The Secrets of Picking Up Women in Public

In a new series bringing stories from the left field, Jolyon Jenkins investigates the underground brotherhood of "pick up artists" - men who claim to have have turned the art of seduction into a science.

It all started with a best-selling book written ten years ago called The Game, which revealed the existence of a band of men who had incredible success with women, not because of their looks, but because they had apparently deconstructed the mystery that is the feminine psyche. As a result of the book, men around the world formed pick up artist societies or "lairs". There are trainers, coaches, videos and forums. They have their own vocabulary and acronyms. The central tenet of their faith is that men can approach random women out of the blue and, provided they structure the interaction right, success is virtually guaranteed.

Jolyon spends an afternoon roaming the West End with members of the "London Seduction Society", and then joins a weekend bootcamp in which four unconfident, inexperienced men are trained by expert seducers in how to pick up women in Oxford Street. Is it all deeply misogynistic or just another form of self-help?

Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins.