Editing Press Gang (section)

==Reception==

===Critical reception===
Critical reaction was good, the show being particularly praised for the high quality and sophistication of the writing.<ref name="bbcreviews2"/><ref>{{cite web |title=The Junior Gazette's back for a 3rd series on DVD |work=cult.tv |url=http://www.cult.tv/index.php?cm_id=717&cm_type=article |access-date=21 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207010617/http://www.cult.tv/index.php?cm_id=717&cm_type=article |archive-date=7 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first episode was highly rated by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', ''[[The Guardian]]'' and the ''[[Times Educational Supplement]]''.<ref name="putp"/> In his emphatic review, Paul Cornell writes that:

<blockquote>''Press Gang'' has proved to be a series that can transport you back to how you felt as a teenager, sharper that the world but with as much angst as acute wit ... Never again can a show get away with talking down to children or writing sloppily for them. ''Press Gang'', possibly the best show in the world.<ref name="cornell218">{{harvnb|Cornell|1993|p=218}}</ref></blockquote>

''[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]]'' said that "this is quality entertainment: the kids are sharp, the scripts are clever and the jokes are good."<ref>{{cite web |title=Press Gang: 43xhalf hour|work=Press Gang [Unofficial fansite] |url=http://www.geocities.com/davinci5157/ |access-date=21 December 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061223085736/http://geocities.com/davinci5157/|archive-date=23 December 2006}}</ref> The BBC's William Gallagher called it "pretty flawless",<ref>{{cite news |first=William |last=Gallagher |title=The week's TV: Seen it all before? |date=30 August 2001 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1516439.stm |access-date=7 November 2007}}</ref> with ''The Guardian'' retrospectively commending the series.<ref>{{cite news |first=Julia |last=Raeside |work=The Guardian |date=7 July 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/jul/07/the-newsroom-press-gang |title=Can The Newsroom scoop Press Gang? |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> Others, such as Popmatters, have also commented upon how "the show is renowned ... for doing something kid television at the time didn't do (and, arguably, still doesn't): it refused to treat its audience like children."<ref>{{cite web |first=Nikki |last=Tranter |title=Press Gang: Series 1 |work=PopMatters|url=http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/p/press-gang-1.shtml |date=1 March 2004 |access-date=22 December 2006}}</ref> Comedian [[Richard Herring]] recalls watching the show as a recent graduate, commenting that it "was subtle, sophisticated and much too good for kids."<ref name="herring"/> According to Moffat, "''Press Gang'' had gone over very, very well in the industry and I was being touted and romanced all the time." ''Press Gang'''s complicated plots and structure would become a hallmark of Moffat's work, such as ''Joking Apart'' and ''[[Coupling (British TV series)|Coupling]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Graham |last=Kibble-White |title=Fool If You Think It's Over |work=Off the Telly |url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=332 |date=May 2006 |access-date=21 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703071926/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=332 |archive-date=3 July 2009 }}</ref>

The series received a [[Royal Television Society]] award and a [[BAFTA]] in 1991 for "Best Children's Programme (Entertainment/Drama)".<ref name="screenonline"/> It was also nominated for two [[Writers' Guild of Great Britain]] awards, one ''Prix Jeunesse''<ref>{{cite web|title=Biographies: Steven Moffat – Writer |work=[[Hartswood Films]] |url=http://www.hartswoodfilms.co.uk/programmes/steven.html |access-date=23 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928180139/http://www.hartswoodfilms.co.uk/programmes/steven.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref> and the 1992 BAFTA for "Best Children's Programme (Fiction)".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations/?year=1991 |title=Children's Nominations 1991 |work=BAFTA |access-date=16 November 2007}}</ref> Julia Sawalha won the Royal Television Society Television Award for "Best Actor – Female" in 1993.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096679/awards |title=Awards for "Press Gang" (1989) |work=IMDb |access-date=24 December 2006}}</ref>

===Repeat showings===
The show gained an even wider adult audience in an early evening slot when repeated on Sundays on [[Channel 4]] in 1991.<ref name="cornell218"/> This crossover is reflected in the BBC's review for one of the DVDs when they say that "''Press Gang'' is one of the best series ever made for kids. Or adults."<ref>{{cite web |title=Press Gang 4 DVD |work=BBC – Cult Television |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/06/04/19813.shtml |date=4 June 2005 |access-date=22 December 2006}}</ref>

[[Nickelodeon (British and Irish TV channel)|Nickelodeon]] showed nearly all of the episodes in a weekday slot in 1997. The final three episodes of the third series, however, were not repeated on the children's channel because of their content: "The Last Word" double episode with the gun siege, and "Holding On" with the repetition of the phrase "divorce the bitch".<ref name="holdingon"/> On the first transmission of the latter on 11 June 1991, [[continuity announcer]] [[Tommy Boyd]] warned viewers that it contained stronger than usual language. In 2007, [[itv.com]] made the first series, with the exception of "Page One", available to be viewed on its website free of charge.<ref>{{cite web |title=Press Gang |publisher=[[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] |url=http://www.itv.com/BestofITV/kids/pressgang/default.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117190229/http://www.itv.com/BestofITV/kids/pressgang/default.html |archive-date=17 January 2008 |access-date=17 July 2008}}</ref>

2 episodes were broadcast on the CITV Channel on 5 & 6 January 2013, as part of a weekend of archive programmes to celebrate CITV's 30th anniversary. Since 2022, the full series is available online on the ITV streaming service ITVX.

===Fan following===
''Press Gang'' has attracted a cult following. A [[fanzine]], ''Breakfast at Czars'', was produced in the 1990s. Edited by Stephen O'Brien, it contained a range of interviews with the cast and crew (notably with producer Hastie), theatre reviews and [[fanfiction]]. The first edition was included as a PDF file on the series two DVD, while the next three were on the series five disc. An [[mailing list|email discussion list]] has been operational since February 1997.<ref>{{cite web|title=Press Gang: The Mailing List |url=http://www.yoyo.org/pressgang/mailinglist/ |access-date=23 December 2006}}</ref> Scholar Miles Booy observes that as Steven Moffat was himself a fan of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', he was able to ingrate the elements that TV fans appreciated, such as:

<blockquote>series finales with big cliff-hangers, rigorous continuity and a slew of running jokes and references which paid those who watched and rewatched the text to pull out its minutia. At the end of the second series, it is remarked that the news team have been following the Spike/Lynda romance 'since page one', and only the fans remembered &ndash; or discovered on reviewing &ndash; that "Page One" was the title of the first episode.<ref name="Booy144">{{harvnb|Booy |2012|p=144}}</ref></blockquote>

Booy points out that [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] and [[Joss Whedon]] would be acclaimed for these elements in the 1990s (in the shows ''[[The X-Files]]'' and ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''), but "Moffat got there first, and ... in a children's TV slot. His was the first show to arrive with a Britain's fan's sensibility to formal possibilities."<ref>{{harvnb|Booy |2012|pp=144–5}}</ref>

Two [[Fan convention|convention]]s were held in the mid-1990s in [[Liverpool]]. The events, in aid of the NSPCC, were each titled "Both Sides of the Paper" and were attended by Steven Moffat, Sandra Hastie, Dexter Fletcher, Paul Reynolds, Kelda Holmes and Nick Stringer. There were screenings of extended rough cuts of "A Quarter to Midnight" and "There Are Crocodiles", along with auctions of wardrobe and props.<ref name="petford"/> When [[Virgin Publishing]] prevented [[Paul Cornell]] from writing an episode guide, the ''Press Gang Programme Guide'', edited by Jim Sangster, was published by Leomac Publishing in 1995.<ref name="Booy144"/><ref>
{{harvnb|Sangster|1995}}</ref> Sangster, O'Brien and Adrian Petford collaborated with Network DVD on the extra features for the DVD releases.<ref name="petford"/>

[[Big Finish Productions]], which produces [[radio drama|audio plays]] based on sci-fi properties, particularly ''[[Doctor Who]]'', was named after the title of the final episode of the second series. Moffat himself is an ardent ''Doctor Who'' fan, and became the programme's lead writer and executive producer in 2009.<ref name="moffatstart">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/07_july/20/who.shtml|title=The time has come ... filming has begun on Doctor Who|publisher=BBC|date=20 July 2009|access-date=10 January 2010}}</ref>

Moffat has integrated many references to secondary characters and locations in ''Press Gang'' in his later work. His 1997 sitcom ''[[Chalk (TV series)|Chalk]]'' refers to a neighbouring school as Norbridge High, run by Mr Sullivan, and to the characters Dr Clipstone ("UneXpected"), Malcolm Bullivant ("Something Terrible") and David Jefford ("Monday-Tuesday"/"There are Crocodiles"),<ref name="addinfo"/> a pupil who Mr Slatt ([[David Bamber]]) reprimands for [[masturbating]].<ref>{{cite episode |title=Mother |series=Chalk |credits=wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Juliet May |network=BBC 1 |airdate=27 March 1997 |series-no=1 |number=6}}</ref> The name "Talwinning" appears as the name of streets in "A Quarter to Midnight" and ''Joking Apart'',<ref>{{cite episode |series=Joking Apart |credits=wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Bob Spiers |network=BBC 2 |airdate=17 January 1995 |series-no=2 |number=3}}</ref> and as the surname of the protagonist in "Dying Live", an episode of ''[[Murder Most Horrid]]'' written by Moffat,<ref>{{cite episode |title=Dying Live |series=Murder Most Horrid |credits=wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Dewi Humphreys |network=BBC 2 |airdate=25 May 1996 |series-no=3 |number=3}}</ref> as well as the name of a librarian in his ''Doctor Who'' prose short story, "Continuity Errors", which was published in the 1996 [[Virgin Books]] anthology ''[[Virgin Decalog|Decalog 3: Consequences]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Continuity Errors |series=Virgin Decalog 2: Consequences |author=Steven Moffat |editor1=Andy Lane |editor2=Justin Richards |publisher=Virgin Publishing | year=1996}}</ref> The name "Inspector Hibbert", from "The Last Word", is given to the character played by Nick Stringer in "Elvis, Jesus and Jack", Moffat's final ''Murder Most Horrid'' contribution.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Elvis, Jesus and Jack |series=Murder Most Horrid |credits=wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Tony Dow |network=BBC 2 |airdate=26 May 1999 |series-no=4 |number=5}}</ref> Most recently, in the first episode of Moffat's ''[[Jekyll (TV series)|Jekyll]]'', Mr Hyde ([[James Nesbitt]]) whistled the same tune as Lynda in "Going Back to Jasper Street".

===Proposed television movie===
A television film called "Deadline" was planned. It was set a few years after the series and aimed at a more adult audience. At one stage in 1992, series 4 was intended to be the last, and the movie was proposed as a follow-up. However, making of the film fell through when a fifth series was commissioned instead. The idea of the follow-up film was reconsidered several times during the 1990s, but every time fell through for various reasons.<ref name="addinfo"/>

In June 2007, ''[[The Stage]]'' reported that Moffat and Sawalha are interested in reviving ''Press Gang''. He said: "I would revive that like a shot. I would love to do a reunion episode—a grown-up version. I know Julia Sawalha is interested—every time I see her she asks me when we are going to do it. Maybe it will happen—I would like it to."<ref>{{cite web |title=Steven Moffat wants to bring back 'Press Gang' |work=[[The Stage]] |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2007/06/steven_moffat_wants_to_bring_back_press_gang.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930183006/http://www.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2007/06/steven_moffat_wants_to_bring_back_press_gang.php |archive-date=30 September 2007 |date=13 June 2007 |access-date=15 June 2007}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' advocated the show's revival, arguing that "a revamped ''Press Gang'' with Moffat at the helm could turn the show from a cult into a national institution - a petri dish for young acting and writing talent to thrive. It's part of our TV heritage and definitely worthy of resuscitation."<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Donaghy |date=28 July 2008|title=Press Gang: a programme worth reviving |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/jul/28/pressgangaprogrammeworthr |work=The Guardian |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref>

At the [[Edinburgh International Television Festival]] in August 2008, Moffat told how he got drunk after the wrap party for ''[[Jekyll (TV series)|Jekyll]]'' and pitched the idea of a ''Press Gang'' reunion special to the Head of Drama at the BBC, [[John Yorke (television producer)|John Yorke]]. Despite Yorke's approval, the writer said that he was too busy with his work on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' to pursue the idea.<ref>{{cite news |title=Off Cuts goes to Edinburgh |url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/08/off_cuts_goes_to_edinburgh.html;jsessionid=A33CE4A4634AC26D50D1371FEB85FC0D |work=[[Broadcast (magazine)|Broadcast]] |date=26 August 2008 |access-date=27 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202085449/http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/08/off_cuts_goes_to_edinburgh.html;jsessionid=A33CE4A4634AC26D50D1371FEB85FC0D |archive-date=2 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Press Gang movie in the pipeline? |work=This is Plymouth |date=26 August 2008 |url=http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Press-Gang-movie-pipeline/story-12685153-detail/story.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913033008/http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Press-Gang-movie-pipeline/story-12685153-detail/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 September 2012 |access-date=27 August 2008  }}</ref>