ODDITIES AND CONTROVERSIES

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ODDITIES AND CONTROVERSIES. Cont'd.

Too pretty and too sexy for Italian television

Picture: Max Salvaggio/Corona's, published by kind permission of Capital

Photo: The poses proved too much for Ms Pedron's boss. Picture: Max Salvaggio/Corona's by kind permission of Capital.

Even this features two girls, usually dressed in a small top, even smaller skirt and knee-high boots, who dance on the desk at regular intervals. These two 'Veline', as they are known in Italy, will soon to be replaced. Even finding their replacements has become big business. Last time round more than 10,000 girls applied. This time, as before, they will be auditioned throughout the summer and the auditions form their own show, which is broadcast every night after Striscia la Notizia. The show will naturally pull in even more ratings and sponsors for Canale 5, another of Mr Berlusconi's channels.

'Vulgar dances': Over on state TV Rai, even the presenter of an entertainment programme - which covers the progress of the Serie A football league every Sunday afternoon - often struggles on camera to stay in her incredibly low cut tops. And, like many programmes on Italian television, she kicks off with an obligatory song, accompanied by a troupe of usually scantily-clad dancers. Emanuela Rossi, 23, now works as a TV presenter, but until last year she was a dancer on another Rai variety-type show where the outfits were usually on the skimpy side. "Initially I was a bit frightened and embarrassed because they were really short outfits, very exposing," she said. But that was nothing compared to some other programmes, she added. "In some transmissions there are indecent clothes, like the one where the dances were really vulgar - and in this context it was very trashy. "But if it's a funny, entertaining setting which isn't vulgar, I accept the revealing clothes," she said.

Italian meteorologist

Photo: Italians have traditionally got their forecasts from military meteorologists.

"Terrible lack of ideas': Men in many countries would surely be more than happy to see so much flesh on show on their screens - but why do Italian channels offer so much more than those in other countries? There are two reasons, according to Professor Michele Sorice, who teaches History of Radio and Television at Rome's main university. "On one hand the TV variety programmes come largely from Italy's show tradition, which has always featured half-naked dancers," he said. "On the other hand it comes from a terrible lack of ideas," he added. But things could soon start to change. Mr Sorice believes viewers are already sick of these programmes. Surveys show they watch, but criticise them harshly. "I think even Italians are a bit bored with always seeing undressed women on the television," Mr Sorice said. "The proof of this is in the fact that the biggest hits on Italian TV in recent months have actually been the period dramas."

UK premiere for Indian drag film

A Hindi film about drag queens that has been denied a certificate by the Indian Censor Board receives its UK premiere on Thursday at the Manchester Commonwealth Institute.

The Pink Mirror (Gulabi Aaina) has been seen at more than 30 international film festivals but has been banned in India because of its homosexual content. "The Censor Board has refused to give it a certificate - not even an adult certificate - because they consider it full of obscenity and vulgarity," director Sridhar Rangayan told BBC News Online. The 40-minute short tells the story of two drag queens - Shabbo (Edwin Fernandes) and Bibbo (Ramesh Memon) - who battle with a westernised gay teenager for the affections of a handsome young man.

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