WHEN comedians make the move from the stage to hosting their own television show they tend to lose the edge that got them there in the first place.

John Bishop is easily the funniest thing on A League Of Their Own, and comes across here like a modern-day Stan Boardman with jokes that are not actually about “the Geeermans”.

There’s a bit of social commentary and Bishop shares his stand-up routine with clips of individuals (young speed-talking DJ Josh is excellent) giving their opinions on a range of issues, which works quite well and gives the programme a means to move away from simply being a vehicle to repeat his stage show.

This week the theme is Love And Marriage, and Bishop says: “The ex-wife lives in Spain now. It’s not as far away as you think, to be honest.

“You get married and then suddenly one day, after about seven years, you wake up and think ‘why don’t you just **** ***?”

It’s not the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s just the start, and given the wealth of material Bishop must have built up over his many years on the circuit, the BBC could well be on to something very good here.