"Press Gang" Pride Trivia Quiz

Answer: "No it isn't!"

This quote is from the season 2 episode "Going Back to Jasper Street", in which we saw flashbacks of a five-year-old Lynda bullying Kenny, who was turning six. According to Kenny, she buried his present in the garden instead of giving it to him.

Answer: He named himself after the dog in "Tom and Jerry".

In the season 4 episode "Love and War", Spike told Lynda about how he used to play "Tom and Jerry" when he was little. He didn't think Tom was macho enough, and he didn't want to be a mouse, so he always ended up as Spike the bulldog.

Answer: Sarah

Julie was head of the graphic team in season 1, and returned in season 4 as assistant editor. Sam was head of the graphic team in season 2. Originally, Julie was meant to have a bigger part that season, but Lucy Benjamin, the actress who played her, wanted to quit, and Gabrielle Anwar's Sam replaced her character. Kate was head of the graphic team from season 3 and forward, although her part was mostly silent. Sarah, on the other hand, was always on the writing team.

Answer: dog

Colin opened the window to fetch a 100 pound note he saw outside it. The bird flew out, the cat jumped after it, and when Colin tried to catch them, he knocked over the goldfish bowl. Julie was understandably upset, as was Colin himself: "How do you think I feel? I'm trying to be all nice and normal, and suddenly everything's dead! It's like that school zoo trip all over again." Fortunately, both the bird and the cat survived the ordeal, although the goldfish didn't.

Answer: "UnXpected"

In the season 4 episode "UnXpected", Frazz got a blow to the head and later started seeing Colonel X, the hero of his once-favourite TV show. It turned out, however, that it was actually the actor playing the part, who had gone insane and believed himself to be Colonel X.

Answer: Steven Moffat

Unusually enough, "Press Gang" only had one script writer, Steven Moffat, who has also written comedy series "Joking Apart" and "Coupling". Sandra Hastie was the show's producer and Lorne Magory and Bob Spiers were the two most prolific of its directors.

Answer: Katherine Hill

Katherine Hill was Spike's mother, and there was a priceless scene in the season 4 episode "In the Picture" when they both chewed out employees on the phone. As Tiddler put it: "I never realised how comforting it was that there was only one of her!" It later turned out that Spike's parents' relationship was very similar to his own relationship with Lynda, and they both found this very disturbing. Miss Hessop was the school secretary (also at times called miss Jessop and miss Hesshope), Kelly from Dublin was a wrong number whom Kenny developed a crush on, and Judy Wellman was a girl who took a fancy to Colin and asked him out on a rather disastrous date. Neither one of them resembled Lynda, although Judy could be argued to be nearly as mean.

Answer: Clark Kent

To quote her disastrous date with Colin: "Do you know what his name is? Clark Kent. No relation." "You mean he's not one of your relations?" "No, I meant because of his name. No relation to Superman?" "Judy... Superman isn't a real person." Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker and Christopher Walker are the other names of Batman, Spider-Man and the Phantom.

Answer: "...throw record shops at you."

This quote is from the season 2 episode "The Rest of My Life", in which there was an explosion in a record shop on Cresslaw Road and Spike was stuck inside along with a dying girl. A very emotional episode, and one of my personal favourites.

Answer: Colin

Lynda left the "Junior Gazette" in "Shouldn't I Be Taller" because she felt guilty about David Jefford's suicide in the previous episode. Colin and Kenny both ran for editor, and Colin was elected, soon turning the "Junior Gazette" into a tabloid called "The Gaz".

When Lynda found out, she immediately returned and demanded Colin's head on her wall next to the newsteam photo and the framed first edition. Julie was made editor of the "Junior Gazette" in Lynda's dream in the season 4 episode "Day Dreams". Tiddler joined the paper to become its editor when Lynda turned too old, but she never reached her goal.

Answer: By Sarah Jackson

When Sarah slagged off her boyfriend's acting, her name was taken away from the review - but it returned a few episodes later in "Friends Like These", when she tried to quit the paper in order to join a writing class. Lynda told Sam to write a mean article about the writing class and then add Sarah's name to it. Sam got as far as to "But if they read that up at the..." before she understood Lynda's devious intentions.

Answer: We don't know.

The very last episode of the series, "There Are Crocodiles" was mostly set in Lynda's nightmares as she lay unconscious in the newsroom, which had caught fire. At the end of the episode, she showed up in Spike's bedroom even though she wasn't supposed to have been able to survive the fire. Spike wasn't entirely sure he was awake, though, and when he tried to kiss Lynda to find out if she was real, the frame froze and the show was over - forever.

Answer: Something Terrible

"Something Terrible" focused on sexual abuse of children as a girl called Cindy confided in Colin that her father abused her. Since Colin was usually played as a comic character, taken seriously by no one, it was a very efficient episode. The other episodes mentioned are also "issue" stories, but from other seasons. "Monday/Tuesday" from season 1 concerned suicide, "The Last Word" from season 3 gun control (this episode was nominated for a BAFTA but didn't win) and the season 5 episode "Head and Heart" brought up the subject of infidelity.

Answer: Mr. Kerr

Matt Kerr was a top reporter who took over the local newspaper and along with Norbridge High headmaster Mr. Winters and English teacher Mr. Sullivan arranged for the "Junior Gazette" to be created. Mr. Knowles was another teacher at Norbridge High, only shown in one episode.

Answer: Colin

Who else? Hardly an episode went by without Colin coming up with a new mad way to make money, and strangely enough most of them were successful. This one might have been as well, if he hadn't claimed that the capital of Saudi Arabia was Brigadoon. The fabulous Sheik scenes can be seen in the season 2 episode "At Last a Dragon".

Answer: a pink bunny costume

Colin's mother forced him to be a bunny at his sister's birthday party. When he later realised that the zipper was stuck, he decided to go to his very important meeting with Warner Edison dressed as he was. Unfortunately, no one had told him that Warner Edison had died since they last spoke. "Do you know what I really wish? I wish I hadn't pushed past the guy that opened the door, rushed into the house and shouted 'Hi Warner, I'm a Bunny-gram.'" And in front of every rich and important person in town, too...

Answer: Kenny

This is from the season 1 episode "Money, Love and Birdseed". Sarah and Billy were taking different sides in a case, and when asked what he thought, this was Kenny's reply. I find it very in character.

Answer: He had moved to Australia.

In the season 4 premiere "Bad News" we were told that Kenny had moved to Australia. Lynda went through one assistant editor after another, until no one wanted the job anymore. Sarah pointed out that it wasn't fair to punish people for not being Kenny, and Lynda's reply was: "Well, they're not, are they?" There was a gun siege during season 3, but the only person to die was the boy with the gun, although Colin was wounded. Kenny was unharmed.

Answer: Frazz

Frazz wasn't particularly good at his job. For the first six months he was completely unaware that purple wasn't a star sign. By season 2, he had shaped up some as people in the episode "Breakfast at Czar's" kept telling him his predictions had come true for them - even though he was just making them up.

Answer: Spike

Donald Cooper was the boy who protested against the "Junior Gazette" article on gun clubs by coming in with a gun and holding everyone hostage. Eventually, he let more and more people go until he was down to Spike and Lynda. Since it was Lynda he really wanted to punish, he kept Spike, and seconds later a gun shot was heard.

It turned out that the person shot was Donald himself, who couldn't find any other way out of his situation.