Pick of the Day

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Big Top BBC1, 7.30pm You'd think that the colourful world of the circus, with its accompanying transient lifestyle and death-defying acrobats living cheek by jowl with loincloth-wearing strongmen, would be ripe for a spot of tomfoolery. But this new sitcom, starring Amanda Holden (top, front) as a sort of ring-mistress as styled by Playboy, is unlikely to inspire many viewers to visit their local big top during the festive season.

The laughs (which are as rare as hens' teeth) are as broken down as the cast of characters who people the fictional Circus Maestro, and despite everyone's best efforts, including John Thomson and Sophie Thompson (top left) as an antiquated clown …