Britney Spears is out, Posh Spice is in - as a lyric for the Lady in the Lake in the Broadway musical Monty Python's Spamalot.

Asked why the lyric was changed in the song Diva's Lament, Spamalot author Eric Idle said today in an email: "Because we don't laugh at sad people. Mike Nichols (the show's director) requested it and he's right."

"We changed the lyrics in London, on tour, on Broadway and in Las Vegas. We think that it's now too sad. Britney Spears is being tortured to death and we don't want to be on that side."