Deadly Earnest

Deadly Earnest was simultaneously portrayed by Bannerman in Sydney, Channel 0 floor manager Ralph Baker in Melbourne, future TV drama star Shane Porteous in Brisbane, and Hedley Cullen in Adelaide.

While the majority of films featured on Deadly Earnest's Aweful Movies were stereotypical American 'schlock', a smattering of British, European and Japanese productions were thrown in every so often for good measure.

The chief unifying element was the consistently poor quality of the material – the term "Aweful Movie" could often be applied in more than one sense – which was, evidently, part of the show's appeal.

There is also a surviving 16mm telecine monochrome film of Bannerman, in character as Deadly Earnest, on the Aweful Movies set, making a guest appearance on the Barry Crocker variety series Say It With Music ca.

1968 – this was possibly a Halloween edition of the series, and features Crocker, Bannerman, and a group of supporting singers and dancers, performing a sequence of lighthearted horror-themed musical numbers.

[10] One clip of Baker introducing a movie exists, and in mid-2010 footage of him in character was recovered from a current affairs show held by the National Film and Sound Archive.