A betting shop manageress was on the phone auditioning for BBC quiz show The Weakest Link when four men burst in and robbed the store.

Joyce Thorpe-Apps told the BBC researcher: "We're being robbed, call the police," and turned to confront the raiders.

The three had vaulted over the counter of the store in Framfield Way, Eastbourne, and demanded the keys from the safe.

But the two female members of staff told them they did not know where the keys were.

One man grabbed a worker by the hair, forced her head back and demanded to know where the keys were but she maintained she did not know.

Meanwhile researcher Clare Field dialled 999 from her office in central London.

Mrs Thorpe-Apps, 58, was 15 minutes into her phone audition and had answered 19 out of 20 general knowledge questions when the gang burst into the Tote shop.

The robbers escaped in two getaway cars with £280 but were caught later by armed police.

A judge jailed Marvin Lewis, 18, Dean Phillips, 21, Reuben Richardson, 21, all of London, and Gavin Walters, 20, of Ilford, Essex, for a total of 16 years.

All four men admitted robbery and Walters also admitted dangerous driving after speeding in the getaway car.

Lewes Crown Court heard Mrs Thorpe-Apps was in the store with a cashier and four customers on February 14 when the men came in.

Philip Meredith, prosecuting, said when they could not find the keys to the safe the men left with cash from the till.

Customers in the shop noted the robbers' vehicle registration and they were soon apprehended by the police.

Mrs Thorpe-Apps said: "It was quite traumatic at the time. But our customers were wonderful. I cannot thank them enough. Without them these men might not have been caught."

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall jailed Lewis for three-and-a-half years, Phillips for four-and-a-half years and Richardson for three years.

Walters was jailed for five years for robbery and six months for dangerous driving, to run concurrently. He was banned from driving for two years.

Despite the robbery, Mrs Thorpe-Apps was selected for the show - but she was voted off in the first round.

She said Anne Robinson's famous cutting remarks were nothing compared with the robbery.

She said: "One of the other contestants recognised me from TV before - I appeared on The Day Today back in 1994. I am one of those people who is once seen, never forgotten, I'm afraid.

"Everybody got all their questions right on the show, but because this woman had recognised me I was voted off.

"I was disappointed because I would have liked to have gone a bit further for the family's sake. After all we had been through, it added to the disappointment a bit.

"But Anne was wonderful. She is a lovely, lovely lady. What appears on the TV is just an act."

Mrs Thorpe-Apps now hopes to appear on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?