I started watching this quite late on but have managed to catch up and am now waiting for the net series to be shown over here. It is not always laugh out loud funny, but each episode has something memorable in it and there are lots of little giggles and clever remarks. There are 5 main characters and although there is clearly a hierarchy I find it hard to like or empathise with them in the order that they are supposed to be ranked.

Sheldon Cooper seems to be the star and he is a very hard person to like. He is a brilliant physicist but has no social skills and therefore very few friends. Two of the three main male characters admit at one stage that they like Leonard but Sheldon comes as part of the deal. He clearly had a hard up bringing in Texas as he has a twin sister who is glamourous and popular and a brother who is also socially acceptable. His mother can be borderline racist and is very religious and this is clearly totally opposite to Sheldon and his research. His childhood memories are mainly about him carrying out scientific experiments or getting bullied at school. He is hard to like but after time it is easier to understand why he is the way he is.

Leonard Hofstadter is probably the most likeable and easy to relate to character. He is also a physicist and for some reason feels the need to stay friends with Sheldon. He has had a few girlfriends - including the main female character Penny - but is also haunted by memories of his childhood. His mother is also a scientist but is very cold towards him - he invented a hugging machine as a child and once tells Penny that the saddest thing was that his father borrowed it. He always seems to give in to Sheldon and has signed the most ridiculous house mate agreement that gives Sheldon the right to make all decisions. It is easy to want him and Penny to get together and I tend to enjoy the programme more when this happens.

Howard Wolowitz is a creepy little character who hits on every woman around. He has the most ridiculous idea about who will be interested in him but does show a more modest side when he refuses to come out of his room when Penny told him no one would be interested in him. He had to spoil it however by making a pass at her when she went round to apologise. He lives with his mother and eventually manages to meet and marry a nice Catholic girl - not the ideal situation for him mother, but it soon seems that Bernadette and his mother have more in common that you would think. His mother is never seen but continually shouts to him in a strong New York accent and Bernadette has the same voice leaving you to think that she is going to take over where his mother leaves off. There are times when I feel a bit sorry for him but he always seems to manipulate people. An example being the fact that when he is chosen to be an astronaut he uses the upcoming wedding to get out of it rather than admit he is scared.

Rajesh Koothrappali is the final of the 4 male characters and he is Indian from New Delhi but with a love of America. He is painfully shy and unable to speak to women - Penny included - but learns that if he drinks that changes. He is often considered to be gay and does sometimes seem to be the feminine side of the friendship between himself and Wolowitz, but he insists this is not true especially when talking to his parents by webcam. He is probably my favourite of all because he does have a vulnerable side that leaves him worried about growing old alone.

Penny is totally different to the 4 scientists as she has little in the way of formal education and works in The Cheesecake Factory to finance her attempt to be an actress. She comes from Omaha, Nebraska and dates Leonard on and off while having a drunken one night stand with Rajesh. She may not be scientifically bright but she shows that she can learn in other ways. In one episode she is asking the men general questions about TV, music and celebrities and they are all amazed at how she can know such things. She also condemns them as bullies in one episode as they make fun of her quite dim boyfriend and she points out to them that they should know better considering the way they complain about the bullying they used to suffer.

The other main characters to appear are Bernadette - Howards wife, Amy who considers herself to be Sheldon's' girlfriend but he cannot imagine a reason for them to become intimate and Stuart who runs the Comic Book Store and lusts after Penny.

The four really are geeks as their lives revolve around Sci-fi, comics and science and yet Penny manages to become important to all of them. She tries to learn a bit about science for Leonard and he tries to be interested in football for her, but it does not work. I don't understand any of the scientific remarks and for all I know they could be made up, but the programme does have scientific advisors so they are probably accurate.

There are a number of recurring events - Howards mother yelling, Sheldon knocking on a door three times and saying the person's name and Sheldon totally misunderstanding most social situations and it is just as funny or annoying every time it happens.

The Big Bang Theory won the Lammy Hibbert best comedy show of 2012 award and I can fully understand why. Don't feel I have lost out by not watching this from the beginning but picking it up half way through and then catching up in a random way, but I do know that I will be waiting for the next series.