The real winner in last night's party leaders' TV debate

After all the fuss about their choice of ties, the stories about the endless role-playing and rehearsals and the sage advice about not appearing too sweatily nervous on-screen, Brown, Cameron and Clegg finally got down to some serious debate.

There were no slip-ups and no real surprises unless you count Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg suddenly becoming the man even his opponents like.

"I agree with Nick," Brown and Cameron both cooed at regular intervals, like a couple of schoolgirls trying to impress a new best mate.

Or maybe they were just trying to cosy up to the man they both suspect will be holding the balance of power in a hung parliament?

The winner? None of them.

For me the big hit of the whole event was polling firm Ipsos MORI's wiggly worm, which wriggled across the screen to illustrate the speakers' popularity with members of the audience during the "post-match" analysis.

Up it shot when the audience liked what they were hearing and down it plunged when they didn't.

It was like watching a heart monitor in action.

Brings a whole new meaning to politicians toeing the line, though!

If you missed it, watch it here on the ITV Player.