Editing Press Gang (section)

===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".