... Over Con-fidence By RAY FRENSHAM THE RECENT winning of Best Newcomer award may have prompted LWT to have more confidence in The Brian Conley Show (ITV, Saturday) than the evidence actually displayed. Formatted along Summertime Special lines, it was a breathless mix ot crooning, sketches, turns and circus. There is a talent there (even if some of us find Conley marginally less irri tating ...

... 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 ...

... Ask Oddie ITV MOST children's nature series have concentrated on the cuddlier elements with only an oblique approach to conservation issues. Ask Oddie may have a peculiar uuc, putting one in mind, perhaps of a junior version of the Aspcl chat show, and giving no hint of its subject mat ter, but it confronts environmental concerns head on in a successful com bination of educative and ...

... Radio Roo BBC1 THE radio broadcasting Roo of the title is a bright-eyed, button-nosed kangaroo who displays a few marsupial traits but embodies much of Australian low-brow culture -in the most delightful way. Roo, whose name is ally Clive, has a nightly ritu al which includes saying good night to his nearest and dearest, identified by a row of framed photographs. So Mum is half Dame Edna ...

... Popular dramas boost STV profits GLASGOW-BASED ITV contractor Scottish Television's successful revival of Dr Finlay (starring Annette Crosbie and David Rintoul above), and long-running detective drama Taggart have helped boost pro gramme sales by 32 per cent and con tributed to an 18 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £10. 14 million for the year ending December 3 1 STV expects to sustain ...

... 'Cut the promos or lose valuable revenue' By SUZAN LEAVY THE price of advertising airtime may be forced down unless the commercial television companies reduce the amount of programme promotions shown in the breaks, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising warned this week. According the IPA director general Nick Phillips, rrV's new, more aggressive marketing strategy in pro moting its ...

... MMC VICTORY SIGNALS NEW POWER FOR INDIES By ANGUS TOWLER THE BBC and Channel 4 could lose the best independently-made drama and entertainment to ITV if they fail to take account of the Monopolies and Mergers ikmuii t> icpun uii me wummerciai cnannei s networking arrangements, the chief execu tive of the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television warned this week. The MMC was brought in to ...

... Hines' rush to find body and soul WRITE ATTITUDE THE WRITER'S lot is never a straight-forward one--as Paul Hines will testify. While many television scribes complain about the length of time they have to wait for a response from broadcasters his most recent experience has been at the other end of the spectrum being given the task of adapting Marcelle Bernstein's best-selling novel Body And ...

... Sky takes the Law into its own hands ON SATELLITE By TONY BARROW FOR those of us who grew up with the medium waveband's crackly old Radio Luxembourg or the Light Programme listened to covertly from beneath the bed ers, and a single-channel BBC Television ser vice seen by the family on a 9-inch screen in the living room, the choice of viewing and listening on offer nowadays from Europe's ...

... 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 ...