Press is BBC One’s new journalist drama – who’s on the cast and what’s it all about?
In present day London, The Herald, a left-leaning broadsheet struggling to adapt to the age of digital news, and The Post, a thriving populist tabloid, occupy buildings in the same square.
Set in the fast-paced and challenging environment of the British newspaper industry, Press will immerse viewers in the personal lives and the constant professional dilemmas facing its characters.
The series follows their lives as they attempt to balance work and play, ambition and integrity, amid the never-ending pressure of the 24-hour global news cycle and an industry in turmoil.
Press concludes on Thursday night, October 11 at 9PM on BBC One.
Press cast
Charlotte Riley (King Charles III, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) will play the Deputy News Editor of fictional broadsheet The Herald, and Ben Chaplin (Apple Tree Yard, The Thin Red Line) will play the Editor of fictional tabloid newspaper The Post. Priyanga Burford (London Spy, King Charles III) will play The Herald’s Editor.
Paapa Essiedu (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC’s Hamlet) will play The Post’s newest reporter, and Shane Zaza (Happy Valley, The Da Vinci Code) its News Editor. Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones, The Diary Of Anne Frank) will be a junior reporter, Al Weaver (Grantchester, The Hollow Crown) an investigative journalist, and Brendan Cowell (Young Vic’s Yerma, Game Of Thrones) the Deputy Editor at The Herald.
They will be joined by David Suchet (Poirot, Decline And Fall) who will play the Chairman & CEO of Worldwide News, owner of The Post.
Press spoilers
In tonight’s final episode, Duncan (Ben Chaplin) attempts to spend quality time with his son, Fred (Benjamin Campbell), but finds it difficult in the face of Sarah’s (Natasha Little) open hostility. At the home of her billionaire boyfriend, Max Klein (Matt Rippy), Sarah informs Duncan that she and Max intend for him never to see Fred again.
Holly (Charlotte Riley) struggles to separate her personal grievances from her professional ambitions. She adds to Duncan’s troubles by threatening to publicly expose his relationship with Kristina (Kasia Koleczek), the sex worker with whom he has a longstanding arrangement. In anticipation of the splash, Duncan is forced to explain to Fred that he has been paying for sex, while Kristina has questions of her own for Holly.
James (Al Weaver) reopens communication with Jon Brooks (Tom Bell), an MI5 source who is ready to blow the whistle on the government’s Resonance programme. When Amina (Priyanga Burford) and Holly learn what the programme entails, they are convinced that the story will be the most important The Herald will ever run.
Emmerson (David Suchet) presents Duncan with a seemingly impossible task, and Ed (Paapa Essiedu) is forced to examine his own journalistic ethics, while Holly and Duncan go head to head.
