Half-baked offering ILONA AMOS<br /><br />EITHER all our funny girls are struggling for work or the chance to be part of a sitcom scripted by Jennifer Saunders is just too good a gig to resist. Whatever the reason, short of Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Catherine Tate, the BBC has managed to sign up most of the country's top female comedy talent - plus David Mitchell - for the new comedy series Jam and Jerusalem.<br /><br />A far cry from the champagne-swilling luvvies of Absolutely Fabulous, Saunders' latest offering centres on the goings-on at the women's guild in a small West Country town. Sue Johnston stars as Sal, the practice nurse at her husband's surgery, with Pauline McLynn (Father Ted) playing her best friend and workmate Tip. Dawn French, Joanna Lumley and Saunders herself are joined by Sally Phillips (Smack the Pony) and Doreen Mantle (One Foot in the Grave) as the ladies who supply the local church with crocheted bible covers and embroidery.<br /><br />After her turn in The Royle Family, it's a common misconception that Johnston can do comedy - what she can actually do is expertly deliver good lines. But despite a solid performance here, my sides remained unsplit after the opening episode. Not only is the 'local church and busybody ladies' situation as worn-out as some of the old dears' hips, there's a disappointingly hammy, am-dram feel to the whole affair, relying on physical gags - such as crumbly Lumley's ill-fitting falsers and French's take on a village idiot - for laughs.<br /><br />The question remains why Saunders chose this as her comeback vehicle. Perhaps it's in the hope of aping her former partner's success with The Vicar of Dibley. Or maybe I just don't get it, and this is a comedy that will creep up on you - like old age.