FIRST there was the titillation of Footballers' Wives.

Now a Hampshire TV company has gone one step further with a new series called Vicars' Wives.

The six-programme series is produced by an Eastleigh-based film company and follows the lives of the other halves of clergy from Southampton and the New Forest.

The first of the half-hour long shows hits our screens tonight and, though the content is understood to be less racy than the soccer wives hit, it promises to offer an insight into the lives of Nickie Johnson, wife of the team rector of Southampton city centre parish, Sarah Salisbury, wife of the vicar of Lymington, and Debbie Smart, wife of the then curate of Shirley and now vicar of Brockenhurst.

The series was filmed over five months and captures the essence of parish life.

Viewers will see both public and private events.

Stories include Nickie lunching on the QE2 in commemoration of the Falklands Conflict, Sarah celebrating Easter by getting up before dawn to see the sunrise and Debbie moving parish when her husband starts his new job.

The first episode of Vicars' Wives is on ITV1 tonight at 11.45pm.