Victoria Wood attacks BBC comedy

The comedian Victoria Wood is the latest broadcaster to hit out at the BBC's "testosterone-fuelled" comedy panel shows such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Mock the Week. The comedian told the Radio Times that such programmes are "very male-dominated, because they rely on men topping each other, or sparring with each other, which is not generally a very female thing".
 
Her complaint follows attacks by fellow TV personalities Mariella Frostrup and Sandi Toksvig, both of whom have accused male-dominated panel shows of sexism. Last year, Frostrup criticised Have I Got News For You for being biased against female guests. She called the panel game a "disgrace", saying that women were invited to appear only as a token presence. She also accused the "testosterone-driven" team captains, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, of singling female panellists out for ridicule.
 
Toksvig, who hosts Radio 4's The News Quiz, has also said that female panellists were often edited out of the final cut. "Testosterone-fuelled arguments between the boys make it difficult," Toksvig said last year. "Women's jokes aren't about trying to top the last person or 'win' the game," she said "I think that if more women were in charge, everyone would get a look in."
 
Bill Matthews, the co-creator of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, agreed that panel shows were male-dominated, describing them as "bear pits" which were "too competitive and testosterone heavy". A BBC spokeswoman said: "There are far fewer female comedians than male so despite wanting to feature more women on our panel shows we often can't. We are working to address this issue though."
 
Wood's comments come as she prepares to make her debut appearance on the 51st series of the BBC Radio show, I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue, billed as "the antidote to panel games". It will be the first time the show has gone on air without its host of 35 years, Humphrey Lyttelton, who died in April last year, aged 86. Wood will be the only woman on the show, appearing alongside veteran panellists Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden in a recording chaired by Stephen Fry, who is currently sharing the role with comedians Jack Dee and Rob Brydon. ·