Grumpy Old Women is one of those ideas that is so brilliantly simple, you wonder why no one has thought of it before. The premise is as follows: three women of a certain age - Jenny Eclair, Dillie Keane and Linda Robson - go on stage and gripe about everything that gets their goat.

Described by them as "an orgy of middle-aged mayhem, theatrical HRT with not a thong in sight", the show sees them grumble about everything from the curse of catalogues and daylight yobbery to the onset of "invisible woman" syndrome. It homes in on those subjects that make you want to shake your rolling pin rather than your booty.

This could be one gigantic moan-fest, but audiences at Grumpy Old Women Live, which starts a 39-date tour this spring, tend to lose their sense of British reserve and wind up whoopin' and hollerin', as if they were at an American talk show. The show has been transferred to the stage from the original BBC2 hit series featuring such engaging grouches as Germaine Greer, Sheila Hancock, Janet Street-Porter and Ann Widdecombe.

It's the run-up to the tour, and I'm taking mid-morning coffee with Jenny, Dillie and Linda in a London bookshop cafe. The trio (whose combined age is unprintable) are like teenagers - they just can't wait to get on the road.

Jenny, who co-wrote the stage show with Judith Holder, producer of the Liberty Bell TV series, starts by describing the ideal audience member: "You're a little bit middle-aged, a little bit grumpy - well quite a lot grumpy, actually, and who can blame you? You're all hot and hairy, and there's stuff you need to get off your saggy old chest.

She continued: "Being a Grumpy Old Woman is like constantly having a stone in your shoe. Still, you quite like having that stone in your shoe because it justifies you complaining all the time."

The Perrier Award-winning comedian said audiences had been crying out for a show which articulates the frustrations of everyday life.

She said: "It's a constant reminder of what a struggle it is to get everything done. It gives audiences the full story - birth, life, death, sex, kids, parents, clothes, the empty nest, the travails of ageing."

Although the show tends to attract a predominantly female audience, Linda, who starred in the BBC1 sitcom, Birds of a Feather, said it had universal appeal.

"My 14-year-old son came to see it and thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever done because he recognised so many things in it about me, my sisters and my mum," she said.

Dillie describes the show as "like a great, big conversation with the audience". She said: "Straight away, we tell them what will happen - relax, it's not going to go on for too long. You can get drunk on over-priced wine in the interval and still get home in time to put some chops under the grill.'"

Jenny jokes that loads of performers wanted to be in the showbut were too young and too pretty.

"This is our revenge. I'm revenge for Sienna Miller," she said.

Dillie: "I'm revenge for Keira Knightley!"

Linda: "And I'm revenge for Rachel Weisz!"

Grumpy Old Women is at The New Theatre, George Street, Oxford, next Friday for one night only. To book, call 0870 606 3500.