It’s not every day schoolboys beat TV heavyweights Alan Sugar and Jeremy Clarkson at their own game. But that is exactly what pupils at The Lancaster School in Leicester have done, in picking up a Bafta for the documentary The Choir.

The BBC2 programme won the Best Feature category, beating crowd pleasers The Apprentice and Top Gear. It followed the fortunes of the choir as they sang in school and, eventually, in front of thousands at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

One of the stars of the show, Boston Williams, 16, was amazed they’d beaten such strong opposition. “Alan Sugar certainly did not look happy when they announced we’d won,” he said.

The documentary, which was screened last year and took about nine months to film, showed how choirmaster Gareth Malone convinced pupils that it was cool to sing. The boys said the experience has given them the confidence to aim high.