Making the headlines

PRESS BBC1, 9pm

THE BBC, with yet another cracking new drama series, is really spoiling us.

Press is from the creator of Doctor Foster, Mike Bartlett, which – weirdly – we could tell just by the opening credits alone.

And from the look of this first episode, it might also be just as compelling. It’s set in the world of newspapers, in a corner of London where left-leaning broadsheet The Herald and the more right-wing sensationalist tabloid The Post both have their offices.

It’s pretty obvious to see what and who the major players are based on – the shady media mogul owner of the boobheavy Post, the outspoken female right-wing Twitter troll.

But there’s a lot more to this than caricatures and clichés – thanks in large part to Ben Chaplin, whose portrayal of tabloid editor Duncan Allen has more levels than a multi-storey car park, where he’s probably conducted some of his dodgiest deals.

There’s also a twist towards the end, which gives us more insight into The Herald’s seemingly earnest deputy news editor Holly Evans (played by Charlotte Riley) and hints at thrilling stuff to come.

It can often be really annoying for journalists to watch things on telly with fictional journalists in, as they’re usually wildly inaccurate and unrealistic, completely out of date and almost always paint us in a shockingly bad light.

But this – for both the good and the bad – seems an impressively realistic portrait.

And thanks to some great writing and terrific performances, we’re already looking forward to the next edition.

DODGY DEALS Editor Allen