Interior design specialist Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen will appear on tonight’s Popstar To Opera Star as a critic and the TV star reveals that he intends to be fully honest with the contestants.

“I’ll be very honest with people,” admitted Laurence. “No matter how many screaming fans the pop stars have outside, what they’re singing is much more famous than they are. Away from their limos, they’ll have to realise that they are the junior partner to their arias.

“The contestants will have to understand that my first responsibility is to what they’re singing – I have to safeguard the music, not the personality. If I feel they’re trying to use some irritating pop techniques to distract us, I won’t be happy and I’ll say as much. I won’t be going in there sneering – I know they’ll work hard. But ultimately can they measure up to Verdi and Puccini?”

Laurence emphasises that the critics will be accessible. “We won’t be like donnish intellectuals talking about diminuendo and pizzicato and lots of other ridiculously complicated Italian words that sound like some kind of pizza. It’ll be about whether these pop stars that we know and love can go for gold in the music Olympics.”

With his background as a designer, Laurence is particularly concerned about the pop stars’ performance. “Because of my experience, I’ll be asking: how good is their performance visually? If they’re standing there with their eyes shut and their fingers in their ears like a folk singer, then I’ll be very cross. I want to see someone who can live up to what they’re singing and can really inhabit the music.”