‘SOPHISTICATED’ is not an easy word to spell.

But for ten-year-old Tiarna Billing the letters trip off the tongue. In fact, she could spell even before she started primary school.

The Bradford schoolgirl is something of a wizard when it comes to spelling, and has had a passion for the written word for as long as she can remember.

“At nursery school, when other children were playing I would be looking at books,” she says, “I loved to look at the words.”

Aged four, she asked for a dictionary for her birthday, and, he mum Lisa recalls, would sit and pick up books on all subjects.

“When she was younger she would read anything, from fairy tales to factual books,” she says. “When she was about four she became engrossed in a book about tree surgery.”

Now her skills are being tested in front of an audience after she won her way to a place on a nail-biting television spelling bee.

Tiarna is one of 20 youngsters aged between nine and 13 taking part in The Big Spell broadcast on Sky1. Hosted by Sue Perkins, Joe Lycett and Moira Stewart, the show sees the youngsters go word-to-word in a series of exciting showdowns.

The talented youngster - who was nine when she secured her place on the show - had to demonstrate her skills in a series of tricky tests and interviews before being selected from thousands of applicants in the search for the nation’s best young speller.

Viewers can see her spelling words that many of us would struggle to pronounce, or possibly have not even heard of, in her bid to win the coveted title.

Tiarna is happy to divulge her methods of learning. “I read the words then write them down, and then spell them out loud and check them,” she says. “I also close my eyes and try and write words out in my head or on the palm of my hand. I start with shorter words then build up to longer ones.”

Words with more letters are not necessarily the hardest to master, she says. “Some shorter words, such as ‘nihilism’ are quite difficult.”

She adds: My mum also helps me - she finds words and writes them down on her phone and I spell them. And before I went on the show my friends came and helped me to practise.”

At school, Tiarna’s spelling prowess with words was quickly spotted by teachers.

Says Lisa: “She quite quickly escalated from short words to longer ones - at reception age she would be spelling words such as ‘sophisticated’ rather than ‘cat’ and ‘hat’. Her teachers were amazed.”

She adds: “She is definitely a better speller than me!”

The family found out about the show from a friend. “She had a leaflet and asked us if we knew about it,” says Lisa. “When I showed it to Tiarna she was eager to take part.”

The selection process included online spelling challenges and telephone interviews, followed by spelling tests conducted by Skype. This was followed by face-to-face auditions in Manchester where Tiarna took part in several different rounds before securing her place. She travelled with Lisa to London for filming.

Backstage with the children’s parent, comedian Joe Lycett balances the tension of the competition with humour, while presenter and former newsreader Moira Stuart officiates as the show’s pronouncer.

But while there is tension in the air, the youngsters have their feet firmly on the ground. Says Tiarna: “We remember that it is just for fun. I thought if I got through it would be really good but if not at least I had got this far.”

Adds Lisa: “We try to adopt a ‘no pressure’ approach and had a lot of conversations saying it would be the end of the world had she not made it onto the show. I think I have been a lot more nervous than Tiarna.”

Tiarna has made friends with the other contestants. “One of the girls came to my birthday party,” she says. The youngsters also share a WhatsApp group.

When she learned that Sue Perkins was presenting, Tiarna was thrilled. “I watch the Great British Bake Off and was so excited to meet her. She is really nice - when she first met us she gave us all a hug.”

Tiarna is now reading the star’s memoir.

Of the more challenging words, Tiarna recalls ‘Machiavellian’ as being tricky, as well as ‘surreptitious’ and ‘taramasalata’.

“I am learning new words all the time, which will be useful for me at school,” she says.

The contestants were invited to London to watch a preview of the first episode.

Tiarna’s four-year-old brother has also got caught up in the excitement. “When he saw me on TV the first time he started jumping up and down,” she says.

Lisa is very proud of her daughter. “It has been a once-in-a lifetime experience – everyone has been so nice, and the team behind the programme are lovely.”

*The Big Spell is on Sky 1 is shown on Sunday at 5pm.