The first episode of The Singing Estate was a rip-roaringly funny hour of what looks to be a seriously entertaining series.

Most of last night's show was taken up with snippets of the hundreds of auditions by people from Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys who hoped for a chance to take part in the Channel Five reality show.

As soon as the opening credits had finished, the narrator explained the challenge that conductor Ivor Setterfield decided to take on - to bring classical music to a once-troubled Oxford estate and to take a bunch of amateurs to sing at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The Channel Five documentary is part of a year-long arts initiative in Oxford developed by Fivearts Cities and Arts Council England.

The conductor came to the Oxford estate, where 40 of the most promising singers were selected out of an initial 69 finalists in a series of auditions.

During the process, camera crews also visited some of their homes. The final 40 spent three months training in front of the cameras with Mr Settlefield before performing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and meeting X-Factor singers G4 who also performed.

In last night's episode some of the people auditioning really lived up to the true amateur flavour of the venture.

As any singing-related reality programme worth its salt should, the programme had a fair few hopefuls who really gave it their all, but really hadn't got it.

The fact that many of us recognised some of the faces on our screen, only made the whole thing even more of a riot.

But among the caterwauling - including one spectacular rendition of what might have been Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - there were some real gems, such as the lady who set off the fire alarm by singing Killing Me Softly.

There were also some heartwarming moments. One was provided by 97-year-old Dorothy Gibson, of Cuddesdon Way, who said she had auditioned simply because she liked to do something every day to build her confidence, and another by a lad who said he had never before been told that he had a good voice.

Rumour has it that, after the comedy and capers of the first episode, the second instalment takes a turn for the worse with tempers fraying - including Ivor's - and the choir's confidence taking a bashing.

Watch this space.

The Singing Estate is on Channel Five at 8pm on Sundays.