Massive

We were bemused at the offhand treatment dished out to the star act in new BBC3 comedy Massive at the show's launch, a pair of overweight female singers called HearKittyKitty (played by a menacing Beverley Rudd and Faye McKeever)... The pair, who at times push the men to the edge of the action, were initially given no role at the all-male press briefing lineup that followed the screening.

And perhaps that is the fatal flaw of this new wave of sitcoms, led by Peep Show. They seem to treat women as Beryl Cook-style, hard-drinking grotesques, and have very little warmth at their core. Is there a lesson, perhaps, in the fact that Johnny Vegas has found ITV1 stardom in Benidorm, an ensemble piece with a heart, and similarly Gavin & Stacey has won a place in the nation's affections?