`Celebration of the body showing we're all equal'.

One participant yesterday was Rev Jim Craig, community arts chaplain in Bensham and Gateshead.

The 32-year-old churchman, who took part with wife Amabel, 26, was one of the volunteers featured by the BBC in a documentary screened last night.

He said Tunick was "attempting to proclaim the good news that our bodies are essentially good things ( things to be proud of no matter how much they often fail to match up to the bodies we see displayed in the media".

He said the shoot celebrated the body, showing that we are all equal. "That is important for Christian spirituality."

Susan James, 44, from Jesmond, said she volunteered because she thought it would be "interesting, liberating and different".

Neighbour Judith Carpenter, 60, said she enjoyed the camaraderie. "It was lovely to see everyone joining in."

Angela Nunn, aged 34, from Heaton, said: "When I first heard about it, I said, `No way'. Then I questioned why I felt that way and decided I had to take part."

She said some of yesterday's poses had conjured up disturbing images, reminding her of photos she had seen of mass graves in Kosovo with bodies packed closely.

But she said she had enjoyed helping to make the work.

Spanish flat-mates Cristina Aguilar, aged 22, and Joel Guitart, 24, travelled from London to take part.

Joel, who took part in a Tunick shoot in Barcelona, said yesterday's experience was both longer and colder. First-timer Cristina said: "I enjoyed it apart from the cold."

Mark Roworth, 34, travelled from Brighton, having taken part in a Tunick shoot to open the Saatchi Gallery in London.

"It was fun so I knew I had to do it again," he said.

"But the last time it was only for half an hour. This was a lot bigger."