ECR TV / BIGNEWS LAUNCH TV PRODUCTION

THE WESTWOOD CROSS VIDEO

After an exhausting day of wrangling between ECR TV and Bignews Margate, following completion of a co-operative venture, Bignews Margate has after taking legal advice, reluctantly agreed to allow transmission of the feature "Westwood housing development makes Tony Flaig cross".

''This whole affair has been an eye opener'' says Me, a couple of weeks ago we were approached by ECR TV, to produce an uplifting account of the progress made by Thanet council, in making Thanet beautiful, we were given the impression that we would have strict editorial control on the finished product.

Concerns were raised on day one of the production, when having been told that Eastcliff Richard, would himself be directing the production, he failed to show, instead we were greeted on location by Mr Ceaucescu who was keen to point out that he was a graduate of the Bucharest Institute of Cinematography, having won several awards, for his work with the Romanian Ministry of Information. He also insisted on expressing extreme gratitude, with a tear in his eye to Mr Richard for not only allowing him to make films again, but also allowing him to drive his benefactor to meetings, and help keep things tidy in exchange for £50 a week and being allowed to dine on the finest English cuisine '' the beans on the toast '', having his own room in the garden, called a shed.

Anyway if alarm bells weren't ringing then, they were this morning, when we receive notification that the fee payable to Bignews, was being made in the Channel Islands, for ''tax reasons'' and then we received the actual finished product not having participated in the editing. Whole sections of our script have been ripped up, our praise for the fine job that Sandy Ezekiel and his colleagues have done, the inspirational leadership over the Turner Gallery, Dreamland and Margate high-street. Even worse our views on Westwood Cross have been completely misrepresented.

The whole day, had been ruined, work on the Flaig estates has been disrupted, in the end, rather than face a lengthy legal battle, Bignews Margate have capitulated and are allowing transmission to go ahead with their approval.