The art of ventriloquism, like the A-team, began to disappear from TV screens sometime in the 1980s.  There are two reasons for this.  One, specific to the former, is the widespread improvement in picture quality and camera work, which made the previously imperceptible movements of the ventriloquist’s lips seem suddenly as undeniable as a broken pelvis.  The other, common to both, is that the premise had become tired, predictable and rather naff. Read more