Four-year old children are among the ardent fans of the most recent season of the BBC comedy programme, Little Britain, it was revealed today.

A Radio Times survey showed that 86,000 viewers between the ages of four and nine watched the series, whose staple characters include Vicky Pollard, a teenage girl who swaps her baby for a Westlife CD, a grown man who is breastfed by his mother and Dafydd, the territorial "only gay in the village".

Despite being broadcast after the 9pm watershed, Little Britain also managed to attract 280,000 viewers between the ages of 10 and 15, ensuring the transfer of "Yeah but no but", Pollard's catchphrase, into playgrounds and classrooms around the country.

The stars of the programme, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, who are currently performing a national Little Britain stage tour, acknowleged their young fans but insisted that the show was aimed at adults.

"Little Britain is not designed for children, it’s not meant for them, but it’s great that they love it," Walliams told the Radio Times. "When I was at school I was watching The Young Ones. I was probably about 12 and The Young Ones wasn’t meant for 12-year-olds, but there’s always that element in kids where they want to watch the naughty comedy that’s not for them."

Lucas said that he was aware of some schools complaining to parents who let their children watch the show. The young son of Bob Mortimer, the comedian, was recently sent home from school with a letter from his head teacher saying that he should not watch the comedy.

But Tim Benson of the National Association of Head Teachers said that a common knowledge of Little Britain could provide useful ways of talking to students.

"I use Vicky Pollard in my own school. If you’ve seen a child do something and they go straight into denial, I say to them sometimes: ‘Yeah but no but yeah’. They look at me, grin and say: ‘OK sir, yeah, it was me,'" he told the Radio Times.

The Radio Times survey concluded that Little Britainis currently the second most popular comedy amongst children, second only to The Simpsons.

Radio Times top five children's comedies:
1 The Simpsons
2 Little Britain
3 My Family
4 The Green Green Grass
5 The Vicar of Dibley

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