Sackcloth
LAST week I wrote in this column about the background and profits of a popular televi- sion programme, using Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium as my example. The figure I gave for the programme's advertising revenue over the entire network (03,000) may, I understand, be an under-estimate, but I was wrong to state that it goes to ATV; as contractors for the London area, they expect to take some- thing under £.14,000. The cost of putting on Beat the Clock (which runs for an average of nine minutes, not, as I thought, for a third of the show) is in the region of £600 to £800, not Lioo to £400. The Palladium features in the Flash commercial--as one of a series of famous Lon- don institutions, including Waterloo Station; but Mr. Parnell's name is nowhere mentioned. Mr. Lew Grade is a director of ATV but his brother, Mr. Leslie Grade, is not, and has not been. Excerpts from actual Palladium shows have been seen in a condensed version after a couple of the Christmas pantomimes, but they are not other- wise shown on TV.
I am assured, too, that there has been no economy drive over such matter as first-class rail fares and office staff; the regulations drawn up three years ago have not been amended.
The facts and figures were offered in good faith, on the basis of information supplied to me by sources I trusted. But I do not wish to beat about the bush, led alone the clock; the responsi- bility for the inaccuracies is mine, and I owe an apology to Mr. Parnell and ATV.
P. F.
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