Hi Guys,
Well, I am most surprised! I had been switching off the Fox at the wall outlet but hadn't tried unplugging it altogether. I did so and it has revived it, mostly. There must be a trickle of current from the outlet to the Fox somehow for this to work. Odd!
I had put in new batteries in the remote but have just put in better quality ones and this has smartened up the response. So between you my problems seem to be over. The only thing that doesn't work now on the remote is the TV volume control but this may just be a matter of configuring my TV to it again.
Actually I may not have to do this anyway. I've been having trouble with my Sony dvd recorder so, following on from the success with Fox, I unplugged the recorder, the aerial and the scarts, and totally re-installed the system. It now seems to be working fine. The Sony recorder remote controls the TV, too, so sound is now no problem.
The Sony recorder doesn't have a built in Freeview tuner so it must get these channels through the Fox. I shall now just leave the Fox on standby while we watch TV - I think we may have been turning it off altogether.
I'm very grateful for your quick replies. May 2008 bring you good fortune and good watching.