Girls on top for BBC

Meet Lara and Maddy - obviously female but not quite all woman.

Both are smart and sassy and work in respectable, demanding science-related jobs - but they can also be turned on or off at the flick of a switch.

Lara Croft, star of the video game series Tomb Raider, is already famous for her archaeological antics.

Now a new-look version is being challenged in the virtual pin-up stakes by Maddy, a slightly dowdier offering from the BBC.

She is TV's first virtual presenter and made her debut last night alongside humans on Tomorrow's World.

Maddy has some ground to make up on Ms Croft, who has already starred in five games, a film and soft drink adverts.

Tomb Raider creators at Core Design have high hopes for Lara's sixth game, TheAngel Of Darkness, which hits the shops in November.

They say they designed Lara

using ten times the detail of her previous incarnation, allowing smoother movement.

'It also means that she has a bottom for the first time - before it was just an illusion,'said Jeremy Heath-Smith, Core's managing director.

She is based on a Dutch model, 20-year-old Jill de Jong.

But there is more to Maddy than a virtual bottom. One of her creators, Michael Antcliff, said: 'Maddy is taking this technology to another level. This is the first time ever in the world that a virtual reality character will go live, real-time in a TV studio.'

They used an artificial intelligence system so Maddy could learn about science and respond to questions.

Mr Antcliff added: 'These characters have a role in our lives, either on TV or PCs. But I don't think they'll ever totally replace humans.'