Press: Babies stars Charlotte Riley and Paapa Essiedu's forgotten 'irresistible' BBC drama with near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score
Press is a top-tier BBC drama that's hard to find
Babies premieres on BBC One tonight – and if you’re wondering where you’ve seen Charlotte Riley and Paapa Essiedu before, it may have been in the same series.
The new series, created by Stefan Golaszewski (Him & Her), follows a young couple in their 30s: Lisa (Siobhán Cullen) and Stephen (Essiedu).
They want one thing: to have a baby. Across six heartbreaking episodes, we see their journey through pregnancy loss and grief. The Babies cast also includes Jack Bannon as Stephen’s friend, Dave, with Riley playing his girlfriend, Amanda.
Riley and Essiedu have starred together in a BBC project before. It got strong reviews… but it’s incredibly hard to find.
Press starred Paapa Essiedu and Charlotte Riley long before Babies
Press first aired on BBC One in September 2018. As the title suggests, it’s a drama that revolves around rival newspapers; specifically, a “left-leaning broadsheet and a populist tabloid”.
Riley plays Holly Evans, the deputy news editor of The Herald, while Ben Chaplin (Apple Tree Yard) portrays Duncan Allen, The Post’s editor.
As Riley’s character says, The Post is “sexy, sensationalist and doesn’t check its facts”, while The Herald is said to go the “extra mile” and “try to do the right thing”. However, at the end of the day, they’re two sides of the same coin.
Throughout the series, we see the toll not only of the stories Holly covers, but also the industry at large.
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Essiedu plays Ed Washburn, a rookie journalist for The Post. “It’s about him finding his moral compass, really,” he said in a behind-the-scenes featurette.
Who else was in Press?
The Press cast also includes Priyanga Burford (who you may have seen in Silent Witness and Industry) as Amina Chaudry, The Herald’s editor.
Grantchester fans should recognise Al Weaver, who plays Leonard Finch in the ITV series. He portrays James Edwards, one of The Herald’s investigative reporters.
Most notably, there’s a TV legend in the cast: Poirot himself, David Suchet, who plays the cunning, ruthless CEO at the top of The Post’s food chain. The wider cast also features:
- Ellie Kendrick as Leona Manning-Lynd, reporter at The Herald
- Genevieve Barr as Charlotte Evans, Features Editor at The Herald
- Brendan Cowell as Peter Langly, deputy editor of The Herald
- Shane Zaza as Raz Kane, news editor of The Post
- Susannah Wise as Wendy Bolt, a columnist
- David Suchet as George Emmerson, chairman and CEO of Worldwide News, owners of The Post
- Elliot Levey as Matthew Harper, the Prime Minister
Is Press worth watching?
Yes, Press is absolutely worth watching.
Not only does it have a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but take it from us: it’s an engrossing, entertaining drama. It may not get everything about print journalism (or the wider industry) right – but, at the end of the day, is a non-journo going to care about that?
For example, The Atlantic praised its depiction of how “the sausage gets made” as “deeply satisfying”.
“As a primer on the nefarious influence of British tabloid journalism – a story that’s ever more timely and relevant – Press is entertaining,” its review reads.
The Telegraph also called it “irresistible entertainment” and an “enjoyable romp, populated by bruised-but-noble heroes and amorally sleazy villains”.
How to watch Press – is it on BBC iPlayer?
This is where it gets a bit tricky, because while Press is one of the best BBC dramas, it isn’t available to stream on BBC iPlayer. It isn’t clear why, either.
In the UK, you only have two options. You can buy it digitally via Amazon Prime Video, or you can purchase the series on DVD.
If you have a VPN, you may be able to watch it for free. All you need to do is change your location to somewhere in North America, go to Plex, and start watching!
Read more: Babies: Heartbreaking new BBC drama is almost unwatchable and that’s why it’s amazing
