'Lesbian' Russian act tops UK charts

Teen duo tATu and their brand of soft-focus lesbian schoolgirl titillation have stormed straight into the charts at number one. Their catchy single, All The Things She Said, moved up a staggering 176 places in the UK charts in its second week of release. The record has already topped the charts in Switzerland, Italy and Spain.

The Russian pair knocked Fame Academy winner David Sneddon off the top spot. Their success is in no small part due to the single's raunchy video. The promo features the school uniform-clad teenagers kissing and fondling amid the pouring rain, and has prompted controversy and accusations of encouraging paedophilia.

Child protection charity Kidscape accused the pair of "targeting the dirty old man market", while TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan called for the song to be banned, branding them "sick" and "paedophilic entertainment".

The duo's creator and producer, Ivan Shapovalov, has admitted that he came up with the idea after visiting pornographic websites, and that the pair are an "underage sex project" designed to appeal to men in search of "underage entertainment".

The band's name translates as 'This girl loves that girl'. Although their publicity suggests that the two are lovers, it was recently revealed that they are in fact heterosexual, and have boyfriends in their native Russia.