UTV's Julian

If anyone from UTV reads this forum, could they please tell Julian that David Walliams is not called David Williams . It's getting embarrassing. He says it on the Parkinson trail, and has just said it again on the ECP at the end of Play Your Cards Right.

And could someone please ask the engineers to boost the gain on his mic. Thank you.

** too late! He's just managed to say it again.

** even better! Just as they cut to him for the intro to Afterlife you could hear his mobile phone interfering with the mic. I think he was receiving a text; he seemed to be startled by the fact he was on-air, and could be seen trying to move his phone out of the way while stumbling through his script.

Julian obviously doesn't watch Little Britain then, or know anything about recent popular culture then, which isn't surprising

<insert joke about the only gay in the village here>

Priceless - both denton's post and marksi's joke!

Oh that is so funny i was watching him earlier tonight i like Julian when he camps it up a bit but when he is serious it's all a bit dated .Can anyone please tell me what the background on the set is all about .

Oh come on....it was initially funny for about 2 minutes when he camped it up in 1987. Now its just bloody annoying.

Yes he is dated and a bit boring perhaps. But when you see him compared to what we get on Border now i think it's refreshing .I'm fed up with those bland and boring ITV 1 announcers they sound awful.

It's just diffrent i suppose i must admit i think that some of UTV's local commercials are quite funny also.

Absolutely - I hardly ever watch UTV/ITV (for obvious reasons ) but when you do, you do forget just how strange NI television is - especially their ads.
It's a long-standing joke in the South at this stage about the sofa advertising in the North, so much so that it's been included in political book by Olivia O'Leary. Why are people in NI so obsessed with sofas?!!
And jewellers?! And tiling shops?! I think there is actually a reason for all the sofas, just can't remember what it is...

I still find Julian funny have to say, though yes when he goes serious he's incredibly dated. And you have to laugh at how parochial he sounds when seriously warning about GASP! strong language. Indeed all UTV announcers get their knickers in a twist over 'strong language' - the outrage in their voices is quite hilarious.
In may respects, rather charmingly, it's still 1984 up in UTV.

Except of course sometimes it's not charming. Remember when Todd gave Nick a brief kiss on Coronation Street? UTV (via Our Julian) did a warning that the programme contained "adult scenes". No other ITV (or RoI) channel did such a warning.

I complained to the ITC on the grounds that it was approaching homophobia. They said they would have upheld the complaint if they could but that there was not any rule that had been broken by giving an inappropriate warning, only a rule for NOT doing a warning that WAS required. They did however say that they would raise the issue with UTV at their next meeting as it did "send out the wrong signal".

UTV refused to apologise, with their argument being that the NI audience was different to that in the rest of the UK and wouldn't be so open minded about such things. Even when pressed by myself directly by email, they point blank refused to apologise, saying they knew their audience best.

So... on UTV, you can batter people over the head with a crow-bar at 7.30 in the evening and that's ok, but don't for God's sake kiss someone of the same sex, cos that's not acceptable.

Maybe it was a friend of his sending him a text to let him know it was David Walliams and NOT Williams!!

Do NOT knock them though........watch our presentation in Grampian......I would love to have a Jullian up here!!!

Julian is part of the Culture that makes UTV unique in the ITV family, so why knock that?

Oh dear God. I really am speechless.