The action took place in the offices of Globelink News TV, a rival to CNN, ITN, Sky News and the like. In the opening episode the station is acquired by media tycoon Sir Royston Merchant, who, despite assurances to the contrary, sets in motion a 'dumbing down' process, making it sensationalist rather than controversial. Sir Royston is never seen to interfere (indeed, he is never seen) but his wishes are carried out by his yuppie 1980s-throwback lackey Gus Hedges, an immaculately groomed, vacuous man with all the warmth of a lizard. Gus communicates in an exaggerated 'media-speak', with most of his tortured utterances beginning with a reiteration of his 'unofficial' status as part of the news team - such as, 'As you know, I'm not here - I just wanted to watch the editorial unit synchromeshing with the production matrix...'

The head of the editorial unit, George Dent, is a perpetually harassed and nervous individual who means well but is too weak to stand up to Gus. Alex, George's second in command, has no such fears: she is a fiercely bright woman whose dedication to serious news gathering and reporting often brings her into confrontation with Hedges. Beneath Alex (literally, in one episode) is Dave Charnley, a compulsive womaniser who, despite his laddish tendencies, still cares about delivering a decent end-product. Then there's the field reporter Damien Day, an unprincipled, ambitious, glory-driven egotist quite happy with the enforced 'tabloidisation' of Globelink.

Finally there's the anchor-team of newsreaders, Henry and Sally. Henry Davenport is a larger-than-life, old-fashioned newsman who embraces all the hard-living clichés of such characters - he drinks to excess, parties all night, dates women 20 years his junior and rants loudly about his many pet annoyances. Sally, recruited by Sir Royston, embodies all that Henry hates: she is a brainless bimbo, obsessed with her own career and completely unprofessional in her attitude to hard news stories. Beneath Sally's porcelain facade is a fragile, sad and lonely character.

In the second series, the hugely misnamed Joy Merryweather was added to the cast. She is perpetually and dangerously angry, bluntly refusing - although employed in a factotum capacity - to perform many of the chores she is given, often colouring her refusal with some venomous invective. In the third series Alex was replaced by the equally bright but softer Helen Cooper, who, it transpires, is a lesbian undecided about the wisdom of coming out.

With all these disparate characters, comic sparks were bound to fly, but as the concentration on topical gags lessened so the writers started opening out the characters. Although mere stereotypes at first sight, viewers gradually learned more about their flaws.

Gus became increasingly out of step with the real world and started to doubt his sanity; George became a fatalist about his lot; Helen agonised over whether to tell her daughter that she was gay; Dave grew concerned over his inability to remain faithful to his lovers and built up a huge gambling debt; Henry became anxious about growing old and living alone and unloved; Sally had a nervous breakdown and sought therapy to overcome her uncontrollable desires to bed rough tradesmen and lorry drivers. Damien remained unstable throughout and though Joy made positive efforts to control her anger when she realised it may have cost her any chance of bettering herself, she remained a frightening figure.