There's no denying the brilliance of Howard Read's imagination.

But in creating a six-year-old interactive animated alter-ego it does beg the question: How long can such an idea run before it becomes stale?

Thankfully, Big Howard is aware of his creation's shortcomings (and that of the notoriously glitchy technology he employs to bring his baby to life), so he has cannily moved on from the man and machine stand-up of his previous shows and adopted a sitcom formula for the duo's latest adventure, At Home With The Howards.

Making no secret of the fact he hopes this would be an ideal format for television, Read's tale revolves around the seriously cute Little Howard running the risk of being taken into care.

Forced to prove his is a suitable home in which to bring up a little one (a tough task when he shares living space with a sleazy pigeon and an annoying robot), Read took on the might of the child labour laws, political correctness and glitch-prone computers.

Cartoonist and comedian Big Howard displayed some truly ingenious ideas in his latest show - the stand-out was a depressing female Muslim ventriloquist and her sidekick Nookie Bashir - but, at times, his ideas became too thinly spread.

Struggling to fill the full hour with belly laughs, there was only really enough material for half that time - just about the right length for a real TV sitcom.