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Priyanga Burford plays Amina Chaudury, Editor of The Herald.

Tell us about your character.
I’m playing Amina Chaudury, who is the editor of The Herald. Amina is recently divorced, she’s in her mid-40s, she’s passionate about news and news gathering, she’s  passionate about good journalism and she’s very proud of the organisation that she heads up. She’s working in an industry where newspapers are dying, readerships are going right down, people are getting their news from other sources….

One of her big challenges is thinking how we keep this going. What do we need to change into? It’s an adapt-or-die situation in order to keep this thing afloat. There are financial pressures on the newspaper and she’s got personal issues going on at the same time.

What can you tell us about the story of Press?
It’s a story about stories. It’s a story about finding stories and how you tell them to the world.

Tell us about Mike Bartlett’s scripts.
The thing I really like about all of Mike’s work is that he writes real people. Nobody is two-dimensional. People can be good, bad, sensitive, insensitive… all at different times. They are all really layered and complicated.

What research did you do for Press and what did you learn?
One of the editors we spoke to was talking about the adrenaline of working to the end of the day and the pressure of filling every page – there must be no blank spaces in the newspaper. You’re looking for content, but the content must be of a certain quality. It must be well written. I think it’s quite addictive, rushing up to a deadline and the adrenaline you get… and then it’s gone... and then it’s done.