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

[Dipskit Comedy]

Hi Vince

Great review! I think it’s a pity Joanna Dukes quit acting after PG. There’s nothing easily findable online about her. Her Wikipedia entry looks a bit dodgy if you read the last bit!

I met Ade Edmondson once. He was nice and fairly quiet. A couple of weeks later I met Jennifer Saunders and she made fun of him. 😆

I’m sure the cast knew who Ade was. They were mostly the right age (some in their 20s in series 1 remember) to have watched the Young Ones and they were really popular.

Cheers

Claire

> On 31 Jan 2022, at 05:52, Vince Deehan <vince.deehan at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 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
> 
> 
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