Two million YouTube hits for girl who pokes fun at Amy

Bryony Matthewman has built a huge international fan club for her one-woman comedy sketches.

The 24-year-old, who uses the internet pseudonym Paperlilies, films herself in her bedroom at her parents' Enfield home.

She impersonates singer Amy Winehouse, portrays a brainless teenage American beauty queen and takes on the persona of a stereotypical "chav" called Shazza. In a recent addition to her repertoire, she plays Britney Spears giving childcare tips to her pregnant 16-yearold sister, Jamie Lynn.

So far she has been watched by more than two million people and today she topped a poll commissioned by YouTube to find its 10 mostwatched Londoners.

Bryony, a graphic designer, insisted that it was all just "a bit of a laugh".

She said: "I'm freelance at the moment so I have quite a lot of time on my hands to make the videos. When I first looked at the site it was full of Americans and I decided it would be good to have an English presence.

"I started by answering questions that people from around the world had about Britain. Then I started doing my own comedy sketches and they really caught on.

"It's great that so many people enjoy them but it's all just a bit of a laugh to me."

The number of people using YouTube in Britain has doubled since it launched a dedicated UK portal in June. Londoners in particular have taken to the site.

Broadcasting directly from their front rooms, back gardens and even bathrooms, some users are attracting more viewers than tune into prime-time TV shows. About 10.8 million people in the UK use YouTube a month - a fifth of the population - according to analysts Nielsen NetRatings.

They found that Britons view more than 850 million YouTube pages a month, more than double the volume of a year ago.

Worldwide, more than eight hours of video are uploaded every minute, according to YouTube figures.

Londoners starring on YouTube who have attracted a cult following include musicians, comedians, poets and "vloggers" - video bloggers.

Wimbledon-born singer Mia A Rose is poised to follow in the footsteps of Sandi Thom, who launched a chart career after broadcasting gigs on the internet from her Tooting basement.

Ben Loka, 24, a writer, started vlogging in March, using the 20-second video function on his digital camera.

YouTube promoted him to the front page of its UK site and now a producer from American TV channel CBS has approached him about presenting a show in the US.

Other stars include a handyman who films his odd jobs around north London and four flatmates in Streatham whose regular episodes of Giving It A Go chart their bid to go self-sufficient.

A YouTube spokesman said: "Ordinary people are using YouTube to broadcast themselves to the world and are creating fantastic videos that are viewed by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. The creativity and talent in the YouTube community is truly astounding."