Aimed at older children and teenagers, the programme was based on the activities of a children's newspaper, the Junior Gazette, produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school. In later series it was depicted as a commercial venture. The show interspersed comedic elements with the dramatic. As well as addressing interpersonal relationships (particularly in the Lynda-Spike story arc), the show tackled issues such as solvent abuse, child abuse and firearms control.

Written by ex-teacher Steven Moffat, over half of the episodes were directed by Bob Spiers, a noted British comedy director who had previously worked on classics such as Fawlty Towers. Critical reception was very positive, particularly for the quality of its writing, and the series has attracted a cult following with a wide age range.

Famous journalist Matt Kerr (Clive Wood) arrives from Fleet Street to edit the local newspaper. He sets up a junior version of the paper, The Junior Gazette, to be produced by pupils from the local comprehensive school before and after school hours.

Some of the team are "star pupils". However, some members have reputations of delinquency. One such pupil, Spike Thompson (Dexter Fletcher) is forced to work on the paper rather than being expelled from school. He is immediately attracted to editor Lynda Day (Julia Sawalha), but they bicker, throwing one-liners at each other. Their relationship develops and they have an on-off relationship. They regularly discuss their feelings, especially in the concluding episodes of each series. In the final episode for the third series, "Holding On", Spike unwittingly expresses his strong feelings to Lynda whilst being taped. Jealous of his American girlfriend, Zoe, Lynda puts the cassette on Zoe's personal stereo, ruining their relationship. The on-screen chemistry between the two leads was reflected off-screen as they became an item for several years.

Although the Lynda and Spike story arc runs throughout the series, most episodes feature self-contained stories and sub-plots. Amongst lighter stories, such as one about Colin accidentally attending a funeral dressed as a pink rabbit, the show tackled many serious issues. Jeff Evans, writing in the Guinness Television Encyclopedia, writes that the series adopts a "far more adult approach" than "previous efforts in the same vein" such as A Bunch of Fives. Some critics also compared it with Hill Street Blues, Lou Grant "and other thoughtful US dramas, thanks to its realism and its level headed treatment of touchy subjects." The first series approached solvent abuse in "How To Make A Killing", and the NSPCC assisted in the production of the "Something Terrible" episodes about child abuse. The team were held hostage by a gun enthusiast in series three's "The Last Word", while the final episode approaches drug abuse. The issue-led episodes served to develop the main characters, so that "Something Terrible" is more "about Colin's redemption [from selfish capitalist], rather than Cindy's abuse."

According to the British Film Institute, "Press Gang managed to be perhaps the funniest children's series ever made and at the same time the most painfully raw and emotionally honest. The tone could change effortlessly and sensitively from farce to tragedy in the space of an episode." Although the series is sometimes referred to as a comedy, Moffat insists that it is a drama with jokes in it. The writer recalls "a long running argument with Geoff Hogg (film editor on Press Gang) about whether Press Gang was comedy. He insisted that it was and I said it wasn't - it was just funny." Some innuendo leads Moffat to claim that it "had the dirtiest jokes in history, we got away with tons of stuff ... We nearly got away with a joke about anal sex, but they spotted it at the last minute." In one episode Lynda says she's going to "butter him up", and, when asked whilst on a date in a restaurant if he was staying at the hotel, Colin replies "I shouldn't think so: it's only the first date."

Jeff Evans also comments that the series was filmed cinematically, dabbling "in dream sequences, flashbacks, fantasies and, on one-occasion, a Moonlighting-esque parody of the film It's a Wonderful Life." The show had a strong awareness of continuity, with some stories, incidents and minor characters referred to throughout the series. Actors who played short-term characters in the first two series were invited back to reprise their roles in future episodes. David Jefford (Alex Crockett) was resurrected from 1989's "Monday - Tuesday" to appear in the final episode "There Are Crocodiles", while the same actress (Aisling Flitton) who played a wrong number in "Love and the Junior Gazette" was invited to reprise her character for the third series episode "Chance is a Fine Thing." "Attention to detail" such as this is, according to Paul Cornell, "one of the numerous ways that the series respects the intelligence of its viewers."

After the team leaves school, the paper gains financial independence and runs commercially. Assistant editor Kenny (Lee Ross), leaves at the end of series three to be replaced by Julie (Lucy Benjamin), who was the head of the graphics team in series one.

Bill Moffat, a headmaster from Glasgow, had an idea for a children's television programme called The Norbridge Files. He showed it to a producer who came to his school, Thorn Primary School in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, when it was used as the location for an episode of Harry Secombe's Highway. Producer Sandra C. Hastie liked the idea and showed it to her future husband Bill Ward, co-owner of her company Richmond Films and Television. When she requested a script, Moffat suggested that his 25-year old son, Steven, an English teacher, should write it. Hastie said that it was "the best ever first script" that she had read.

All 43 episodes were written by Steven Moffat. During production of series two, he was having an unhappy personal life after the break-up of his first marriage. His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter dropped on his foot. This period in Moffat's life would also be reflected in his sitcom Joking Apart.