Why oh why do american producers think they can take foreign shows and do them better ? Time after time this is tried and very rarely works. The office american style is practically begging people to see how funny it is. the only trouble it, it isn't. not by a long way. i never laughed once it was excrutiating to watch. -3 for effort.

When it was running, Hot Metal, was for me totally unmissable. I used to actually leave the pub early and go home to watch it (the only other programe i ever did that for was The Young Ones) 'Gregg Kettle' as the sleaziest newspaper reporter in the business used to make me weep with laughter. nothing was to underhand for him, he had no concience whatsoever. Tricking bishops into thinking they were Vampireswas the least of his efforts.

The newspaper was supposedly in the safe hands of editors Richard wilson and Geoffrey palmer, over two seasons respectively. they were the only ones on the newspaper who had any sense of decency. but they fought a losing battle. against a paper that would stoop to giving away free babies they bought offa quintipletts mother. Or covering up the assasination of an old man pretending to be a dead russian president.

Imagine that ? It would be brilliant, al and peggy with their grand-kids. I am wondering already how they would be around them. would they resent them, like they did with their own kids. Or would they actually have affection for them ?

I can just see Al, playing football with his grandson, and regailing him with tails of his days in college as a footballer. And how he gave up going pro for his family (yeah right!) :)

Also it would be fun to see if Bud & Kelly turned out anything like their own parents? Imagine the irony of that.

With Dexter Fletcher (playing Spike Thompson) giving us the worst american accent untill hugh Laurie came along this year in 2005 in 'House', the show was something of a groaner straight away. However it was a show that I liked before the end of the first episode. Pretty soon we were tuning in every week to see the "will they, wont they" antics of Linda Day (Julia Sawhala) and Spike. However a personal fave of mine was Colin Mathews (paul reynolds), who was always after earning another fast buck. and if anyone could actually make a proffit by being the manager of a teenage chess player it was him. (just one of his many ideas)

Not afraid to tackle sensitive issues, Press Gang went on to run for four seasons. Though at the end it had to finish, as they were running out of excuses, as to why these people were still running a school newspaper :)

The show ran from 1955 to 1959. Only five seasons, thats all! Mind you in those days, back in the 50's they certainly knew how to make an actor work for their dollar. Each year they made a series of 36 or 37 episodes! Now thats some going by any standards?

If you've never seen the show before, then do your laughter organ a big faqvour and try and catch some episodes. They are often on on late night TV around midnight or in the small hours. Or if your lucky you might catch them ealy evening on a weekend on some smaller channel.

And if the show seems strangely familliar.. thats because it is! Remember the kids cartoon show, Top Cat ? Well that was based around bilko and his merry band of men. Top Cat is a straight impersonation of bilko, the same goes for Colonel Hall who in the cartoon is replaced by Officer dibble, as the one who tries to stop The weekly schemes of Top cat/Sgt Bilko. Was it any wonder it had a large adult following ?