There is a tradition in British comedy of men dressing up as women. It goes back to the early days of professional acting, when women were not permitted on stage. Every femaile role in Shakespeare, from Juliet through Cleopatra to the three Weird Sisters in the Scottish Play were originally played by males. In the traditional British Pantomime, the Principal Boy (Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Prince Charming) is played by a girl or young woman, while the Dame is played by a man in 'drag'.

The 'drag artist' was a staple of the old Music Halls and continued into TV comedy, as witness Danny La Rue, the Australian Barry Humphries drag persona 'Dame Edna Everage' and Paul O'Gradys' 'Lily Savage'.

Several of Shakespeares' comedies involve cross-dressing, it is a frequent element in British farce and features in some of the 'Carry on...' films.

The Two Ronnies (one of our most famous comedy double-acts) used to appear in drag, especially for the comedy musical numbers that often formed the finales of their shows. Les Dawson - again, one of our most revered stand-ups - did a series of classic sketches with Roy Barraclough as 'Cissy and Ada', two elderly Northern women. Nowadays, we have Brendan O'Carroll as 'Mrs Brown'.

Sooner or later, it seems, any and every British star is likely to end up in drag at some point. Even Roger Moore did it in one episode of "The Persuaders"!

Need I mention 'Tootsie', 'Mrs Doubtfire' and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar".

So perhaps this could be viewed - all issues of colour aside, because it's not always about that - as simply continuing one of the oldest traditions in drama?