SHE may be only four but Basingstoke youngster Lucy John is already making her debut on TV.

In an episode of the BBC2's Manchild, a comedy series that centres on the lives of four men in midlife crisis, Lucy will play young Helen in a flashback scene.

"We're with an agency called Green Light and they're based at Shepperton Studios. Lucy is on their books and the BBC said she had the face that fits this sort of thing," said her mother Jane, who has secured work as an extra on Eastenders and Holby City through the same means.

Jane, from Winklebury, added: "It all went from there, really. Lucy didn't even have a screen test."

The ensemble cast, which includes Nigel Havers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Anthony Stewart Head, welcomed their new guest and treated her like a regular.

"Nigel Havers was lovely with her," said Jane. "She had her own trailer and make-up crew. It was really star business for the day."

Jane maintains that acting is not a big change from her daughter's usual behaviour.

"She's that way inclined," said Jane. "Anything she sees on the television she copies. She's quite shy, but in the home she plays the part. She loves Disney films. At the moment we've got 101 Dalmations, so she's acting like a dog around the room. Outside she's not any different to any other child."

The episode in which Lucy appears is due to air before the end of February.