[pressgang] Episode 11: Monday, Tuesday

[Claire Douglas]

Hi Vince!

I really enjoyed reading that. Trivia about me: I address all work 
emails (to more than one person) with 'Dear all', which I copied from 
Lynda's farewell letter.

Teen shows these days are much more graphic. Drugs, sex, suicide, sexual 
assault, etc. are all shown onscreen. 13 Reasons Why, for example.

Cheers

Claire

On 10/04/2022 10:12 pm, Vince Deehan wrote:
>
> PRESS GANG
>
> Series 1
>
> Episode 11 - Monday, Tuesday
>
> Watched Friday 8/4/22
>
>
> On Friday morning, I watched the penultimate episode of series 1. 
> MONDAY, TUESDAY.
>
>
> It’s one of the best episodes of the first series and stands out as 
> one of the best from the whole five series.
>
>
> The story concerns a boy called David Jefford who wants to be a writer 
> with the Junior Gazette. He is currently in the graphics team, but he 
> is not happy there. He basically goes on to blackmail Lynda into 
> giving him a job on the writing team by writing a letter to the adult 
> paper that Matt Kerr runs, listing all the slightly dodgy homework 
> copying and truanting that is going on in the Junior Gazette.
>
>
> The actor who plays David, has a most peculiar hairstyle which seems 
> at least 10 years out of date. He looks like he's from the 1970s, 
> though this was filmed in 1988. I strongly suspect the actor playing 
> David, called Alexander Crockatt, was a private school boy in real 
> life. One thing I have noticed in the past, is that private school 
> boys can sometimes have bizarrely old fashioned hairstyles that are 
> wildly out of date from the haircuts you’d see on state educated boys. 
> I used to go to school in Harrow in London at a state school, but we 
> were not that far from a very famous private boys school called Harrow 
> School. There was a second hand record shop in Harrow town centre that 
> the private school boys would visit, and I’d heard that many of them 
> would be hunting down copies of old 1970s rock bands like Genesis 
> etc..Which just added to my impression that the private school boys 
> were oddly out of step with modern times.
>
>
> One thing that struck me about the actor playing David, is he is 
> extremely wooden and seems to have the same scowly impression on his 
> face for most of his scenes. His acting skills seem vastly inferior to 
> the highly talented actors in the main cast. I notice on IMDB that he 
> had a handful of credits before Press Gang, but none after and none at 
> all between his appearance
>
> in this episode and his quite startling return in the final episode. I 
> reckon he must have totally lost interest in acting between this 
> episode and series 5, and was probably not a working actor at all when 
> he was called up out of the blue for the final episode. My guess he 
> was at University
>
> when he was called up for the series 5 finale. He probably thought 
> he’d never act again, but this was one offer that would be crazy to 
> refuse. He still has the same odd hair in 1993, which was handy for 
> continuity!
>
>
> He certainly looks the part of a rich kid and he is certainly very 
> moody and sullen, so in that sense, he actually does quite a good job 
> playing the character of David.
>
>
>
> I enjoyed the storyline where Colin enlists Spike to ask out his 
> potential new girlfriend, Ethel Stuttgart. Wonderful name! The actress 
> who plays her is called Susie Lee Hayward. She gives a very lively and 
> fun performance. She makes a big impression with just a few lines and 
> some really great expressions on her face. A very talented actor, 
> although her
>
> IMDB credits only list three more roles after Press Gang.
>
>
> Nice scene with Mr Sullivan. Nick Stringer, who plays him, has a 
> wonderful way of speaking and acting. Very playful, warm and witty. He 
> gives Lynda some very good advice when he says to her, “Don’t 
> categorise people.”
>
>
> Just been rewatching the scene between David and Lynda in the school 
> playground. David thinks he now has a real chance of joining the 
> writing team and becomes very animated. Perhaps I was too harsh 
> earlier about what seemed like wooden acting. His character, as we are 
> starting to learn, is deeply troubled and unhappy.
>
>
> The topic of suicide is very heavy stuff and not what you would expect 
> in a drama aimed at children. I can’t imagine they would do that now, 
> with a show aimed at school children.
>
>
> It’s totally understandable that Lynda feels partly responsible as you 
> could easily argue that her comments to David in their final 
> encounter, probably did tip him over the edge.
>
>
> I do like the scene with Matt Kerr who delivers some hard truths while 
> at the same time trying to absolve Lynda of feeling it was her fault. 
> His advice to Lynda is very good, “Be careful what you say to people. 
> It may be the last thing they hear.”
>
>
> I’d forgotten that Lynda resigns at the end of the episode. I can’t 
> recall what happens in the next episode, but I wonder if this was 
> Steven Moffat writing an ending that might wrap the show up in case it 
> got cancelled before a series 2 was made?
>
>
> It’s a classic episode in my opinion, though not one I watched a lot 
> as it is rather depressing.
>
>
> Thanks for reading. Only one more episode of series 1 to go.
>
>
> Vince
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU_uRBl5gLE&t=1112s 
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU_uRBl5gLE&t=1112s>
>
>
>
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