A BBC television presenter has moved into Mrs Doyle's slippers as the new face of the Inland Revenue.

Adam Hart-Davis, who is a presenter of Tomorrow's World was revealed as the front man of the Revenue's new self assessment campaign on Monday.

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Mr Hart-Davis is the third "face" to represent the Revenue, after Father Ted's Mrs Doyle - voted the most annoying advert last year - and Hector, the tax inspector who was deemed "too white, middle-class and middle-aged."

The Revenue said that it was aiming to create a "shift in people's perceptions", and said their new front man reflected the image the Revenue was striving for: "knowledgeable, objective, human, reasonable and efficient".

�6m campaign

The costs of encouraging the UK's nine million self-assessment taxpayers to send their returns in time will reach �6m this year, the Revenue said.

It plans to use Mr Hart-Davis for at least three years.

The first advert featuring the TV presenter will start on Monday night, with two to follow later in the year.

In the advert, Mr Hart-Davis is seen abseiling down a trendy high-rise building.

On the way, he explains that "help is at hand", "it is never as bad as it looks" and "taxing does not have to be taxing".

Go on, go on

The advert is a u-turn from last year's approach, which showed Father Ted's Mrs Doyle hectoring people to "Go on, Go on, Go on, " and complete their tax return.

Sir Nicholas Montagu, chairman of the Board of the Inland Revenue said that his department wanted "to make it as easy as possible for people to understand".

In 2000, the Revenue became the first ever Whitehall department to appoint a marketing director.

Ian Schoolar from NatWest was given the arduous task of making the Revenue more consumer-friendly.

Sir Nicholas told BBC News Online that staff in the Revenue were being encouraged to become more friendly and helpful.

The "top 500" Revenue staff are in the process of attending 24-hour long "modernisation seminars" at the Revenue's training college in Lincoln.

It's a "big internal communications push", he said.

However, a survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) published recently found that 98% of accountants had experienced problems due to Inland Revenue system failures or errors.

The Revenue's online self assessment service was recently taken offline after a serious security breach.

Sir Nicholas said that confidence had been restored in the service, with an unprecedented number of people using the online filing system over recent weeks.