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The River Derwent in magnificent full swell mode

Channel Z has had some really good programmes and the ratings have frequently topped 10,000 persons watching. Among the most notable are - Flop Shop - According to the marketing team's blurb, 'Flop Shop' is - 'a programme for amateur inventors and everyone with a creative spark in them. It's the show where You the People turn your unwanted blueprints, self-copyrighted fiction, or failed brainwaves into cold hard cash! Wichita Winfield hosts the show in which ordinary members of the public submit their patents and ideas, which are then auctioned off live on air to others who believe they can make a real go of them. 'The show has had several success stories, the most notable being Mr. Edgar Walker, a retired groundsman from Ayre, Scotland, who in the first series offered his idea and rough sketches for a self-winding egg timer. The concept eventually fetched £1,560 for the delighted inventor after a tense 45-hour bidding war. The successful bidder, Mrs. Joy Finch from Wisbech, East Anglia, has recently entered into negotiations to produce the timer with a leading Swiss manufacturer. The talks are top secret at the moment, but it is hoped the timer will be on the shelves of novelty shops everywhere before Christmas 2001. Mr. Walker has been unavailable for comment on developments.' Produced by Kenneth Clunes, 'Flop Shop' started in October 2000. It initially ran for 11 weeks before being recommissioned for a longer run later this year. 16 Minutes of Fame - Fun chat show where celebrities of yesteryear get a last chance to avoid the urgent pull of obscurity by reminding viewers why they once walked the hallowed corridors of fame. With Boris Concert. Also features Dazzle! (all-male tap group from Inverness). Baker & Cliff Associated - Detective series that's on every Thursday night at 8.30pm. Baker (played by Bill Peters) is a down at heel private eye, operating on the mean streets of Bournemouth. Accompanied by his old school friend Cliff, the pair investigate crime against old people. Michael is keen to increase the number of action/adventure series on the schedule. Unfortunately this series is being axed after its second series. On Honeymoon - with Rita Collingwood - One of Ellen's favourite Channel Z programmes, this fly-on-the-wall documentary follows a newly married couple as they share their honeymoon in a top Bristol hotel with 65 year-old American lifestyle and relationships expert Rita Collingwood. According to the press release: 'As a journalist, and mother-of two grown up children, Collingwood has a vast fund of experience which really helps newlyweds to unlock their problems, and expose their secret fears and anxieties to each other, at this most delicate of junctures in their life together. She believes that she can particularly help and encourage them with what they may be feeling, through drawing in a humourous way upon the bitter emotions that she had to deal with as she learned to accept the disappointment of her own failed union to ex-fireman husband Philip. 'Over the course of each programme she follows the newlyweds around from morning to night, generously dropping pearls of wisdom in their path, gently challenging and provoking the honeymooners, who as time wears on experience a welling up of often fierce emotions. Her advice, which can be harsh, is split into four different areas: loving, sharing, fighting, and changing. The couple also take part in an assault course-based challenge where they can win up to £3,000 for a charity of their choice!' I don't like it. Happy Gang - On 16th July 1998 'Happy Gang' - a jolly family quiz show - became the first programme to be broadcast on Channel Z. It was hosted by the zany, frizzy-haired madcap presenter Lester Bennett. Unfortunately the programme was axed after only three editions when it came to light that the programme idea was being illegally used without permission of the copyright owner - Perce Witherspoon of Texan cable TV channel KL-DNEY. It was replaced by 'Turbulence', and frankly was soon forgotten. Waterfall - Broadcast in September 2000, 'Waterfall' was an attempt by Channel Z TV to move away from quiz shows and soaps and into the realm of serious drama. Read the script here. Turbulence - Weekday early evening soap charting the life and loves of a dedicated team of top air traffic controllers. Fun fact: the theme song 'Flying Away' reached number 41 in the charts in February 1999. Turbulence is one of the station's top rated programmes so far. Regretfully Speaking - A popular literature-based quiz, hosted by former matinee idol Tony Chance-Hero. The top rated programme in March 2001. 87 recordings were made over a two-month period from February - April 2001. A Plumber’s Mate - The success of this docusoap set in Hull has baffled station bosses. Michael produced this 8-part series in 2000, much to the consternation of his wife Ellen, who commented: 'I don't want to see a plumber on my telly, Michael. I want to have fun on my telly. Not a plumber.' If anything Ellen's dislike for the show could have spurred Michael on to commission the second and third series. CHRIS - The Christopher Columbus Story - Ellen commissioned this project which looks set to become Channel Z's 'Jewel in the Crown', albeit one set on the high seas, rather than in India. It has been written by esteemed television author Aubrey O'Gough. Mr O'Gough is as famous for his wit on the chat-show circuit as his television serials, which have included: 'The Maurice Protocol', 'Laura's Opposal' and 'Orders from Tewkesbury'. Executive producing is Ellen's old friend and colleague Martin Blarnspot. Blarnspot enjoyed the majority of his success in the late 1980's. There is a feeling that with 'CHRIS' he might have found his much needed second wind. 'CHRIS' is currently filming on the biggest sound stage at Channel Z (stage 1). The ocean-bound scenes are being filmed at Shepherdsfield Leisure Centre. Dictionary Diligence - Devised by Michael Macintyre, 'Dictionary Diligence' is a fun daytime letters quiz, where contestants are rewarded for the most consecutive words they can memorise from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Broadcast every weekday between 4-5pm, the show has become an instant hit with the housebound, and those returning home from work slightly early. The current record holder is Mr P.Wallace of Melton Mowbray, who in a mammoth three hour live special on 6th July 2001 was able to recite every word in the dictionary from 'a' to 'buccaneer'. He won a special 'Dictionary Diligence' dictionary dust-jacket for his pains. Mr Wallace welcomes all pretenders to his crown to 'Step this way!' Dictionary Diligence is hosted by former fifties child singing star and legendary seventies ladies man Boris Concert. Body Talk - With Rice and Hanley - The popular science discussion programme, broadcast live from Studio 6 - the smallest studio at Channel Z Television. Hosted by Olivier Riedle and featuring regular guests Dr Franklin Rice and Dr Jonathan Hanley, 'Body Talk' regularly attracts 4900+ regular viewers. Viewers are invited to phone in with their medical queries. Some even take the trouble to write in with detailed descriptions of their ailments, as well as sometimes grisly photographs. Rice and Hanley are always on hand to offer common sense advice on everything from the common cold to the odd case of Fireman's Leg. Fun fact - Rice and Hanley are currently suing one another in a dispute over billing on the show. In the pipeline - Ellen and Martin are currently researching and devising a romantic canalling saga. It has a working title of 'Waterways of our Love'. Michael is planning a new zany trains-related panel game show, to be hosted by Geoffrey 'The Jock' Secombe. It is hoped to commence filming as soon as Secombe is released from jail.

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