[pressgang] How to Make a Killing and Both Sides of the Paper

[Laura Nunn]

We watched these a week apart over the last couple of weeks.

How to Make a Killing was never a favourite of mine as a teenager, but I
appreciated it more as an adult, I think. I remember it feeling "preachy"
at the time ("drugs are bad, kids") but actually, compared with children's
TV these days, it's not particularly sanctimonious, and I really like the
fact the focus is put on the people who shouldn't be selling the solvents
rather than those who are taking them. Eldest girl felt this episode
suffered from a lack of Colin, but she still liked it.

Both Sides of the Paper - this was a funny one for me. When I first watched
it, I was too young to have experienced the horror of public exams. As an
adult who still regularly has anxiety dreams about French Literature
A-level revision, Sarah's dream sequences seem all too real. The plot is a
bit odd - surely it's not the school children's job to plan ahead and shut
down during exam time - that should have been scoped out by the adults when
they set the JG up.

Also, Lynda is doing a really weird combination of A-levels (Maths,
Physics, History, English), but that's by the by. She doesn't strike me as
someone who'd be particularly good at science, given her later ineptitude
with a mobile phone.

Eldest girl really liked this episode - plenty of Colin to amuse her - she
loved that his exam kits kept getting more and more expensive.

I noticed that over the last few episodes, Spike and Lynda's relationship
is changing from Spike propositioning Lynda and being repeatedly rebuffed
(would be considered harassment these days!) to a more give-and-take
friendship. It's handled nicely.

Paul Reynolds continues to act everyone else off screen. I'm surprised he
never got a big break - there's star quality there beyond his years.
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