Bare necessities

CLEAN-CUT Middlesbrough TV presenter Kirsten O’Brien and topless modelling go together like Russell Brand and Mother Therese, and even she is mystified about why she decided to make a documentary on the subject.

The only clue O’Brien can offer, after 13 years of BBC’s Broom Cupboard, sharing the screen with Otis The Aardvark or showing off her artistic side on Smart, is that her career is at a crossroads.

The result is BBC3 show Kirsten’s Topless Ambition, and the 37-year-old hopes it will lift her profile to match that of top female presenters such as Fearne Cotton, Holly Willoughby, Angelica Bell and newcomer Caroline Flack, who all front primetime shows on major channels.

This month’s FHM features ex- Blue Peter presenters Konnie Huq and Zoe Salmon on the cover giving O’Brien the distinct suspicion that appearing in a lads magazine shoot makes all the difference.

“I still have the GQ with Gail Porter on the front, and a Sky magazine with Cat Deeley on the cover. Over the years, it’s something I’ve watched women do, and it’s fascinated me. Now I’m at a career crossroads and that’s the usual point in which women do a shoot, when they say ‘I want to get out of kids’ telly, what do I do? I know, I’ll get me swimsuit on and get me la las out’,” she says, laughing raucously.

On the spicy subject matter she says: “I’m not sure what I think, even now. Even in the piece I don’t say ‘I can’t believe Fearne did this’ or whatever. A lot of them are my mates.

“I’ve just never come near this world before, never even thought about doing a shoot before. I’ve always taken my role at CBBC so seriously at all times, I’m very much a goody two-shoes.

Basically, it comes down to choice and whether it works for you, for all the reasons I explore in the documentary.”

O’Brien’s exploration starts with researching the likes of FHM, Loaded, Nuts, Zoo and Front and attending a topless photoshoot where cover girl Amii Grove gives her some tips.

Her sense of humour shines through – she has performed as a stand-up comedian for a number of years – and while it’s an useful characteristic, O’Brien can’t rely on it to help make her look sexy.

“I don’t take myself very seriously. That’s part of the problem here.”

Peter Stringfellow tells O’Brien, when she goes to see him and a couple of the dancers at his London club, that it’s impossible to be sexy and funny at the same time. She dances for the nightclub owner in an attempt to prove she can stop laughing long enough to look good on the podium.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well.

“That was quite interesting. I embraced the challenge of it, there’s no point forming an opinion on something unless you’ve explored it a little bit,”

she explains.

“What’s not explained in the documentary is when you see me run upstairs to do my dance I’ve got the most ridiculous tutu on. I was trying to figure out what to wear, and someone said ‘Peter’s here and he can’t wait’ so I had to run upstairs, wearing the tutu, but still with my jogging bottoms on underneath.

“I did want to try properly, I didn’t want to mess about, so when Peter started laughing at me I was upset. There was one point when I shouted at him ‘Peter, man, you’re not taking this seriously’, but he carried on laughing. So much so that I decided to stop. I did genuinely try, although it might not look like I did!”

O’Brien was born in Middlesbrough, but her family moved around the world when she was growing up due to her dad’s work as a civil engineer. At various times, they lived in Algeria, Kuwait, Singapore and Nigeria.

Despite that, she’s managed to hold on to her North-East twang, which gets stronger the more animated she becomes.

It’s clear O’Brien’s family are very important to her, and during one of the documentary’s uncomfortable moments, she’s filmed asking her dad what he thinks about her doing a magazine shoot.

“I had eczema all over my neck before that chat. What my family thinks is a massive influence, always has been. My dad’s phoned me in the past and said ’I didn’t know you were in the Daily Express’ or whatever, and it’ll be because I didn’t know I was going to be.”

O’Brien discovers, thanks to a series of video diaries within the programme, her career crossroads has come about due to the death of former colleague and close friend Mark Speight, who died just over a year ago.

“If you’d have told me before I did the documentary that I’d end up talking about my mum and Mark, I’d have said ‘I won’t.

What’s it got to do with that?’, but it’s amazing what things come up when you’re in a strange situation.

“I’ve ended up feeling very proud of the film because it’s so honest, but I never would have anticipated it ending like it does.”

O’Brien still admits to being at a turning point with her career – you’ll have to watch the documentary to see if she goes through with the shoot – but plans to increase the amount of stand-up she does.

“I still don’t know what to do next,” says O’Brien, finally. “But at least I’ve crossed something off the list now.”

■ Kirsten’s Topless Ambition is on BBC3, Friday, 9pm