GANGSTER FILM SHOWCASE BOOSTS BBC2 VIEWING FIGURES

A showcase of the new gangster film TRIADS, YARDIES AND ONION BHAJEES on BBC2's NETWORK EAST LATE programme increased viewing figures by 1.2 million.

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom - Network East Late, the British Broadcasting Corporation's flagship show for Asian viewers receives on average a half million viewers. This is pretty good for a programme aimed at a minority audience but good became amazing on Wednesday 5th March 2003.

Network East Late featured a segment on the controversial crime movie Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees. British Asians had been hearing about this film for months and this was their first opportunity to view clips from the movie and hear what the makers had to say.

Clips featuring four-letter words were broadcast after a profane language warning was issued prior to the show. This helped to hold viewers attention until the moment they had been waiting for. Added to the average 500,000 weekly audience was an additional 1.2 million viewers making the show the most watched programme in the British ethnic community.

Put into perspective, if you take away the Asian channels on Cable and Satellite, the Network East Late programme show featuring Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees could have entered the TV Top 10 just below soap stalwarts Eastenders and Coronation Street, perhaps beating Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire in real terms. The show was even mentioned in the mainstream Sunday People newspaper, the first time Network East Late has been acknowledged by the tabloid press.

Producers at BBC Birmingham who make the show are said to be ecstatic. After the show they received record e-mails praising Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees. The Network East message board on the internet has been the scene for an online battle between Asians for and against the movie which has not even been released!

Let's hope the movie lives up to the hype. Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees premieres at the Cannes Film Festival later this year.