How do you go from being a barrow boy at a south London market to being the most famous interior designer in Hollywood?

Using his eye for design and undoubtable charm, Martyn Lawrence Bullard is the toast of Tinseltown’s A Listers. With budgets upwards of a million dollars, he’s turned the LA pads of Elton John, P Diddy, Eva Mendes, Nicky Minaj and Jimmy Choo millionairess Tamara Mellon into designer palaces. And thanks to his hit TV show Million Dollar Homes on Bravo, the flamboyant 46 year old is also a household name in the US. “It has been the most amazing journey - I’m a true British boy made good!” said Martyn, who counts Elton John and partner David Furnish among his best friends and calls Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne his “second family.”

Now the designer is bringing a touch of movieland glamour to the UK with a brand new Channel Four series, Hollywood Me, which starts from Wednesday, June 19, at 8pm. The show sends “deserving” Brits on “the trip of a lifetime” to LA to meet Martyn’s mates, like Sharon and Billy Zane, while he secretly gives their homes a Hollywood makeover.

“I’m really giving these people a wonderful taste of a different lifestyle and I’ve had the most amazing letters back saying how it’s changed their lives,” said Martyn.

Today, Martyn lives with partner, TV producer Michael Green, in a Hollywood Hills mansion. But he says his entrepreneurial streak was evident early on. As a 12 year old in Bromley, he used his pocket money to buy trinkets to sell on at “a wonderful mark-up” at market stalls.

“That was to be my training ground for my career in Hollywood!” he told me.

After an acting course in London he moved, aged just 21, to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood. His break came when he invited the producer of one of his films to dinner at his tiny but chic LA home. The executive loved Martyn’s decor and commissioned him to redecorate his offices. But it was a chance meeting with supermodel Cheryl Tiegs that really changed his fortunes when she hired him to redesign her home. “Nine months later I was on the cover of six magazines around the world as a new interior design star,” said Martyn.

“It just sort of exploded and I was receiving phone calls from Sigourney Weaver , Edward Norton and Christina Aguillera.”