There has been a considerable kerfuffle over the announcement that the forthcoming C4 series New Heroes of Comedy is going to celebrate the work of Little Britain, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais. Some have suggested that these performers aren't fit to shine the shoes of some of the names featured in the original Heroes of Comedy programmes, such as Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd and Peter Cook.

Personally I can't see the problem. One of the attractions of my job is the fact that we are clearly living through a golden age of comedy and these three subjects are all worthy choices. In fact, to declare an interest, I was invited to take part in the Little Britain documentary. Whether my witterings will make the final cut I don't know, but when the producers said there were two other portraits in the pipeline I immediately guessed that they were on Gervais and Baron Cohen – both have had huge success with iconic creations that are up there with Captain Mainwaring and Basil Fawlty. They are also both big in America – handy if the makers want to flog their shows Stateside. Besides, if the makers were just trying to be modern and fashionable the trilogy would have featured Russell Brand, The Mighty Boosh and Mitchell and Webb.

I find it annoying that critics tend to hark back to the greats such as Hancock and Benny Hill and refuse to acknowledge that there is greatness now. Does Matt Lucas have to drop dead before they make a documentary about him? OK, he might not have been working for as long as Ronnie Corbett – a previous subject who is very much alive and kicking – but he is hardly an overnight success flash-in-the-pan either.

If I do have an objection to the new series it is that in going for big names who are currently at their creative peak C4 has leapfrogged over a generation which has never been given the Heroes of Comedy treatment. If we are talking bodies of work, what about French and Saunders? Mayall and Edmondson? Harry Enfield? Lenny Henry? Reeves and Mortimer? Caroline Aherne? All too new when the original series was made, but presumably too old for this one. My objection is not that Little Britain, Baron Cohen and Gervais have been chosen, but that the series could have been much bigger than a three-parter if they'd removed the word "New" from the title. So who do you, dear reader, think is missing from the list?