Supermodel Tyson: 'UK girls are polite but wild'

New Britain And Ireland's Next Top Model judge Tyson Beckford says that while he has always known British girls to be polite, they also have a wild side. The American supermodel, who has joined the judging panel for the new series of the Sky Living catwalk competition, revealed it was good to see UK girls' cheeky side among the contestants. Tyson said: "I always felt they were beautiful. I worked with many in my career and they were always very polite, so it's good to see that they have personality and are very cheeky." But the Ralph Lauren model admitted he had always found British models very forthcoming when working on steamy poses. He laughed: "They don't ask - they say, 'I'm going to give you a kiss now, if you don't mind.' They're very polite, very well brought up, but there are the wild ones too." Tyson is a big fan of British chocolate and Arsenal football club so he has enjoyed working in the UK and Ireland for the show. "I grew up in the West Indies so it was very British-influenced, part of my heritage," he said. "It's almost like coming home. I feel at home here."

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.