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Reviews
Press Gang: At Last a Dragon (1990)
Steven Moffat captures the purest of "Press Gang" moments
With Steven Moffat perennially at the "Press Gang" typewriter and journeyman director Bob Spiers at the helm of this episode, "At Last A Dragon" is the consummate example of what this television program came to represent.
Witticisms, double entendres and a meticulously crafted layered study of human flaws combine elegantly to make for a gripping mix of comedy and drama. (...and "Press Gang" was screened in the afternoon 'kid's TV' slot on Australia's ABC??) This episode sees the Spike and Lynda 'will they-wont they' relationship come to a head. In the tradition of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn 'love-hate' romances, the lovable rogue James 'Spike' Thompson (Dexter Fletcher) makes good on a pledge made to Junior Gazette editor Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha) in the show's pilot episode to "slay a dragon" for her ("...if this were the olden days").
Fine direction, brilliant acting, and a script that belongs in the league of John Michael Hayes and Aaron Sorkin makes this episode a favourite that leads delicately, pushes suddenly and leaves a feeling that continues long after the ephemeral light of the television screen has faded.