It's that time of the year when one darts World Championship melts effortlessly into another darts World Championship, darts having, like boxing, a pragmatically flexible approach to geography when it comes to the question of how many worlds there are.

And so, still mopping ourselves down after the PDC final at Alexandra Palace, North London, we pass over to BBC Two and the BDO World Championship at the Lakeside in Frimley Green, Surrey, bridging - courtesy of the magic of television - years of bitterness, political infighting and entrenched cultural differences at the push of a button.

The common expression for the contrast created by this journey is “after the Lord Mayor's Show”, although in some years that formulation has flattered the Lakeside, and “after the Lord Mayor's funeral” might have been more like it. Nevertheless, we stand by the BDO for its persistence and salute the BBC for giving us something to watch in that often tricky interval between January and February, not to mention the equally tricky interval between Cash in the Attic and Deal or No Deal.

The coverage also features Bobby George and, in the estimation of this column, there is no such thing as an unwatchable programme with George in it. Even Celebrity Fit Club was watchable when he was in it.

And is it me, or does the bling of “The King of Bling” get bling-ier with time? Whatever, in the present recessionary climate, what a joy it is to see economic confidence so fearlessly expressed, and to find someone who backed gold when the backing was good, and isn't afraid to let the world know about it. Both the worlds, in fact.

Say whatever else you like about round one at the Lakeside, but it produced a magnificent exercise in contrasting walk-ons. In his role as “The Count”, Ted Hankey offers the Dracula myth as filtered through the saloon bar of a quiet pub. Uniquely among darts players in the post-Victorian era, he likes to come before us in a floor-length cape, the tall, upturned collar of which, albeit briefly, protects his brilliantly shone hair from stray darts (a real threat at the Lakeside).

There is a slightly sheepish moment when the dry ice clears and Hankey realises that he is on a relatively small stage with a dartboard. At this moment, it is possible that the former world champion knows what Bridget Jones felt like when she arrived in a Bunny Girl outfit, only to discover the party wasn't fancy dress after all.

The Count, however, is nothing if not nerveless in these awkward circumstances, and, undaunted, he shows the crowd the terrifying red lining of his cloak before moving on to the part of the walk-on formally known as “the distribution of the fake bats”. Herein he tosses to his grateful supporters one or two samples of the staple Gothic beast

in toy form, an act of unprompted largesse, which means that, whatever else happens, someone gets to go home with a rubbery creature - although I suppose that's hardly unique at a darts tournament.

Contrast Hankey's opponent, Brian “Pecker” Woods, who also enters clutching a toy - not a bat this time, but Woody Woodpecker in soft form. Pecker gamely gives his Woody a waggle for the benefit of the cameras - which is not a sentence one ever imagined being able to write in the context of an afternoon broadcast, but such is the glory of darts.

What this encounter presented us with, then, figuratively speaking, was Dracula versus a stuffed woodpecker. Sid Waddell, the “Voice of Darts” on Sky, would have been all over this, one feels fairly confident about suggesting, squeezing it until the puns squeaked and the stuffed bird itself cried out for mercy.

The BBC's team, by contrast - David Croft with “the legend that is” Tony Green - adopt a gentler approach, ignoring the elephant in the room (or, as it may be, the woodpecker on the oche) in preference for understated analysis. A decision seems to have been taken to let the darts speak for itself, which is risky, given the general standard of play in the BDO, but at least one can admire the principle behind their restraint.

At this point, it is only fair to point out that the PDC World Championship produced a first-round match between two qualifiers that was so bad that Sky had to stop broadcasting it, hastily cutting away in embarrassment to a recap of the tournament. The scoring at the Lakeside may tend towards the steady, rather than the breathtaking, but at least the BBC hasn't yet had to press the “abandon” button.

Anyway, The Count emerged victorious, to the delight of his mother in the audience. Did Dracula's mum faithfully turn up to support him on his nights out? Again, one senses the Hankey legend fraying at the edges. But let's wait and see, as the tournament develops.