htaccess blues

Hi guys,
Im trying to get my site working and I have been marred with problems.
the site is http://blog.thefilmlounge.co.uk
Im very new to this, and have very little experience with programming/servers etc.

The server is using Apache (I know this because every time I put in a .htaccess file it all defaults back to the test page)

Im not too fussed about pretty permalinks (although that would be a bonus)

I have had mod_rewrite enabled on my server, by changing

AllowOverride Limit AuthConfig

…to…

AllowOverride All

However my htaccess file still misbehaves.
It works ok when I use Index.php/ as the base of my permalink structure

which would be fine however… (note: this may be an entirely different problem)

When I add new pages to the blog, it doesnt matter what I type, when I click view page after publishing it, it pulls up a page identical to my index page.

the title of the new page is in the top of my browser window ie “test”, but the page is exactly the same as my index.php page.

and looking at other people’s problems, they suggest the .htaccess is the source of the trouble, specifically the index.php/ permalink base.

But even when I take it off the response is still the same.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Id very much appreciate the support.

Alex