With Mistresses off the air for good, there's a gap in the market for a strong female-led drama. This latest series about an all-woman cab firm is warm-hearted but too clichéd to convince. In tonight's episode, top footballer Eddie Shannon (Ricky Whittleo]) hires the girls to provide transport for his wedding. Over at Kenny Ho's rival cab firm, the male drivers are up in arms, threatened by the female competition. "Women taxi drivers, you just can't hack it," sneers one of the predictably sexist crew.

BBC1 has answered the question that no one was asking: "What would it be like if the cast of Loose Women ran a taxi firm?"

Well, with Candy Cabs we found out.

This is an ­empowering story for women about some women who are ­obviously much better than the feckless, idiot men that surround them.

Women who just need a bit of self belief to prove their self-worth. Well, self-belief and £35,000 from Elaine, who ­re-mortgaged her house without telling her ­husband, because he might have said no.

What a bastard he is, eh ladies? Not being willing to risk ­homelessness by ­investing in a business run by women so ­brilliant that they didn't even know taxis had to be licensed. Boo him!

Look, I get it. I ­understand that I'm not the target audience for this show, but I do think if your idea of being a strong, ­confident, modern woman is having "Sex Bomb" played at your funeral, we may need to call you a taxi.

Grace Dent's TV OD: Candy Cabs

All's fare in love and war according to this all-female cab firm comedy which plays out the battle of the sexes with a fluffy line in cliche.

Candy Cabs Q&A

We noticed a lot of love for the Candy Cabs ladies as the first episode went out, so here's your chance to interview them...

To be fair, Candy Cabs (BBC1) isn't strictly a comedy. It's a comedy-drama and the mix is, I suppose, a matter of taste. The first episode began at a funeral - Shazza's funeral, according to the pink floral display spelling out her name in the hearse's window - creating a dark and engaging atmosphere that immediately dissipates, not long after they play Tom Jones's Sex Bomb at the cremation.

Shazza, we learn, was the would-be proprietor of Candy Cabs[, until she died in the reduced bread section at Asda, expiring even before the bread did. Her two partners, Jackie and Elaine, decide to go on without her, taking delivery of the new fleet of pink cabs and hiring a load of women drivers. From then on the whole thing becomes terribly insubstantial. Candy Cabs has a company slimming club, which obliges the employees to spend rather more time in their underwear than you find in most cab offices. All the male characters are bastards and idiots who seem to have wandered across from other programmes - especially Paul Kaye as Shazza's cowboy-suited, unscrupulous ex-husband.

A lot of the humour comes from the use of northern turns of phrase that are either meant to strike you as quirkily novel or pleasingly familiar, depending on where you live. Saying: "Look what t'cat's peeled up" when someone walks into a room is not itself a joke, but you might still find it funny if you'd never heard it before. I won't lie - I had to listen to it twice to understand it.

Candy Cabs was, in its own tame and sentimental way, quite enjoyable. If it wasn't often funny, it never raised any real expectations that it would be; and if it was occasionally downright mawkish, well, I have a pretty high tolerance for that sort of thing. There's still a big hole at the centre of it, but I'm prepared to be charitable and assume it's the character of Shazza. We'll have to find a way to struggle on without her.

Candy Cabs made Sheilas' Wheels ads look like Chekhov

Candy Cabs was like reversing into the Dark Ages, stuffed with jokes and stereotypes that failed their MoTs a good 20 years ago.

'Candy Cabs' books in 5.5m for BBC One

New BBC comedy Candy Cabs booked in almost 5.5 million viewers on Tuesday evening, outperforming Smugglers on ITV1, the latest audience data has revealed.

Candy Cabs telly review

Overall the show is very watchable with a strong cast and a clear sense of fun mixed in with drama.

Claire Sweeney: 'I like Mandy's tiny outfits!'

Actress and Loose Women panellist Claire Sweeney talks about her role as maneater Mandy in BBC1's comedy drama Candy Cabs...

A group of feisty women friends launch a girls-only taxi service. They are heart-warmingly bluff in the face of adversity yet nurturing and supportive towards each other. And they've no end of trouble with flamin' men. (Insert condescending eye-roll here.) Paul Kaye reprises every role he's had in the last 10 years playing a feckless waster who arrives to cause trouble. In trying to produce chirpy, working-class drama, they've succeeded in patronising all concerned in the way that, say, Linda Green just didn't.