Miriam Stoppard

I'm rather puzzled by Jenny Eclair's and Julie Balloo's series, which is rather stronger on varicose veins of the labia and the dangers of high blood pressure, than it is on jokes. I'd never have thought of Eclair as the new Miriam Stoppard.

Christmas Is Coming was a fleeting, festive affair between light entertainment and science, a sort of Rowan and Martin's Laugh In with government health warnings. As Dr Stoppard had already mentioned, a fizzy mixer speeds up alcohol absorption. This fizz was unusually well-written, fine and flowing, and the whole show went dizzyingly and delightfully over your head.