... All this mincing's making us wince By CHRIS HUGHES A MOTHER-IN-LAW joke on television these days is about as rare as spotting a man sporting bellbottoms and platform heels. It's hard to imagine how white men sporting big fuzzy afro haircuts used to waltz down the street with serious expressions on their faces with the sound of King Fu Fighting still ringing in their well-insulated ears. In ...

... Increased Exchequer levy hits Drofits at HTV Groun HTV GROUP, which owns the rTV franchise for Wales and the West of England, has pointed to the increased Exchequer Levy specified by the Government as a significant reason for a 14.3 per cent fall in in its pretax profits for the first half of 1990. The company, which paid £2 mil lion more to the Treasury because of new government regulations, ...

... Telso project TELSO International, the distribution arm of ITV company TVS, is to co-develop nine new projects aimed at family audiences, including The Torch, the children's drama made by independent company Edinburgh Film and Video Productions for the BBC and British Satellite Broadcasting. ...

... An eye for the birds BASIL the parrot (left) this week bows out of BBC Radio 4's The Archers, as he is recognised and reclaimed by his true owner at a pet show, leav ing a rather disgruntled Joe Grundy (EDWARD KELSEY). Basil, who in reality lives in owner Brian Martin's pet shop in Nuneaton, Coventry, is a champion chatterbox. He has won the title of Britain's most talkative bird three years ...

... The Ruth Rendell Mysteries ITV I ALWAYS find Wexford rather an uninspiring television detective. It is not that George Baker's portrayal of him, stolid, sanguine, and ruddy- faced, is not true to Ruth Rendell's intentions. Here is a man who proceeds by instinct, the mechanisms of which he is loath to reveal to his leagues, let alone us, the viewers. Indeed for much of the first part of this ...

... 'Equity spurned our olive branch' claim By SUZAN LEAVY THE OUTCOME of Marius Goring's High Court action against Equity will now be a Pyrrhic victory for the winner and only the lawyers will emerge better off, an' insider in Goring's camp said this week. It now looks inevitable that the two sides will meet in court after the union turned down council member Goring's offer to halt his action, as ...

... Telethon comes of age in the charity stakes BY KEITH POTTAGE I TV's Telethon (Saturday-Sunday over 26 hours) offered the best entertainment of any television charity epic yet. Out went most of the sillv stuff where celebrities or members of the public show how gorm less they can be, and in came endless spon sor's logos, special versions of popular shows and some rather good routines during ...

... There's no crisis at Jazz FM says station director By SUZAN LEAVY MALCOLM Laycock, the new director of programmes at London's Jazz FM radio, said this week that he would not radically change the format of the station and denied that it was in a crisis despite falling ratings. Laycock was appointed programme director last week following the depar ture of Jazz FM founder David Lee as musical ...

... Morse passes the inspection ITV Inspector Morse THE Oxford sleuth returns for a new series, now, more than ever, wearing his crustiness like a triumphal badge of office. He affected a certain sly pleasure in the knowledge that another officer had him marked down as a good detective but a bad policeman. The genre of the maverick cop, whether he be Spender, Colombo or Morse, is always going to ...

... May To December BBC1 TO nick a phrase from the well-known commercial, That'll do nicely. The big danger in a sitcom romance pairing an advanced middle-aged man with a much younger girl is that the age gap turns him into a dirty old man. In which case Anton Kodgers, as solicitor Alec Callender is doubly a 'DOM.' His original live-in partner has had to be changed. She has gone off to tour with ...

... Broadway to begin fundraising FUNDRAIS1NG will commence in March for a new media centre based in Nottingham which will house a 7,(MX) square feet film and television production training centre. The £1.5 million Broadway centre will also be home to two cinema screens, a photography gallery and a cafe/bar. Broadway has been in develop ment for five years. The building in which it will be ...

... £3 million fund for screen drama By STAGE REPORTER A NEW £3 million fund designed to increase the amount of screen drama made in the North of England was announced this week. It is hoped that the Northern Film Investment Fund will help raise the number of jobs in the region's film and television industry. The Fund has been set up by the Northern Media Forum, a consor tium of regional ...