But anyway,
Some TV shows are just that. Shows that go out on television, for example that show Michael Portillo did about trains which, despite having Portillo's nose in, was still just a show about trains and as such a bit rubbish however I did watch all 20 episodes, (there's also 25 more on the way). Every once in a while however, say for example January 16th 1989, a show comes along that is not just a light bit of schedule filler-fluff but something that is beautiful and transcendent, and makes you truly appreciate what it must have been like for those common people in the pits at the turn of the 17th century watching Shakespeare for the first time.
Press Gang is that show.
Ostensibly a show about teenagers (played largely by people in their mid-20s of course) running a newspaper, the real motor driving the whole thing is the on-off relationship between Spike and (the vaguely monstrous) Lynda, as tender and evocative a rendering of teen romance as you can possibly imagine, and one that, for a kids TV show, is at times surprisingly erotically charged, (the innuendo being quite notorious).
Being a Moffat piece, one of the most incontrovertible strengths of the show is its dialogue, not only in terms of volume (by which I mean there's a lot of it, not that it's loud- indeed, one of the things you notice when you watch Press Gang is how little dialogue most other shows have comparatively) and the fact that it's all quite brilliant. And sexy. Such as Colin's "Let me just give you a tip. Never try thumbing a lift dressed as a giant pink rabbit - I almost caused a major traffic disaster on the Sherrington road" which while not that sexy is still rather good. See also: Colin: "He put a loaded shotgun in his mouth! Was it loaded?" Lynda: "Not after he pulled the trigger." Colin: "He's dead?" Spike: "Well he sure didn't miss from that range." A quote that, not only being a memorable one, is from the quite brilliant episode wherein someone blows their brains out with a shotgun after Lynda tells him off a bit.
Also the last episode essentially consists of Lynda Day in hell refusing to repent for her various sins.
Let's have a poem, this one's called: 'Reasons to Love Press Gang in Haiku Form':
Moffat's dialogue
Colin, Spike and all the Gang
Julie Sawalha.
