[pressgang] Series 1: Episode 3: ONE EASY LESSON

[Vince Deehan]

PRESS GANG

Series 1

Episode 3 - One Easy Lesson

Watched Sunday 30/01/2022

This morning I watched the third episode of the first series, ONE EASY
LESSON. This is the first one directed by Bob Spiers, who directed 23
episodes of PG ( I just looked this up!)

It’s mostly based at the school and features a guest appearance by UK
comedy legend,

Adrian Edmondson, playing a very timid teacher. I did wonder while watching
it today, how many of the young actors playing the schoolchildren were
aware that he was the same actor who plays the iconic character of Vyvyan
(had to look up the spelling) in THE YOUNG ONES. As it says on imdb.com,
Adrian Edmondson “Often plays violent, anarchic characters.

Often plays characters with a squawky, shouty voice.”

The character he plays here, Mr Knowles the English teacher,  is a million
miles away from the crazy Vyvyan. It’s a good showcase for his acting
ability. I also suspect this character is a lot closer to his true
personality.



I loved the scenes between Lynda and Mr Sullivan. Nick Stringer who plays
Mr Sullivan has a wonderful way of speaking his lines. Very warm and witty
and playful. He seems to be enjoying himself and this translates to the
audience and makes him very engaging to watch.

Steven Moffat was a teacher before he took up writing full time. I wonder
if the Mr Knowles character is based on his own problems with controlling
rowdy kids in class.

Great first appearance of Tiddler, played by Joanna Dukes. She is an
amazing young actor and gives Lynda and Frazz a lot of attitude and huge
confidence, which they both have trouble dealing with. It’s a masterclass
on how to create a character in one short scene, thanks to great writing
from Steven Moffat and great acting from Joanna. Just looked her up on
imdb.com and it seems she had an acting career before Press Gang, but not
after. I wonder what happened there. Did she lose interest in acting and
give up and maybe go to University and then another career?

The montage scene where Frazz and Spike are strongly encouraging the class
to behave themselves for when the headmaster comes to observe the timid
teacher, is very funny and really well done.

I also like Mr Sullivan’s use of Colin’s half ping pong balls to store his
butter for his lunch!

There was also a very nice use of the camera, when Lynda and Mr Sullivan
are walking away from us down a school corridor. The camera is placed low
on the floor and it gives it a great looking shot. You can see it here from
the 2:06 point. https://youtu.be/1GdSRUalPT8

I really enjoyed this episode and look forward to seeing episode 4 next
week.

Thank you for reading.

Vince
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.yoyo.org/pipermail/pressgang/attachments/20220130/152e1769/attachment.htm>