Video nasties

Roy Chubby Brown is the undisputed ruler of the adult video market. Yet even he makes mistakes. Branching out, two years ago, he made a feature film called UFO which enjoyed a very limited release and accrued no more than small change by Chubby's standards. "I don't think the rhythm of the cinema, the Friday night with your girlfriend and popcorn, quite suits Chubby," said Pete Smith of Polygram, his video company. "His is more of a lager-and-pizza-and-mates sitting-in-front-of-the-telly sort of rhythm."

Jimmy Jones, the south of England's answer to Bernard Manning, except ruder, has discovered a whole new market since he was committed to tape. But women, unaccountably, remain his core audience. "It's because I tell the truth," he says. "You can see themnudging their husbands and saying, you do that."

Bob Monkhouse, latterly re-positioned by the Frank Skinner generation as the Godfather of comedy, jumped aboard the tape bandwagon last Christmas. His Live and Uncensored video of his act was awash with sophisticated, cunning word-play and masterful gaggery. But it also contained no foul language: Monkhouse makes an intellectual point of never swearing on stage. The tape would have been granted a 15 certificate, a kiss of death in the adult market, so a gratuitous stripper appeared halfway through the show to gain the requisite sales-enhancing 18 stamp.