ONE of Basingstoke’s best- known entrepreneurs will be in the spotlight in front of millions of television viewers later this month.

Liz Jackson, managing director of Great Guns Marketing, will feature in the Channel 4 reality television programme The Secret Millionaire.

Liz, who set up her telemarketing agency back in 1998, swapped her comfortable Basingstoke home to go incognito and live in one of the most deprived areas of London on the Honor Oak estate in Lewisham.

The programme, made by RDF for Channel 4, took Liz, who lost her eyesight when her business was in its infancy, to work with four projects – the Lewisham Talking Newspaper, Tideway Sailability, a housing development for blind people run by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, and a scheme allowing blind people to play tennis.

She told The Gazette: “My cover story was that I was a blind girl who was moving to London to see whether it would be easier from a mobility point of view.

“If you are a blind person, no one expects you to be a business person, and they wouldn’t expect you to be a secret millionaire, so it was a brilliant cover.

“They were all really kind to me and couldn’t wait for me to move to London and get involved.”

Among the people who made Liz feel very welcome was a mum called Venicia, whom she met at a hostel.

“She and her husband were just typically gorgeous people who worked really hard, but there had been a bad turn of events and they were made homeless.

“They had been giving all their money to a charity in Bangladesh and continue to do so – they are amazingly generous.”

Filming mainly took place over a two-week period in July, after Liz was approached by RDF.

Liz said: “The production company approached me about eight times and I always said no, mainly because I thought I couldn’t do it and also I don’t see myself as a millionaire – but it is based on the assets you own, not the cash you have in your bank.”

Having finally agreed to take part in the programme, Liz said: “I loved it because there was an element of doing something that I hadn’t done before and being completely outside my comfort zone.

“To film this sort of documentary was a bizarre thing to do as you are having to do these projects and are constantly being interviewed and take on a bit of a lie, which I found really hard.

“It was really difficult when you go back to tell them the truth – you have to admit you have been lying and as you really start to like these people, you feel awful when you do that.

“But being given the opportunity to step into other people’s environments to see how they live and what they do, broadens your horizons.

“Serving others gives you a huge sense of it being what life is all about and it makes you feel really alive – it was really exciting.”

Filming concludes tomorrow, where Liz visits the projects she was involved with. Viewers can watch the programme, and find out which projects benefited from a cash giveaway from Liz, on September 16.