THANK goodness Channel 4 has finally realised the potential of its hilarious amateur cookery show Come Dine With Me and moved it to a prime-time slot.

The show takes five ordinary people who each fancy themselves as a bit of a whizz in the kitchen, gets them to each host a dinner party and then mark each other on their efforts.

There's also the obligatory snoop around each other's houses laughing at their taste in curtains etc, and the dry-witted comments of the narrator that never fail to raise a smile.

Last night the show was in Newcastle and the producers must have been pretty pleased with the odd-balls they'd managed to unearth for the show. Take Lee for example, who owned a massive collection of Barbie dolls and got two gold-painted ladies to serve the martinis at his James Bond-themed meal.

Hmmm, classy, Lee.

OK, so the crumbs fell off his calamari but at least he didn't do as badly as Brenda whose Moroccan dips went down like a lead balloon or cheapskate Brian whose evening consisted of cold bananas with spray cream and a lecture on how brilliant David Cameron is.

The show isn't one for serious foodies, and don't expect to get any recipe ideas (unless you like raspberry coulis made from a blob of jam with some warm water added that is) but it's one of the most original shows on the box at the moment.