Developed by Simon Hosler and Bill Bonham, the player assumes the role of a reporter in a British newspaper office, proofreading articles in order to infer the identity of a mysterious criminal in London.

Set in the office of a fictional London newspaper,[1] the player of The Fleet Street Phantom assumes the role of a junior reporter.

Through their proofreading, the game simultaneously puts emphasis on punctuation, speed reading ("skimming and scanning"), inferencing, and sequencing—as well as identifying topics and predicting[2]: 13 —to promote these skills in younger players.

[1] The Fleet Street Phantom was developed as a video-game supplement to Sherston's Typesetter!, a desktop publishing application released in early 1987.

was a graphics-less affair, aimed at primary schoolers to teach them both how to use desktop publishing software and how to lay out text in a broadsheet newspaper.

[4][7] Sherston developed Fleet Street in collaboration with the London Daily News, a broadsheet founded in February 1987 by Maxwell Communications.

[9]: 84  The Times newspaper contributor and primary school teacher Phil Tayler called both The Fleet Street Phantom and the Typesetter!