A RICHARD and Judy reporter has completed a work placement with a Warrington business.

The celebrity couple's weekly Apprentice' feature on their self-named programme shows their reporter, Mike McClean, trying his hand at different professions for three days before being hired or fired by employers.

Randomly selected from a north west business directory, Woolston-based Kingsland Grange copying, printing and management company Sharples Group was featured on the daily show.

Informed on the way to his new post, Mike's job specification of learning the trade of a photocopying engineer was revealed over a recorded message from the television presenters.

He was taught the theory of reprographics and some hands-on fixing under the watchful eye of the Channel 4 camera men for just three days in January.

Swotting up on the skills, the journalist arranged for a photocopier to be sent to his hotel before shadowing an engineer on visits to clients on the second day.

The final day saw his ability tested with practical and theory tests, before receiving a grilling from the panel, which jointly decided his fate.

Mark Brocklehurst, managing director, said: "This was a massive challenge and it would take at least 12 months to train someone to undertake any client work.

"We taught our apprentice all the tricks of the document management trade and we didn't hold back in challenging him to test his skills when we decided to fire him."

Sharples was the only organisation to fire him. Mark added: "He was rubbish, he was lovely guy and a good laugh and gave us a welcome distraction for a few days."

Sharples Group appeared on the Channel 4 show on February 11.