are side splitting (Colin is the funniest character!) I wish they'd make them like this now, but lets face it, this kind of excellence only comes once every so often.......