FROM wordsmith to bagman! The boss of a Hampshire public relations agency is back at the helm after taking part in a two-week job swap with the head of a plastic bag firm in Dorset.

Lee Peck, 50, stepped into the shoes of Bryan Dion, who normally runs 16-strong Decomatic, based in the historic minster town of Wimborne.

The changes of scenery - and responsibilities - were for a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Boss Swap, which is Channel 4's latest reality show.

Lee, the joint managing director of 30-strong LeepeckGreenfield, based at Chilworth, Southampton, and Bryan had to rise to the challenge of running each other's businesses.

To give it an edge, the men had to each make five improvements.

Father-of-four Lee said: "I have decided on some of the five changes and I have had new Decomatic signs made.

"The old ones were hopeless, they were old-fashioned."

Lee, who describes Decomatic's products as "first class", said his other improvements to the company, some of which he saw as "essential", must remain under wraps until the show is screened in January.

He added: "Part of this programme, as I see it, is to make things happen. So this is about change and imbuing a company with a new culture and making staff smile and be happy."

Made by RDF Media, the programme is set to be a new primetime series for Channel 4 and follows on from the success of earlier television hits, Faking It and Wife Swap from the same independent production company.

One-time TV reporter Lee, who used to present Game For a Laugh, set up his own public relations firm in 1988.

The firm he was temporarily running is one of only three British producers and suppliers of carrier bags.

Currently on Decomatic's customer list are Harrods, who get the bags with their logo already stamped on, and the Rolling Stones, who are using Decomatic's products for their tour.

Agreeing that taking over a manufacturing firm was less of a tall order than Bryan was getting having to take on his role generating news and publicity at the PR firm, Lee said: "There is more of a process here, that's very fair."