It’s Christmas time in Marbella and Jo Alexandrou is sparing no expense. As well as flying the turkey over from Marks & Spencer in the UK, Jo and daughter Grace decided to take a trip to New York to do their Christmas shopping. Just one problem – Jo ended up spending £3,000 on herself and only a few left over dollars on presents for her nephews at the airport!

Lisa and Joe Johnson are also not doing their Christmas shopping on Spanish soil. They’re off to Gibraltar – dragging Lisa’s mum and dad, whom Joe affectionately refers to as “the rottweiler and the greyhound”, with them. Joe teases:

“We’ve got a lead for them so we can drag them round Gibraltar.”

Lisa’s mum and dad take this in good humour, both parents even attempting a bark!

After trawling through the underwear section of Marks and Spencer Joe finally settles on a black lace bra and knickers set he thinks will be perfect for Lisa. Leaving the store Lisa warns:

“I hope you aint bought me black. I don’t like black, I’ve got enough black.”

Jo isn’t the only one who’s treated herself this Christmas, Louise Marriott has bought herself a new luxury villa which she says makes her feel like a princess – even though it’s just rented!

“I just have expensive tastes” Louise declares, “A villa suits me!”

The new villa isn’t the only thing putting a smile on Louise’s face, her eldest daughter Abigail is returning for Christmas after almost half a year’s absence. After a tearful reunion at the airport it’s back to the house for the family Christmas tree decorating session which Louise turns into a military operation. She doesn’t like the kids to get too involved in the process as everything has to be just the way she likes it. Louise shares the reasons for her obsessive behaviour explaining:

“When I decorate my Christmas tree it’s like everything else I do in my life, I make up to perfection because my life isn’t perfect.”

Over at the Johnson household however, Christmas is all about the kids. Lisa reveals how excited she gets and that she still pretends to her son Alfie that Santa’s been – even though Alfie doesn’t believe in him anymore.

Lisa sums up her hopes for the year to come joking:

“I’d like next year to bring me a little girl, stop smoking, decorate the house, and trade me old man in really!”

Louise Truelove is now engaged and delighted with the results of her breast enhancement reflecting:

“It’s just been the best year of my life!”

Barbs is still looking for love but remarks:

“Not sure if there’s anyone been born who would take me on!”

ITV1 Network Tuesday 24 April 10:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Programme four opens with Lisa preparing to sell off the excess stock from a previous failed business venture, a children’s clothes shop.

Although most of the preparation is left to Lisa’s husband Joe while she gets her hair done, Lisa seems in her element when it comes to sales time.

She explains that this is because her father had a street stall for which she worked before later opening a stall herself:

“I started off with about forty quid” Lisa tells the interviewer, “and I got all my rings of paper, I used to earn bundles doin’ that, and men’s pants!”

Louise Marriott isn’t having so much fun when, whilst interviewing a local hairdresser for her new salon ‘2 Posh’, the prospective employee entangles a large amount of Lisa’s hair in the hairdryer!

Back at Lisa’s clothing sale Lisa drops a bombshell on the assembled crowd, she is pregnant. Joe is over the moon and determined that this time it’s going to be a girl.

This means that Lisa is excused from the heavy lifting involved in the Johnson’s next task, moving house.

Three weeks ago Joe and Lisa moved to a new luxury apartment in the Marbella hills but, despite the beautiful surroundings, Lisa hasn’t felt at home and they are returning to their original property.

Jo Alexandrou is reaping the rewards of her hard work in this episode when she takes a shopping trip to Gibraltar with her daughter and a friend. Jo prefers shopping in Gibraltar to Spain as she doesn’t face the same language issues:

“Every time I ask for a large chicken I get it all wrong!” she explains “when I first got over here I asked for a very large willy instead of a very large chicken!”

Safely moved back into their original home Lisa and Joe settle down to relax for the evening:

“This is just more classy” Lisa happily reflects “my bedrooms, my bathrooms; it’s more me”.

ITV1 Network Tuesday 10 April 10:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Programme three follows Lisa Johnson and her husband Joe on a trip to Milan to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. Going along with Lisa and Joe is their youngest son, Blue, and on this occasion they have opted to leave the nanny at home. On the way to the airport they practice their Italian.

“Chara bella” ventures Lisa “nah that ain’t right”. “Ben missimo?” attempts Joe before settling on the Spanish “Gracias”.

Back in Marbella, café owner Barbs talks about her desire for a companion then complains to fellow belle, Louise Marriot, that she is finished with men altogether.

“I’ve gone off men. I’m going to go gay and join a nunnery!”

Instead, however, Barbs decides to go to a personal trainer in an attempt to shed a few pounds and is shocked by the build of her hunky trainer, who isn’t particularly impressed by Barbs choice of refreshment, a mini champagne bottle!

Having arrived in Milan, Lisa and Joe are caught in a downpour which results in Lisa running through the streets in a shower cap in search of the most expensive baby shop in Milan where she spends a whopping 1500 Euros.

In response to Barb’s moaning, Louise Marriott has decided to throw a dinner party with several eligible bachelors. Barb’s horoscope has suggested that she may find love with a man named Brian; however the Brian who will be attending the party is already spoken for. Barbs is undeterred by this informing Louise:

“My motto is if you can’t find your own, pinch someone else’s!”

Lisa’s next stop on her shopping trip is less successful. After trying on several items, and being extremely shocked by their price, Lisa apologises to the staff and leaves empted handed. By the time she returns to the hotel however Joe is laden with bags and it’s time for a romantic meal during which Joe compares Lisa to …a horse!

Barbs evening ends less romantically when, although Louise’s dinner party is a success, Barbs search for a new man is not.

ITV1 Network Tuesday 3 April 10:00 PM to 10:30 PM

In second episode of the series, lady of leisure Lisa Johnson goes to Louise Marriott’s ‘Posh’ Nail bar to get glammed up. She gets her eyebrows dyed by Louise and then has a spray tan that leaves her looking a darker shade of brown than she wanted.

“I look like I’ve been down the coal mine. Look, look at the face, it’s black!”, Lisa says.

Leaving Posh Nails the programme meets a fourth ‘belle’, Louise Truelove. Louise works at a local plastic surgery clinic, Mills & Mills, where she spends her days helping people improve their bodies more permanently. In Marbella, plastic is big business. Louise explains:

“Ten years ago people were getting their hair cut, now everyone’s getting their boobs done, facelifts and brow lifts and eyes because they want to feel confident.”

Back at ‘Posh’, Lisa and Louise are ordering a liquid lunch from fellow ex pat Barbs. Barbs owns café, Madhatters, across the road. The girls have a good gossip that culminates in Lisa getting Barbs to hold her cigarette as her nails are wet!

Freshly pampered, Lisa just has time to quickly interview a second Philippino maid with Louise’s assistance. Louise informs the maid she will be required to look after the baby 24 hours-a-day and not allow him to see Lisa in the morning. Lisa and Louise also inform the girl that Lisa has concerns for her dog.

“You eat dog in the Philippines?” Lisa asks “not you but they do don’t they? I’ve got a beautiful cream dog that goes with the house, and it’s the cream rug, the dog, all matching, I can’t have a dog in a pot.”

Louise wants her new beauty salon, ‘2 Posh’ to open in just three weeks, but she’s having problems with the staff whom she thinks aren’t pulling their weight. After reading them the riot act, Louise takes her staff to a nail training academy in Marbella. After the session Louise seems encouraged that the girls have changed but the girls’ faces tell a different story!

Also in programme two, Louise Truelove prepares for a night out in Puerto Banus with friends ‘Monners’ and Emma who’ve come over from England for the weekend. Louise talks to her friends about how she left England after her boyfriend left her for “a grandmother”.

“I would have done anything for him, so the shock was just devastating. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I didn’t eat for months, I lost three and a half, four stone – I was a size six and at six foot two, trust me that is not a good look! And I just didn’t know how to help myself. It was awful. I never want to be back there again, and I won’t be.”

After getting ready at Louise’s apartment, they hit the town. Louise is supposed to only be going out for a few drinks, but she is lured into Jimmy Choo and ends up buying a three hundred pound pair of sandals.

By the end of the evening Louise has to put an extremely drunk Emma into a cab however she remains to dance the night away with the rest of her friends.

ITV1 Network Tuesday 27 March 10:00 PM to 10:30 PM

They’re bold, bronzed and bleached to their roots. Meet five British women who’ve turned their backs on the UK for the sun-kissed stretches of the Costa del Sol.

Marbella Belles – a new six part documentary series for ITV1 with narration from Dennis Waterman – gives a glimpse of life in that little bit of Spain that will be forever England.

All five women have different lives, but share one thing in common. They have escaped the high streets of Essex, London and Leeds to re-establish themselves along the rich golden mile in luxury resorts Marbella and Puerto Banus.

Among them is lady of leisure, Lisa Johnson, who has a one-year-old boy called Blue. Retirement has come early for the high maintenance Essex girl thanks to her husband’s hefty bank balance and round the clock help from maid, Lin-Lin. Lin-Lin sees to the less glamorous aspects of motherhood like changing Blue’s nappy and feeding him while 38–year–old Lisa keeps up to speed with her rigourous beauty schedule.

Louise Marriot owns the beauty salon that Lisa spends a lot of her time in – Posh – which stands for ‘P****d Off, Stressed & Hormonal’. Louise upped sticks and left Buckinghamshire for Marbella with her three children after a string of failed marriages and is now embarking on her second salon, 2 Posh, and a new romance with a very wealthy ex pat called Jeff.

With such wealth and exuberance it’s vital the belles look their best and Louise Truelove, or Truelove as she’s known, focuses her time on the more permanent side of cosmetic enhancement, as a patient co-ordinator for an exclusive plastic surgery clinic. Truelove moved to Spain after the love of her life left her for “a 53-year-old grandmother.”

Party girl Jo Alexandrou arrived in Spain six years ago for a holiday and ended up staying for good becoming a fixture on the Puerto Banus party circuit.

Reflecting on her first year on the Costa, Jo says: “We’ve got High Society magazine out here, like the Spanish ‘OK’ or ‘Hello’, and I was in it every month partying!”

And last but by no means least is Barbara Fawcett or ‘Barbs’, who arrived in Spain two years ago and owns posh café Madhatters, which serves up the best traditional English food. Barbs has never married and believes she will find her Mr Right on the Costa.

Marbella Belles provides a snapshot insight into what it’s like living the high life in the posh town of Puerto Banus, where designer shops and celebrity hideouts line every street and being preened and beautifully turned out is essential.

The women are determined to bag themselves a man with a loaded wallet. It’s a place to see and be seen – where a bad hairdo or a chipped nail is a cardinal sin!

They’ve run to the sun to better their lives but is life on the Costa all they thought it would be?

This series will air on Tuesday 20th March on ITV1