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

[Vince Deehan]

Thanks Laura,

I enjoyed reading your comments.

I hadn't noticed that Lynda's A Level subjects are mentioned. She's doing
four!
In 1988 when I took mine, the usual number was three.

Vince

On Fri, Mar 18, 2022 at 5:26 PM Laura Nunn <laura.nunn at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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