Press on for all the juicy stories
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WHEN the rookie reporter in BBC1’S drama Press on Thursday agreed to wear a giant polar bear costume, journalists the nation over smirked knowingly. It’s a rite of passage, one that many of us have been through. My first editor asked me to dress up as a yeti hunter and look for Northumberland’s legendary Beast of Bolam. I put on the safari hat without complaint, although disappointingly, I didn’t find the beast. I once donned a silver Lycra jumpsuit to join failed game show Hole in the Wall. And in another notable career moment, I entered a freezing cryotherapy chamber in towelling shorts and top, long socks, clogs and headband. I looked like a slightly blue-tinged 70s tennis player. Press, while in many ways a cliche of the industry, also got some things right. It pitched two papers against each other – The Herald, a broadsheet struggling to adapt to the digital age, and The Post, a thriving populist tabloid.
Each handled stories differently, for different audiences, each with its own merits. Sometimes viewers were cheering for one, sometimes for the other.
Charlotte Riley plays the crusading deputy news editor of The Herald. “My name is Holly Evans. I’m a journalist,” she said, as if confessing to alcoholism.
This was spot on. Saying you’re a journalist can be like saying you’re an estate agent. It was refreshing for a drama to delve a little beyond the hackneyed image of a scummy immoral hack.
Still, Ben Chaplin, while brilliant in the role, represented the biggest stereotype – The Post’s “misogynistic, well-oiled bully” editor Duncan Allen.
I groaned when Duncan asked the politician to pose with a Love Island star.
Elsewhere, reporter Ed, Paapa Eddiedu, faced his first “death knock”, hoping the parents of a footballer who had committed suicide wouldn’t slam the door in his face.
These scenes were realistic, up until the point he threatened the grieving parents. This wouldn’t happen.
Writer Mike “Doctor Foster” Bartlett did warn the show may not alter the reputation of journalists.
Later David Suchet stole his scene as media mogul George Emmerson, who pulled up in a blacked-out car to lecture Duncan. Well someone had to. With workplace drama, damaged personal lives, and the gritty story of Holly’s dead housemate, Press is fast-paced viewing.
But more than that, it’s an insight into the importance of print. The Herald editor is told: “You’re supposed to be better than the internet. That’s the point of you.”
Despite some mis-steps, I liked Eddiedu’s description: “You are seeing the blood, sweat and guts of a newspaper. All of our biggest stories come through the press – it’s such an exciting world.” CORONATION Street’s DNA like a Secrets on ITV was You Think soap cast Who Do Matthews, You Are? Sally Ann was astounded who plays Jenny, related to to discover she is starred Amanda Barrie. They with no together for years lost clue they were long a cousins. It was like juicy Corrie plot. STEAMY new drama Wanderlust piqued our interest. And the cast is on BBC1 left some viewers excellent. Toni Collette plays Joy, left, a cringing Tureet, as th they sum watched quipit with ncincilit relatives. veros digna relationship therapist whose own There at, quis was alit m more doluptat, sex in the faccumsandio first five marriage needs TLC. minutes corem than dolore we saw in te the conumsa entire ndionsequi Joy and husband Allan, Steven series mincidunt of Love Island. lobor erciduipit lorper sum acilit praesenim alit Mackintosh, are bored with each other Although I would argue it quis was less acilisit ipit ver aut landiamet in bed, but not ready to write off their steamy and more “middle aged augiat. Sum in ute married marriage. So what’s the solution? Sleep couple uple accummo dipsum ing corper ipis nonsed discus discuss how tired they are”. ea commy nos nim tat. Unt augait with other people of course. The opening sequence, an awkward accum aliquamet, verosti velenis nit autem Wanderlust isn’t a great advert for sex scene intercut with a cyclist marriage, or a drama easily watched being hit by a car, was with your other half, but brownie points unsettling. But it certainly for tackling something different.