ok, actually had a look at what was wrong last night instead of just making assumptions
(not that i'm saying i found a solution - am pretty rubbish at working this through...)
problem lies with the cable from the NTL box to the back of TV / video / socket in wall - this has been broken over the course of the renovations (i found this out when i found the video, complete with its power supply and also *most* of the NTL cable - can only assume that someone (and i'm not blaming my wife really) must have yanked it out of the socket when tidying the equipment away before the building started)
..now i did manage to get a fussy (not snowy) reception for all the normal tv channels (rte - bbc - etc) last night but i think that the ntl cable is feecked so
.. now my question is twofold -
1) do i have to get a new cable from ntl (to fit their box) or is this a generic type of cable supplied somewhere (if yes, where would that be) and
2) i need a splitter to give me the appropriate cable tv access to points in the other rooms in the house - i think it is a small triangular shaped box with one input point and two output points - is this correct? and if so, where would i get same?
many thanks for all your replies yesterday ... may i be so bold as to request your knowledge again today please