ITV producers have stood up in defence against accusations that the channel is pulling out of sit-com production entirely to concentrate on "lifestyle reality" shows.

The claims were made by Gwen Taylor, star of family comedy "Barbara", which has been cancelled despite being one of ITV's most popular recent series, and being successfully syndicated to more than seventy stations in the US.

ITV, however, have strongly denied the claims, citing the fact that the channel has just commissioned a new series of "Hardware" starring "The Office"'s Martin Freeman.  "If we were pulling out of comedy, then we wouldn't be commissioning a new series of Hardware" a spokeswoman said.

According to ITV, after eight years "Barbara" had simply "run its course".