... 'THE SATURDAY SHOW' ADMIRATION for Billy cotton's consistently high standard of entertainment grows with each fresh appearance. A complete master of the television medium, he doesn't seem to be able to put a foot wrong. His outstanding success in the Saturday Show lay in his own personality and showman ship, of course, and also in the fact that Bill Cotton, Jnr.. is an incred ibly skilful ...

... DANCERS IN BLACK HTALENTED as they may have been, far too many non-dan- cers appeared in Dance, last Saturdays BBC-TV feature de signed to exploit what Dryden called the poetry of the foot Jacqueline Mackenzie, who makes no claim to dance, gave her impres sions of palais de danse types John Gregson, Leslie Phillips and Sarah Lawson appeared in a flimsy, rather unfunny sketch about learn ing ...

... Michael Shepley, at present appearing with Yvonne Arnaud in Six Months' Grace. at the Phoenix, last night celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his stage debut. He first appeared at the Grand. Hull, in 1927 as Charley Wykcham in Charley's Aunt. ...

... A WAR OF NERVES THE tarnished flamboyance of Agatha Payne, the ageing gipsy with the evil eye, provided Edith Evans with one of the most spectacular triumphs of her stage career in The Old Ladies, the fascinating thriller which Rodney Ackland adapted from the novel by Hugh Walpole. it is gratifying to know tnat this awe-inspiring performance has been magnificently filmed for tele vision ...

... RATINGS WATCH ANALYSIS BY GUY CAMPELL FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 5 The risk has paid dividends and Brookside picked up astounding figures right across the week. In fact, overall Channel 4 has enjoyed glorious lime with Cutting Edge reaching double its normal audience and the new much hyped medical soap I; R starling well with over 5 million viewers. Even Don't Forget Your Toothbrush is beginning ...

... RATINGS WATCH ANALYSIS BY ADRIAN DAWSON FOR WEEK ENDING APRIL 23 The return of Have I Got News For You? on Friday evenings is to be welcomed. It's one of the funniest programmes on television, apart from when MP Rhodes Boyson took leave of his senses on national television Watching both Paul Merton and Eddie Izzard disappear into the realms of fantasy is an enjoyable way to spend a half ...

... RATINGS WATCH ANALYSIS BY ADRIAN DAWSON FOR WEEK ENDING APRIL 30 Sex and snooker is the order of the day this Practice gripped week. The sex was Japanese and the 1 4.59 million snooker, well, it might as well have been viewers, the double Dutch. Ciaran Hinds We don't list sport here but take my word thriller Rutes of for it millions of people were hypnotised by it- Engagement I reckon there ...

... Backup team excels By OLLIE WILSON The autumn season flowed forth, yielding a hit and miss harvest of drama and light entertainment. Backup (BBC1, Thursday, September 7) came up with the goods. This new police drama was tight, tense and even touch ing at times. It felt a little like ITV's The Knock, but it wasn't lessened by that. Writing for the first feature length episode was strong, with a ...

... RATINGS WATCH BY TARA CONLAN FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 5 As the countdown to Christmas begins with winter programme schedules being launched from all directions, BBC chiefs must be quaking in their executive boots. ITV is beating the Beeb hands down in the drama department with four out of five of the top rated shows jostling in its stable. But not content with this, network director Marcus ...

... Too much hustle and bustle BY LISA ROHUMAA After all the pre-publicity hysteria about rape scenes and homosexuality, The Buccaneers (BBC1, Sunday, February 5, 9.05pm) finally arrived with an opening episode as genteel and tedious as the English society Edith Wharton so beautifully portrayed in her novel. Set in the 1870s, this tale of four gauche American girls hoping to*put London in their ...

... Watching out for those stereotypes By CHRIS HUGHES It could quite easily have been an introduction to a drama about pretty much any storyline, as long as it required a backdrop of middle class suburban tranquillity. A beautiful hot summer's day, a sizeable house with the five bedrooms quaintly decorated by and Mrs Above-Average and a lawn big enough to have the neighbours round for one of ...

... Poppy's too 'sickly sweet' to stomach By HARRY VENNING Apart from the woefully inadequate funding this country provides for film and theatre, the inherent sexism in society and the utter dearth of good parts written for women, the reason unemployment is so high among British actresses is undoubtedly Tare Rtzgerau. She s *i almost everything. There she was on Sunday evening playing the title ...