... As flat as a duff Yorkshire pudding BBC-1 Hudson and Halls IF PETER Hudson, former shipping company director from Australia, and David Halls, one-time shoe shop manager from Essex, have been named as entertainers of the year in New Zealand, then it tells you a lot about the paucity of showing among the Kiwis. The pair of them are currently mak ing their TV debut here in a joint BBC North West ...

... Worzel Gummidge Down Under CHANNEL-4 WORZEL GUMMIDGE, the straw-haired, gap-toothed, dirty, straggly, slobbering haystack of a scarecrow has travelled just about as far as it's possible to go in order to keep the series alive. Lovable and bad-tempered Worzel, played by Jon Pertwee, has gone Down Under to Zoo Nealand. with abso lute certainty it is the age of the viewer that will consider ...

... Brush Strokes BBC-1 IT IS hardly the revelation of the week but we are blessed with an abundance of good actors, and one of them is the under-praised Karl Howman. To cast him as Jacko, the streetwise Jack-the-lad, the chap that the ladies love to love despite their own warning bells, was a masterstroke. Howman, as Jacko, comes off the screen and lives. He is a strong and credible character. ...

... Nimrod series for Four VISCOUNT LINLEY is among the guests talking about the special effects that can be achieved with paint, and about his own painted furniture, in a new Channel 4 series called Paintabil- iry. The scries has been made by Nimrod Productions and will be shown in five 30-minute slots from Tuesday April 8 at 5.30pm. It is written by Geoff Berne, a director of commercials and ...

... Sunday night TV is in the lap of the Gods THE RELIGIOUS body that advises the IBA will be saying a prayer today (September 29) when the authority meets to de cide the fate of Sunday night's God slot. The ITV companies are plan ning to drop the slot for half the year a move condemned by the central religious advisory com mittee which is lobbying the IBA to reject the idea. ITV feels it is under ...

... Central concern over plans for revenue levy CENTRAL TELEVISION HAS warned that it will be seriously undermined by Government plans to charge a levy on revenue rather than profits. Announcing interim profits of £9.1 million, the chairman of Central, David Justham said he shared the concern of other ITV companies about the change in the levy. And he warned that the new levy, designed to be more ...

... IAA lobby to break commercial legislation By STAGE REPORTER THE INTERNATIONAL Advertising Association is lobbying the worldwide advertising community to join forces against threats to reduce commercial time on television proposed in a draft convention by the Council of Europe. In its convention, the Council of Europe suggests a general prohibition of advertising in television programmes ...

... Snooze night James Green on a comedy that enters the dozy world of male elitism, The Gentleman's Club BBC-2 A Gentleman's Club IF THERE IS an obvious anachronism in the latter years of the 20th Century it is the gentleman's club - that legacy from another age when there was time and money to spare, and a distinct social divide. There is something mildly humorous about drinking and dining ...

... THAMES 01 for London THIS TV equivalent of Time Out, now into its second series, became compulsory viewing for me in its first series, striking a good balance between information and irreverence. Two of the original presenters Neil Mullarkey and Vikki Groocock have now departed, their places taken by Mark Webster and Fiona Adam. Richard Jobson remains, with his mis chievous Glaswegian cadences ...

... Moonlighter Bruce scores a Motown hit SINGING detectives re nothing new--who can forget Old Blackie Kojak crooning his way to the top of the charts with If. Now news reaches us that Moonlight- ing's Bruce Willis he of the slow grin and fast quip could be putting his much vaunted charm to good use in the recording studio. The man who regularly dons dark glasses, treats his long suffering ...

... Companies in poor film prints row By ANGELA THOMAS PROGRAMME planners are coming under fire over the use of poor quality prints of classic films on television. Director Donovan Winter has accused the TV companies of cal lousness in their use of damaged prints which he claims destroy the reputations of the film makers. In a letter in the Directors Guild publication Direct Extra, Winter points ...

... THE 6 O'Clock Show LONDON WEEKEND EVEN by its own down market standards this was a poor offering from a programme which exists to provide a lightweight start to the weekend. The programme always had a tenden cy to scatter around git-orff-me-bar- rer and Gordon Bennett Cockney patois, but thankfully it seems this latest series, to some extent, is trying to I keep the odd aspirate in the ...