[pressgang] Episode 9- Both Sides of the Paper

[Vince Deehan]

PRESS GANG

Series 1

Episode 9 - Both Sides of the Paper

Watched 14/03/22

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, as this episode began I was
struck again by how unfamiliar it seemed to me. I have probably only ever
seen this episode 2 or 3 times and certainly not for well over 20 years.
The opening scene is filmed with what appears to be a fisheye lens, which
distorts the image around the edges. It puts the viewer off balance quite
effectively. I love the line from the teacher who says that pupils are
always asking how much time they should spend studying. His answer is both
hilarious and chilling.

I took school exams extremely seriously. I was definitely a swot and would
often come near the top and sometimes even at the top of exams. Up until I
started my A Levels at age 16, when my academic career took a mighty plunge
due to overwhelming social anxiety and a catastrophic drop in self
confidence. Subjects such as Maths, which had seemed almost stupidly easy
till aged 16, suddenly got ridiculously hard and I just lost the will to
even try my best. But I digress.

I totally empathise with Sarah’s exam freak out. The sheer amount of
information we had to learn for each subject was insane and I can honestly
say, revising for school exams was highly stressful for me and seemed like
an impossible task that you could never fully prepare for.

Realising I was probably gay in my teens, shook me so badly off-centre that
I never was able to maintain my excellent academic results after my O
Levels at aged 16. I hope that isn’t a fate that befalls queer teens in
2022, though I strongly suspect it does for some.

The Phone Ranger character. Surely the most irritating character ever in
Press Gang. Almost painfully unfunny. What was Steven Moffat thinking? I
notice that in the credits the character is mistakenly called The Phone
Banger. The actor who plays him, Patrick Barlow, used to be in a comedy
double act with the actor Jim Broadbent, called The National Theatre of
Brent. Bit of trivia for you there.


Jim Broadbent went on to become a highly successful film actor. Patrick
Barlow went on to have enormous success with his play adaptation of the
novel THE 39 STEPS. I saw this play twice, once in London and once in
Boston. It was absolutely hilarious and tremendous fun - the exact opposite
of The Phone Ranger!

I love the scene where Colin tries to sell Sarah his Exam Kit, but doesn’t
want to embarrass her by trying to sell it to her for anything less than
the regular price. Made me laugh out loud. A running gag from this point
on, is that Colin is constantly upping the price whilst maintaining that he
is offering it at a bargain price. Paul Reynolds really is a gem of an
actor.

The job offer that The Phone Ranger offers to Lynda really doesn’t sound
like it’s worth ditching school for. He does seem to be suggesting she
leave before taking her exams, if I understood correctly. She seems
initially quite keen, though by the episode's end she has changed her mind
- quite wisely.

This makes me wonder how old Lynda and the gang are. Judging by the fact
the rest of the school wears a school uniform, I assume that Lynda and co
are in the final year of the Sixth Form. This is the year we take our final
school exams in the U.K, the A Levels. So this suggests Lynda is 17/18
years old. Depending on what month you were born in, some pupils taking
their A Levels could have turned 18 years old the previous September or
some could be like me and turned 18 much later in the year all the way to
the following August. I turned 18 right at the time I was taking my A
Levels, or perhaps just a week two after.

Nice appearance by the minor character Kate, in the school corridor, where
Lynda ignores her. She appears again shortly after in a scene where Kenny
and a gang of Gazette staff are discussing possible exam topics. Kate says,
“The Chartists. They always come up.”

I can’t imagine many other children’s drama would have mentioned something
so highbrow.

I just had to look up the Chartists, as although the name rang a bell, I
had no idea who or what they were. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism

All in all, it’s an okay episode. Good but not a great one, for me anyway.

Thanks for reading!

Vince


https://youtu.be/W7pm-Ontxcc
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