ON paper BBC1's comedy drama The Invisibles should be a real success story.

After all it's got Warren Clarke in it for a start which is usually a guarantee of quality.

Then the rest of the cast about retired thieves who can't resist getting back into a life of crime isalso first rate - Anthony Head, Jenny Agutter and Dean Lennox Kelly from Shameless.

The premise for the show is also quite promising, but somehow it just fails to hang together properly.

I suspect the Beeb hoped that they would have another New Tricks on their hands but whereas the show about detectives past their sell-by-date has a heart-warming cheeriness about it (and some decent storylines) The Invisibles just appears to be trying too hard.

Other minor gripes include the fact that Jenny Agutter looks far too young to be playing a character of senior years' and too often the show resorts to Last of the Summer Wine-style slapstick to get a laugh. You need to have a bit more depth than criminals being betrayed by the advance of Father Time.

It's also rather unfortunate that it's up against two fine imports - Heroes on BBC1 and House over on Five.

Perhaps the Beeb should move it to a Friday night when we're all desperate for something half decent to watch.