As lead singer in punk band the Dead Pets, Chris Sweeney couldn't read a note of music and couldn't pronounce Wagner, let alone say who the composer was.

But, just four weeks later, severely dyslexic Chris received an ovation after conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

He is the latest candidate to be transformed by Channel 4 series Faking It, in which candidates learn a new skill and try to fool the experts in their chosen field.

Mohican-sporting Chris swapped performing in Leeds pubs for work with leading conductors. He had only a month to fool a panel of judges into believing he was an experienced professional. "I was in the pub when they rang," said Chris, 25. "I was a bit drunk at the time."

His first hurdle was learning to read music. "I didn't do that well at school," he said. "So at first I just saw little black dots. The experts said, 'There's no right way to conduct but there's a wrong way.' I found it incredibly confusing.

"My band plays metal, punk and ska. I only had four weeks before going in front of a live orchestra."

The show's director, Stephen Walker, said Chris was "perfect": "He was rebellious, subversive and wrote some quite political songs. He knew nothing about classical music and when he saw the word Wagner on the back of a cassette he pronounced it 'Waggner'. The idea of him in front of 1,500 people conducting was irresistible."

Respected conductor Nicholas Kraemer, and Richard Dickins, a professor of music at Imperial College, London, had the task of grooming him. After less than three weeks he suffered his worst humiliation with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Tallinn, and its conductor Paavo Jarvi. "It was a disaster: some people were actually laughing," said Chris.

Then, nursing his wounded pride, he took a call from his girlfriend in England, who told him their relationship was over. "We thought he'd had it," said Mr Walker.

Chris said: "It was really tough. But after a couple of days I snapped out of it." He pulled himself together to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, with a bravura performance of the overture from Rossini's opera The Italian Girl in Algiers.

• Faking It will be screened on 30 January