British artist and living legend Andrew Logan, loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, takes us under his glittering wing and inside his outrageous, anarchic and spectacular costume pageant: the Alternative Miss World Show.

As the Show’s master of ceremonies and ringmaster, Logan is the high priest of an esteemed congregation. Artist, David Hockney judged the first one, musician David Bowie couldn’t get into the second, film director Derek Jarman won the third and fashionista Zandra Rhodes designs Andrew’s hostess costume. Other patrons include Mary Quant, Biba, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Brain Eno, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Divine and John Waters, Elton John, Larry Hagman, the Queen Mum and Tony Blair. He describes the Show as his most important artwork – a fabulous living sculpture that spans 40 years of arts and culture.

Over its 35 year history, Alternative Miss World has both reflected and informed British arts and culture. The first was a backlash against the austerity of the early 70s. Since then, the Show has inspired glam, punk and new romantic. It dazzled in Thatcher’s recession, flaunted itself in the AIDS crisis, became darker in the corporate 90s and decidedly un-cool Britannia in 2004.

Using live observational camera, archive and exuberant animation, this documentary charts the mounting of the 2008 Show, interwoven with its history – the rise, fall and rediscovery – of both the event and the artist at its centre.

The Show has a very English flavour that connects with a very British tradition of the outsider performance. Whether it be Molly Houses or cross dressing Morris dancers the Show follows a long-standing reputation for the weird and the kooky, the strange and the eccentric.

Logan and the Show have an international reputation – in Russia, India, Mexico, East and West coast USA, Germany, France, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and most recently Japan. Also across the worldwide gay community, the Show is the stuff of legends, with many small copycat events being staged in Australia, Brazil and Ireland.

We visit Russia – home of the last two winners of the Alternative Miss World crown. In a time of tension between the UK and Russia, Logan is a revered celebrity who was even invited to put on the 2008 Show in Moscow, but as growing intolerance grips the country, it was deemed too dangerous. We find uncanny parallels between Russia now and the UK of the early 70s and reflect on the true value of the freedom that Logan and the Alternative Miss World represent.

The history of the Show and of Logan himself are intertwined – a meteoric joyful rise, a stumble and fall into relative obscurity and now, perhaps, a rediscovery. Several of the Show winners and key contributors died young in the 80s and 90s and the AIDS crisis took its toll on Andrew and his scene. Many people thought Logan had died too. This twist of fate catapulted him away from the limelight for many years. But in the last year, Logan has been on the catwalk for Comme des Garcons, his sculptures have features in high profile shows including the big Punks retrospective at London’s Barbican, and 2008 sees Logan’s first solo exhibition in the UK for 15 years.

In the aftermath of every Alternative Miss World Show, once the tears are wiped away and the hangover eases, there is an after-party – a time of celebration and reflection. We ask Logan about the future………

Now in his 60s, will he stop doing the Show? Was this his last? We ask the contestants – has being in the Show changed their lives? Can the Show continue without Logan? And who would take over the mantle? Will Logan always be an outsider? Is that the lot of the artist or of the man?