ONE eager inmate thought a greater knowledge of male etiquette may help him "pull" more girls. That is, once he gets out.

Most agreed her talk was interesting, although whether they believed Gill Harbord could transform them into proper gentlemen is not known.

Mrs Harbord is known to millions of viewers as the iron-fisted headteacher in ITV reality show Ladette to Lady.

The show, which recently finished its second series, is filmed at Eggleston Hall, near Barnard Castle, where Mrs Harbord normally works in the gift shop.

In the programme, she is given the task of trying to transform a group of ill-mannered girls into respectable ladies -with some surprising results.

Yesterday, she ventured into Deerbolt Young Offenders' Institution, at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, to talk about the TV show and to offer some pointers on how the inmates could become better gentlemen.

She said: "One of the things I talked to the group about is that money isn't everything when it comes to impressing people, which I think is a common misconception.

"I think that if young men can learn how to be more polite, this can impress others too.

"A lot of the questions people asked me were about specific girls on the show and what happened behind the scenes."

The talk was set up by the prison for inmates who were taking part in the institution's learning support programme, which lets volunteers help individual prisoners improve skills such as maths and English.

Alyson Herbert, a lecturer who works in the adult learning support department, said: "We thought the talk by Gill would be a bit of a change for the lads. A lot of them watched the programme and I think they enjoyed the talk.

"The ladettes on the programme are similar to the lads here in many ways, because they are both locked up without mobile phones and those types of things."

One of the prisoners, Scott, said: "I think Mrs Harbord was a bit nervous when she first came in, because she had never been in here before, but I think everyone thought her talk was quite good."

Another inmate, Cori, said: "It was funny because Mrs Harbord didn't seem half as bad in real life as she does on the programme. She is really nice, but on the TV she comes across really strict.

"If they did a boys' version of the show, I would definitely do it. I think I could learn a lot from something like that and I reckon a lot of the lads here would think the same.

"I don't know how to do a lot of things properly and it probably would help me impress girls when I get out."

But Mrs Harbord said a male version of the show would be difficult.

She said: "They may do one but I certainly wouldn't have anything to do with it. I think it would require an entirely different approach because gentlemen's etiquette is so different."

A programme showing what Mrs Harbord's ladies have been up to since the latest series ended will be shown on ITV1 at 10pm on Thursday.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering for adult learning support at Deerbolt can call Ms Herbert on 01833-633200.