Polly Weeks talks to Liz McClarnon about a busy year of TV and live tours to the North-East.

CILLA Black, Cheryl Baker and Myleene Klass have all done it. Now, Liz McClarnon is making the move from popstar to TV presenter.

Previously best known for being one third of pop group Atomic Kitten – although being beaten by Scooch in the 2007 bid to be the UK’s Eurovision singer also made a few headlines – now the 28 year-old has developed an appetite for TV.

The lass from Liverpool entered Celebrity Masterchef and transformed herself into a super-cook to win the 2008 crown. Now, she’s returning to the small screen as presenter of new show Hotter Than My Daughter.

‘‘When I read the title of the programme, I knew exactly what the show would be about – mothers who think they are hotter than their daughters,’’ McClarnon explains.

‘‘Whereas my boyfriend was like ‘Oh no, they’re going to teach people how to be hotter than their daughters,’’’ McClarnon reveals, laughing.

Each week the programme makers find two friends or family members who are at war over each other’s dress sense.

One week McClarnon meets a mum who, according to her daughter, dresses like an 18- year-old – although the mother believes her daughter dresses like a granny.

It’s then up to McClarnon and members of the public to decide which member of the family needs a makeover.

McClarnon is surprised the people on the show haven’t questioned their dress sense before. ‘‘While trying not to be cruel, some have been completely delusional. I’m not saying that in a nasty way but just being honest.’’ Others though have impressed McClarnon with their body confidence.

‘‘I know a few young women with great bodies who flaunt them but lots of others are of the attitude ‘Yeah I’m happy with my body but I don’t want to have my belly on display’.

‘‘Meeting these women on the show, it seems the older they get and the sexier their bodies are, the more they want to flaunt it,’’ she says. ‘‘I’m jealous to be honest – there’s cringe worthy moments too, but I’ve mostly been jealous.’’ Even though she’s unlikely to be a contestant on the show in years to come, she does admit filming the series has made her question her own relationship with her mum.

‘‘I think we have an appropriate relationship.

Occasionally we go out and get drunk together and have a laugh but at the end of the day she is a mum to me..’’ McClarnon believes that if it wasn’t for the support of her mum and the rest of her family, she wouldn’t still be in the spotlight 12 years after joining Atomic Kitten.

‘‘I’ve just been really lucky to have a stable background.’’ In fact, it was with her mum’s encouragement that McClarnon decided to enter Celebrity Masterchef and also encouraged her to write her own cook book. ‘‘I’ve only just finished the recipes for the book.

“It’s been really hard. It’s essentially teaching people how to cook and learning from scratch. My mum said, ’My God, if you can learn to cook than anyone can.’’’ McClarnon is back behind the microphone next month and belting out tunes as a support act for Ronan Keating’s tour.

‘‘I’m a massive Boyzone fan,’’ McClarnon admits. ‘‘I think Ronan’s sister, Linda, helped me get on the tour. We were all at a ball and I was sat next to her and I said, ’I want to go on Ronan’s tour’. So thank you Linda.’’ She’s also the lead female in the European arena tour of War Of The Worlds.

‘‘Jason Donovan is the lead male,’’ she exclaims. ‘We had to do a photo shoot and I had to put my hand on his chest. I kept on thinking ‘This is really weird. I’m with Jason Donovan.

I’m such a fan’.’’

■ Hotter Than My Daughter, BBC3, next Thursday, 8.30pm

■ Ronan Keating tours to Newcastle City Hall on February 26- 27. Tickets: £30. Box Office: 0191- 261-2606

■ Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds tours to the MetroRadio Arena, Newcastle, on December 2. Tickets: £42.50-£60.

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