Press Gang

Just got my Press Gang - Series 1 DVD from play.com this morning. It's one of those shows you never expect to get a release but thanks to Network Video the first series at least is out.

Apparently it was a surprise to everyone, not least the writer Steven Moffat, better known these days for Coupling. Hopefully they will continue with the - even better - later episodes and do some commentaries and extras.

Although definitely a kids programme it has that snappy dialogue we've come to rely on in shows like Buffy and The West Wing. It also features the young Julia Sawalha (Ab Fab) and Lucy Benjamin (EastEnders) as well as Gabrielle Anwar in season 2 (numerous Hollywood movies). The blokes careers didn't seem to do as well in the long term - although most of them got a few movie parts out of it.

Steven Moffat is, of course, a big old Dr Who nerd who wrote "The Curse of Fatal Death" as well as some short stories. An early pointer to this is in the first episode where a sign says "Trespassers will be exterminated". A later episode, "unXpected", about the mysterious star
- Professor X - of an old childrens TV series is a bit more blatant.

Lastly, Lucy Benjamin also starred in the late, great, fondly-remembered, sci-fi soap - on the late, great, fondly-remembered BSB - Jupiter Moon, "one of the most accurate and realistic science fiction programmes to hit the small screen". Apparently.