TV show was real corporal punishment.

ANY idea this was a serious documentary about the army lance corporal who gave up her military career to pose topless for a national tabloid newspaper vanished within the first few minutes.

It wasn't just the endless naked shots of Roberta Winterton but the narrator wondering if going AWOL to become a glamour model was "the biggest boob of her military career". Happily, we were spared comments about privates on parade.

We learnt the pay can be poor and the work tough, although it emerged this related to removing your clothes for the camera rather than coming under fire in the action.

Roberta was miffed that the army wouldn't give her time off to pose for The Sun, so she did it without permission. She was demoted and then booted out.

Her parents had mixed feelings about her career switch. Her mother Shirley was willing to tolerate it. Her father Robert was less sure about women going topless, recalling a beach holiday. "One girl came on the left and one on the right and took their bikini tops off. I was embarrassed. I'd ordered chicken and chips and couldn't eat it," he explained.

Roberta was less hesitant in removing not only her top but her bottom too. In the wake of publicity about her army manoeuvres, she did a video and photo shoot for Penthouse. "I was a bit scared," she admitted. "I've never been on the top shelf before."

A week-long photo shoot in Majorca "opened Roberta's eyes to a new and glamorous world" where hard work was rewarded with fun in the sun. Not that the army PT instructor neglected her physical fitness routine, a five-mile run and workout first thing in the morning.

The models weren't allowed out at night. It all seemed very boring. "Stories of mass orgies and wild sex parties appear to be unfounded - on this shoot at least," said the narrator smugly.

Roberta did the rounds of model agencies seeking an agent and using the opportunity to canvas opinion on whether she should have breast implants. They all advised her against it, but she went to see a cosmetic surgeon anyway.

By the time we arrived at Roberta putting several other glamour models - a battalion of beauties, as they were described - through model boot camp, any pretence at seriousness was definitely forgotten