... The Frankie HowerdShow Thames, September 29 by James Towler AN hour is an interminable period of time in television comedy terms, even when broken into three distinct sections by the commercial breaks, It is a brave man who takes over a slot of this length, even when he is backed by a strong supporting team. But then Frankie Howerd -has never lacked courage when it comes to facing an ...

... Freewheelers: Nero Southern, October 1 by John Lawrence CHILDREN, being younger and therefore having seen less television than adults, are, presumably more happy to put up with adventure stories that, to an adult, seem totally unoriginal, and without very much spark of life either in ting, or characterisation. This however seems a feeble excuse for providing them with just that, but judging ...

... Not so funny pot pourri Light Entertainment--by James Towler MY most enjoyable memory of Eric Sykes is in the film Very Important Person where he led a hilarious PT session as a diversion in a POW escape. Unfortunately there was nothing quite so funny in Sykes and a Big, Big Show (BBC-1, February 26) which found him re-united with Hattie Jacques in a pot pourri of ideas, too few of which ...

... Dr Who still going strong on well-balanced format by James Towler Dr. Who, BBC-1, February 27. IT'S about this machine, you see, which sort of infects your mind and is controlled by The Master who is really a hypotist. And with this vital background provided by a helpful eight-year-old, I settled down to make my first real acquaintance wiin ur wno. iNor was 1 ais- appointed for Part 5 of ...

... BY ANGELA MORTON Boy Meets Girl. Portrait of Jennie. BBC-1. July 28. PORTRAIT of Jennie by Robert Nathan, dramatised by David W. Stringer was not so much a love story as a ghost story. The fact that from the first five minutes it was entirely predictable did not lessen its appeal, which is something it shares with all stories ot this kind. It reminded me of the legend of the Lorelei, the ...

... A NEW company, specialising in television recording on videotape with particular emphasis or recording on tape in colour, has begun operations, with Normal Corney as general manager and chief of productions. The company, Wobum Video is a subsidiary of the photographic studio combine Woburn Studios Limited, and Peter Peck, chairman of Woburn Studios. L. J. Crampton and O H. E. Pelczer, Woburn's ...

... BY JOSEPHINE HAWORTH Takeover. Two Hundred Miles by Electric Train. L.W. July 26. LONDON Weekend's adventurous step in producing the six winners of The Observer's television play competition has proved to be much less the bad risk than one might have thought. After all, everyone thinks they can write and that the most important part of the skill is to own a typewriter. Tele vision, with its ...

... Greenwood 'Entretiens avec le Professeur Y' LOUIS-Ferdinand Celine's reputation in his native France has suffered, not from any lack of literary merit but because he openly espoused in the mid-Thirties (and remained faithful to) what had proved by 1945 to be a wrong and losing cause. After the Liberation, there fell for him a lone night of silence. From the articles and stories which have ...

... Look Mike Yarwood BBC-1, May 26 by James Towler IS the impressionist a parasite? Much depends on the individual exponent of this exacting craft. If he just goes through the usual carbon copy routines there is little to commend in his work. If, on the other hand, he uses his skill to extend his range as an entertainer in his own right, the exercise is well worth while. This is where Mike ...

... BBC-1, February 16 by Sheldon Larry We're neither pure nor wise nor good; We'll do the best we know We'll build our house, and chop our wood, And make our garden grow. from the stage musical VOLTAIRE'S novella published in the middle of the eighteenth century is a brittle mixture of humour and savagery. It continues to hold a fascination for contemporary writers as well as readers. Lillian ...

... BBC-1, February 18 by Patrick Campbell UNLIKE many of its predecessors, the new teatime serial on Sundays is definitely for children, and primarily for girl children. It will be interesting to follow the fortunes of a book published at the turn of the century and enjoyed (though perhaps not quite so tully as The Secret Garden) by the mothers and grandmothers of the present discriminating ...

... The Snow Queen Bedtime Stories, BBC-2, April 7, 10.15 JOHN BOWEN, the author of the Snow Queen, is no stranger to selection and adaptation in his playwriting. In contrast to the other plays in this series there was a positive use made of the original Hans Anderson story. This really was a modern fairv tale. Typical features of the traditional fairy tale were retained simple characters, a ...