Many of the complaints to the broadcaster and watchdog Ofcom criticised the "racist" nature of the show's title.

The show, first broadcast on Monday, asked why there are so few Chinese sports stars and actors in the UK.

Channel 4 defended the series, saying the title was an "ironic comment".

A spokeswoman said the title referred to "the fact that the Chinese have been overlooked in Britain".

The Missing Chink is written and performed by two British Chinese comedians Paul Courtnay Hyu - who also thought up the title - and Paul Chan.

Ofcom has received 85 complaints while Channel 4 said it had received at least 60.

'Open eyes'

"The title - and the content - aims to highlight this lack of public awareness in a light-hearted way," the spokeswoman said.

She said neither the channel nor Mr Hyu thought the title was derogatory.

"Both he and Channel 4 believe that both the title and the programme content falls a long way from being racist and serves only to open the eyes of the public to the British Chinese situation," she said.

A mixture of comedy sketches and documentary footage, the first part of The Missing Chink was watched by 900,000 viewers, according to unofficial overnight ratings.