ANTIQUES dealer Paul Martin is hoping to become a household name as a result of his first TV series.

The first five episodes of Flog It, a cross between the Antiques Road Show and Bargain Hunters, was shown on BBC2 at 3.30pm each day last week and was an immediate hit, according to viewing figures.

Mr Martin, 42, who runs the Table Gallery in Kingsbury Street, Marlborough, was delighted to be told that the second programme's show on Tuesday netted 1.9 million views beating Countdown, shown the same afternoon, and even the Naked Chef, shown in the evening.

In Flog It, members of the public have their treasures and family heirlooms valued by a team of experts before the items are put under the hammer a few days later at local auctions.

Mr Martin was discovered by the BBC purely by accident when a crew came to Marlborough last year to film a tea room and an antiques shop.

They chose Mr Martin's Table Gallery, which specialises in 17th and 18th century Welsh and English oak furniture.

When the footage was being edited, he was spotted by the BBC's head of daytime shows, Jane Lush, who happened to be in the editing suite at the time.

He said: "She saw me on the screen just for a moment and as a result I was asked if I would take part in some screen tests."

The BBC clearly thought he was a natural to front the new antiques series they were planning. The Flog It series producer, Hannah Corneck, describes the new presenter as "a truly fabulous find."

The fun of the programme, according to its presenter, is in seeing if the valuation given by the experts is upheld at the auctions or if they get it horribly wrong.

One example, said Mr Martin, was a woman who took along a Royal Doulton jar which she had bought for £1 at a car boot sale 15 years ago.

The experts valued it at between £200 and £300 but when it went under the hammer, with two buyers vying for it, it sold for £1,200.

There have been occasions, too, said Mr Martin, when people were disappointed when items sold for less that the estimate given by the experts. He said: "That is what Flog It is all about."

Filming the first series of 24 episodes, Mr Martin and his Alsatian dog Bluebell, who also appears on TV, spent weeks on the road and travelled thousands of miles.

Each of the half hour programmes takes four days to film and two-and-a-half weeks to edit.

The series kicked off last week with a half hour episode every afternoon, but has been halted because of the World Cup coverage. All 24 programmes will be shown again in September.

Mr Martin said: "We all want to do a second series but it will depend on the success of the first one.

"If we do make another series then I would like to do it before winter sets in because all the travelling for the first one was done last winter and we spent days on the road in rain and snow."

But whatever direction his TV career takes, he said, he plans to keep his shop in Marlborough.

He said: "I love the town and I will be happy if I can divide my time between television and my shop."

Mr Martin moved to Marlborough from Cornwall two years ago to open his antiques shop in Kingsbury Street.

He was educated at Falmouth Grammar in Cornwall and studied art and woodwork at Falmouth College before spending two years as a scenery painter on film sets at Pinewood Studios.

Mr Martin said he had always had an interest in antiques and picked up a lot of his knowledge when from the age of 25 he ran a stall on the Portobello Road in London. Later her worked as an antiques' props stylist for magazines and designed antique sets for television.

He is also a former rock drummer. In the early 90s he played as a session musician, backing rock bands including The Choir Boys and the Dogs D'Amour.

He still occasionally plays with local jazz and blues bands.