Never-before-seen photograph of Britney Spears released for the first time as part of BBC Arts documentary, Britney: In Ten Pictures

A never-before-seen photograph of Britney Spears will feature in the new BBC Arts documentary Britney: In Ten Pictures, now available on BBC iPlayer.

The image was captured by photographer Lisa Means in January 1999, when she was commissioned by People magazine to photograph a young Britney Spears in her hometown of Kentwood shortly before the teenager released her first album. Several of the photographs were released at the time, but this one was never published.

‘This didn’t get published, it’s not one that’s ever been seen by anyone,’ Means explains in the documentary. ‘I was working for People magazine when I photographed Britney for the first home take that was ever done.’

Means was the first photographer to be given access to the Spears’ family home. She recalls, ‘A lot of photographers push the limits, and maybe they get an outstanding shot, but I want to treat people with respect and that courtesy, and I think that’s why they were so welcoming and warming.’

The previously unpublished image shows Britney laughing with family and friends in the front of a truck, as the group take a trip to get ice cream.

Means explains, ‘They wanted to go get some ice-cream, so we went to the local drive-in place. I was smushed in the back of the truck to get the images so it was kind of challenging too. Jason is driving, a childhood friend, and Courtney. I think this is her cousin here. And we just had so much fun. They were singing to Madonna and Britney was like, “I hope I get to meet her one day!” and we were like, “oh that would be really cool”’.

‘She was so naïve, so innocent, and I don’t mean naïve in a bad way, I mean it in a really good way.’

A week after Lisa’s shoot, Britney’s first album …Baby One More Time was released on 12 January 1999, selling over ten million copies in its first year and solidifying Britney’s superstar status.

Years later, in 2003, Britney famously performed with Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards, culminating in a now iconic on-stage kiss between the pair - a moment explored later in the documentary as one of the ten defining images tracing Britney Spears’ extraordinary rise to fame and the intense media scrutiny that followed.

Alongside Lisa Means, the film includes interviews with photographer Nigel Parry, paparazzi Nick Stern and Daniel Ramos, magazine editor Dylan Jones, British music video director Nigel Dick, and members of the Free Britney movement.

• Watch In Ten Pictures on BBC iPlayer