A Brighton production company is riding high after its reality television show Supernanny became a surprise smash in the United States.

Ricochet South's ratings winner took the US by storm, attracting seven-and-a-half million viewers and turning its no-nonsense star Jo Frost into a cultural icon.

The show, which helps parents deal with difficult children, has made a star of Frost, who has become a regular on the US chat show circuit.

Her childcare methods needed little adjustment for the US version as she moved in with American families and served up tough advice.

Ricochet South's boss Nick Powell, who is Supernanny's executive producer, is hoping the show's popularity will spawn a second season on US network ABC.

He said: "Kids riding roughshod over their parents is a global phenomenon. That's why the series works in both places. Today, parents need all the help they can get.

"It was an overnight hit when it launched over here in June last year and at first we thought we would just sell the format to a network in the States.

"In the end, we went over there to make the show ourselves which was something we were not planning to do but it worked out very well.

"The show has been incredibly successful and the book to accompany the series spent 10 weeks in The New York Times best seller list for self-help books."

The first series of Channel 4's Supernanny achieved ratings of more than six million in the UK and a second series, launched last Wednesday, pulled in five million viewers.

Last month the show was named Best Factual Entertainment Series at the prestigious Royal Television Society Awards ceremony in London.

Supernanny has been sold around the world to 23 different companies and was described by Channel 4, who own the distribution rights, as the UK's biggest reality export.

Ricochet South has recently moved from cramped offices in Old Steine to Pacific House, Dyke Road.

The firm, a spin-off of Ricochet Ltd, founded by Mr Powell in London in 1995, has doubled its staff to about 80 in the past 18 months.

Mr Powell said: "When we first moved down here the talent pool was very small but more and more people are moving away from London to live here.

"We have made it a policy to nurture our staff so they grow into the positions we made for them and now I would like to think we are the first port of call for all the TV production talent down here."

Mr Powell said: "There is a lot of talk at the moment between independent television companies but we are not in any merger talks.

"I am very happy with the way we are progressing."