How outspoken Nell drove Lisa round the bend for new reality TV series

Model Lisa Murphy will tonight form an unlikely team with writer Nell McCafferty (66) for the new TV3 programme Driving Me Crazy. The series is billed as a celebrity reality show with a twist -- instead of being locked in a house Big Brother style, pairs of Irish celebrities will be stuck in a car together. Each week two celebs, who might not exactly get along, will go on a journey across Ireland during which viewers will discover that most cars just aren't big enough for two egos.

The first episode will kick off tonight and will see sparks fly between Nell and Lisa (37) when they get lost in a struggle to find their way from Dublin to Eyre Square in Galway without using the motorway.

And bubbly Lisa, fiancee of lawyer Gerald Kean, admits that the show is sure to make for riveting viewing given that she and outspoken feminist Nell clashed on a number of occasions throughout the journey.

"I'm kind of excited and nervous about seeing it," she told the Herald. "Gerald laughs at me but I always cringe when I see myself on television."

But despite the odd outburst, Lisa revealed that she couldn't have had more fun filming the episode.

"It was completely crazy but we had so much fun. I only found out on the day that I would be driving to Galway with Nell. We couldn't be more opposite but we got on really well. She is a fighter and I'm a lover but it was a fantastic experience. I just laughed the whole way with Nell.

"There were a few arguments because I was the driver and she was supposed to be giving me directions but trying to get her to concentrate was impossible. We actually got lost at one point.

"I had met her before with Gerald when he was participating on Celebrity Bainisteoir and his team Cork played against hers. I wouldn't have known her terribly well other than that. The whole series is to raise money for our chosen Irish charity. Nell made an outrageous suggestion that she was donating hers to a euthanasia charity, but she was only joking."

The programme will air tonight at 7.30pm on TV3.

See the Diary, p20