Daisy show set to bloom into top TV. Daisy Daisy (C4)

Right, girls, stand up straight and follow these instructions: "Lean back, your hands are going to swing from side to side, your chin goes over each shoulder and your feet cross in the front, so your butt swings a lot."

And there you have the Barbie walk. Add big smile, big teeth, big hair, big everything else and you're ready to enter America's Beautiful Miss pageant.

Daisy Donovan decided to do just that in the first of her documentary series in which she sets herself a challenge each week.

The US beauty competition scene provided plenty of ammunition for her humour. The last thing on her mind was taking it seriously, rather like a less bold and brassy Ruby Wax.

Predictably, the Americans couldn't tell when she was taking the mickey out of their obsession with beautifying themselves and their children for such pageants.

Preparing for the contest, Daisy visited a Los Angeles plastic surgeon who helpfully drew all over her face to give her an idea of what he could do to improve her look. No wonder she needed a "corrective make-up session" afterwards to restore her skin after scrubbing off the surgeon's felt-tip facial jottings.

"Who do you idolise?," she was asked by the woman trying to glamorise her in the style of someone she liked.

"Whoopi Goldberg," replied Daisy, aware that turning her into Whoopi was beyond the realms of possibility.

Then it was on to meet the founder of Creating A Winner Corporation, an outfit whose name tells exactly what it aims to do. Daisy did a mock interview, to get an idea of the questions that beauty pageant judges might ask and the best answers to give.

Unfortunately, a query about statistics provoked her to reel off details of a sexual nature that would have earned her no points. The idea of singing Touch Me, Touch Me in the talent section was also vetoed on the grounds of good taste. At least, her choice of hobbies was more suitable - mountaineering, knitting small children's clothes and telling jokes.

She also chatted up the male MC of the competition just in case he had any pull with the judges. Her revelations about wearing falsies certainly made his eyes light up.

The best piece of advice she was given was simply to "smile, smile, smile". Certainly Daisy Daisy couldn't help but have that effect on viewers.