Queens of comedy

They are famous, they are female - and, most of all, they are funny.

A new poll has named Victoria Wood, Dawn French and Kathy Burke as the top three women comics of all time.

Heading the list is Wood, 53, whose "witty but lovable" humour ranges from stand-up and sketches to acting and singing.

The Radio Times, which commissioned the poll of more than 4,000 people, said the Acorn Antiques star had "an unrivalled capacity to make the homespun hilarious".

In second place is French, dubbed a "great big playful pixie with a Godgiven gift for clowning". Third is Burke, who the magazine said managed to make the grotesque - from Waynetta Slob to the monstrous Linda in Gimme Gimme Gimme - oddly appealing.

Also in the top 10 are Wood's comedy partner Julie Walters, French's collaborator Jennifer Saunders, and stand-up Jo Brand. In seventh place is the quintessentially English comedian Joyce Grenfell, darling of the Fifties. Americans Joan Rivers and the late Lucille Ball also feature.

The most contemporary name is Catherine Tate, whose TV show has spawned a host of cult characters including "am I bovvered?" schoolgirl Lauren.

However, French bemoaned the lack of young female comedy stars. The 48-year-old, who is to front a new BBC series about women comics, Girls Who Do Comedy, said: "Victoria Wood and I were saying how surprised we both were that we hadn't been overtaken by a new wave of younger women comedians."

She believes the reason is subtle social pressure on women not to stand out.

"When I was younger I knew that if I was, say, out with friends in a pub where there were lots of young men, I ought to temper my humour a bit ... out of respect for their egos," she said. "As a woman you're supposed to step back and let the men through."

The full feature is in the new issue of Radio Times, out tomorrow.