BASING a comedy series in the world of science fiction is always a risky business.

There have been some sublime examples of the genre - Red Dwarf probably leads the way and even the Americans had a good stab at it with the early series of Third Rock From The Sun.

But for every Hitchhiker's Guide there is a My Hero waiting around the corner ready to prove that to go boldly into the land of split infinitives isn't necessarily such a good idea.

Hyperdrive on BBC2 has perhaps surprisingly made it into a second series, possibly because it stars Nick Frost of Hot Fuzz fame.

Sci-fi is intrinsically funny, unless you spend half your life playing Doom. With its Bacofoil suits and improbable names, it is a genre ripe for sending up.

But somehow Hyperdrive fails to do this consistently.

The crew of the British spaceship HMS Camden Lock are supposed to be on a PR exercise in the 22nd century but they are so disfunctional that it's a miracle they ever get airborne.

There are some fun moments and Miranda Hart as the ambitious Teal is very good value but seeing that the team who write Black Books is also responsible for Hyperdrive, I was expecting more.

I think I'll stick to Robot Wars for a good sci-fi laugh - and that's just the contestants.