26/09/2016 The One Show

Hello and welcome to the One Show with Matt Baker.

And joining me tonight while Alex is away, is Angela Scanlon.

It's lovely to have you back! Thank you.

Tonight's guest is a true time traveller.

He whizzed forward through the centuries, from the Middle Ages

to the First World War, playing one of comedy's funniest

And for 20 years he zipped back in time digging up archaeological

But the big question is, why does time have so little effect on him?

Here he is aged 13 as the Artful Dodger.

This is him aged 43, hatching a very cunning plan.

And here he is, no need to be specific about age,

APPLAUSE Thank you so much for being here.

Did that picture of you as a 13-year-old boy peering through the

bars, did you ever think at that time that you'd be getting knighted

many years later? No, it was a crazy, crazy exciting journey. Was

it daunting? I think I would fall over if I was given any thought of

honour! The old knighthood? I'd vaguely heard something might be

arriving but I didn't know what it was, would it be and or a. Then my

wife was bouncing around saying, it's a K! LAUGHTER Look at you, as

freshfaced as ever. Listening to what you were saying earlier, I

think it's because I enjoy what I do and it's always a surprise. I don't

plan anything, I don't have huge ambitions, I just think, I'm doing

The One Show now, what am I doing tomorrow? It is genuinely an

adventure. I love it. Just like you two do. We are looking forward to

talking about your new book No Cunning Plan.

Now to a worrying substance that should have disappeared from our

playgrounds a decade ago. There's nothing kids love more than the

thrill of throwing themselves around the playground. And you might think

the biggest risk they face is a grazed knee. But could there be a

danger lurking in our playgrounds but we wouldn't want near our kids?

I'm talking about lead paint. For more than 20 years, UK laws have

meant any paints used should be lead-free. Problem solved you might

think. But only if those laws are being followed. Doctor Andrew Turner

of Plymouth University is an environmental scientist. Surely we

are not still using highly toxic material in parks? That was our

impression and our assumption. Yes, lead was banned in the 60s and 70s

and you'd expect it to be an historical problem. But is it? To

find out Doctor Turner has invested in this snazzy machine. And we've

invited him and it to join us in Bristol, to see just what the lead

levels are like on the apparatus children are playing on here. To

help Dr Turner we've enlisted some willing and expert assistance who

use swings and roundabouts. Eliza, Isabella, Daniel, Michelle,

Elizabeth and William, accompanied by the parents. Let's go to work.

Left undisturbed and intact, paint's chemical components are safe. But if

it deteriorates it can crack, and if the cracks end up being put in mouth

and swallowed its less than ideal. Andrew's machine fires x-rays into

the paint to analyse its chemical make up. While he gets busy our kids

record his findings. With testing completed in our first playground,

how many of the apparatus have lead in their paint? Kids, after three,

three, two, one, show your mums. No way! That's shocking! All of it. You

hear of it in lead paint and houses and making sure we upgrade our paint

but we've never heard about it on children's play equipment. While

Andrew's team move on to test other playgrounds I've come to the

University of Bristol to ask Professor of Child health about the

danger lead poses. Children are particularly vulnerable to the

effects of lead. They are more likely to ingest it through their

behaviours. Secondly, when it gets into the system it stays in their

body for a long time. Even small exposures to lead in childhood are

potentially damaging. What are the effects on children when they are

exposed to lead? Our research showed effects on the educational

attainment of children, an behaviour particularly hyperactivity and

anti-social behaviour. And at the very high levels, you can get actual

damage to the internal organs, particularly the kidneys. The bottom

line is there's probably no absolute safe level of lead in the body. In

total we tested painted equipment in six council run playgrounds in

Bristol and found worryingly high lead levels in half of them. One

produced readings for Mercury. Who's to blame for this? The councils are

probably importing things, having the assumption that we've banned

lead in paints. If they are sourcing it from a cheap supplier and it's

coming from the far east maybe, they are not being checked as they come

into this country. Do you think that this problem is being replicated

across the country? I would assume so. We've measured throughout the

south-west and southern England and the findings have been similar. We

are finding leaded paint in 40-50% of the parks and we are finding it

in both old and new structures as well. And what do you want to

happen? I would like to see a coherent strategy of monitoring.

Also if there is a problem I'd like to see some advice as to how to

remove the paint or remove the structure. Parents should be

vigilant, especially if your child has a tent city to nibble things. If

there is flaking paint in particular its always good advice to wash your

hands before eating. There's still one question left unanswered. If

lead paint has been banned for over 20 years why are we still finding it

in what should be the safest of spaces for our children?

We have spoken to the Local Government Association,

who represent all the councils in England and Wales,

So if you are worried about flaking paint in playgrounds you use,

we'd encourage you to contact your council and, if you can,

get your children to wash their hands with water

We also spoke to Bristol Council, whose playgrounds we featured

in the film, and they told us they'll be checking the issue

with their play equipment suppliers and reviewing the council's plans

They say they buy their play equipment from well-known,

experienced suppliers who are required to comply

Now, back to you. Your book, your wonderful book is dedicated to your

parents. It is, yeah. My mum and dad were an enormous influence on me. My

mum and dad really had a good time in the Second World War, it feels

slightly awful to say that. They were young working class people,

away from home. My dad learned how to play boogie piano and there were

lots of Canadian forces in Scotland where he was. He was in the Canadian

forces dance band. He defended our country from Hitler by playing fats

Waller genes! LAUGHTER My mum was in Reading and was really turned on by

amateur dramatics and spent time doing Terence Rattigan and that type

of thing. When the war was over, they were working class, they were

from Hackney but they had bought a house in Woodford before the war. My

dad could have gone to Canada to be a pianist but they came back and

live the respectable semidetached life. Then they found they had this

son who had some kind of facility that the thing that was their dream.

They must be so proud of you and what you've achieved. They

absolutely loved it. They gave me a kind of confidence. Being an actor

is very much a confidence trick. We are doing live telly now. People say

that is so scary, but you learn a sort of confidence. It was my mum

and dad who gave that to me. Of all the things you've done, obviously

Blackadder is a big deal. I couldn't believe it that you weren't actually

in the pilot. How did you end up in the series? Looking back it looks

like it must have happened, it must have been successful. The first

pilot was not very good at all. So bad that loads of people had turned

down the part of Baldrick. I was offered the job three days before we

were due to go into rehearsals. They must have asked at least a dozen

people! LAUGHTER It feels like it was made for you. We never did the

pilot because there was an industrial dispute at the BBC. I

left and went to work at the National Theatre. They made the

pilot with another guy who was very good apparently. They then decided,

we'll get Tony to do it. So I was commissioned to do the whole show.

First week of rehearsal, another industrial dispute. The first series

didn't go on. Even when it finally went on most people said it was

rubbish! It wasn't until the repeats of the second series when suddenly

it went off like crazy. The book is littered with lots of anecdotes from

that and from multiple other things. We thought we might let you choose

some of those. What is this? Baldrick's favourite vegetable which

we believe is a turnip! We've got words on the back of the turnips. So

you are picking them at random. Pick a turnip and see what's written on

it. It'll spur a memory. Voussoir! You all know what a voussoir is,

don't you? No! This is live television, lifetime team, very

scary because we were doing it live but not in a studio, over about five

fields, stretching the technology. We don't have time to do a proper

rehearsal. I haven't even seen the script for the last quarter of an

hour. That's all right, I've got my cue cards. I've got my autocue like

there is running there. I've got a little thing in my ear. I have to

basket through to the end of the programme. We've all had to that at

some time --. Then I put my cue cards down and lost them. Then the

autocue packed up. Then the thing in my ear packed up. I had absolutely

no idea! Imagine if you hadn't rehearsed this! I had nothing. I

just turned to Professor Mick Aston and said, so, the Normans. LAUGHTER

Tell me more! And I blundered my way through it being pushed from pillar

to post. People came running out of the scanner, Hugh

Fearnley-Whittingstall was dressed as a Saxon, he was yanking me up the

hill, shoving me into people. Suddenly I realised that we were

going to finish on this Norman window. I had no idea what it was

supposed to look like, I didn't remember what it was called. The

voussoir! I was wondering when you were going to get to that! I was

blundering around the hill looking for this flipping voussoir! When I

finally found it it was a moment made in heaven. It only worked

because of teamwork. Everyone knew how to see me through it. If you

want to find out about Liza or John Wayne, you want to hear about that.

That was when I tried to cop off with Liza Minnelli and it was a

disaster! LAUGHTER Tell us about the Normans. Actually don't!

Back in May, we investigated why so many pubs are closing up and down

the country and spoke to some of the people trying to save them.

Now, Helen Fospero's been to Manchester to meet a community

who've gone one step further and built a brand

The good old British pub. Traditionally it's usually at the

centre of a community. But across the UK their soul to be demolished

or turned into flats. This is happening more than 80 times a month

in the UK. British boozers are under attack. The pub trade no longer

seems like a good business prospect. However, I'm about to meet some

people who are defying the trend. Despite the problems in the pub

trade, Ben and Joe have just opened a brand-new pub in Manchester. Why

have they taken the risk? People in this pub today are a really good

example of what pubs can do. Pubs bring people from across generations

together in a space at the same time, which you don't always see. We

like to think of pubs as the original social network. This is not

just another pub. This is the pub that Ben, Joe and a small community

have built from scratch. When I say from scratch I mean everything,

right down to the pump handles. Pump handles and a beer tap which is on

there at the moment. And a couple of tiles, too. I made one of the

baskets, I did a day of basket weaving. The cask and cake pump

handles. The cask once we did make potters wheel. How do you build a

pub? We had no track record for building

pubs. But with enthusiasm and help of the people of Manchester, it has

become relatively easy. How many volunteers were involved? We have

done this 12 months. Hundreds of people have helped us get to where

we are. Why did you fancy getting involved in building a pub? It was

an opportunity to meet new people and develop new skills. I joined up

because I am interested in beer and having a go at things. Interested in

beer, that is a new one! Annabel, you are sitting on what you made.

How does it feel? Great, they are comfortable. How important is the

project? A great idea. It has pulled us together and made me aware of the

pub. It is nice to know we have had a hand in it. It has been a nice

community project. The connection with the people has made it, people

have been involved since day one and it has been a creative design

process and has a little of every person involved in it. Pubs are

closing every week and there are historic boarded-up pubs. Why decide

to do a new build and not renovate? We see a pub as the heart of the

community and there is no pub in this community. We wanted to bring

everybody together. If you want your own pub, you could build one

yourself. Well, with a little help with your friends.

Cheers! What an opening night. What a sense of achievement from the

local community. Do you see it as a realistic model to spread through

Britain? I do not see it as a realistic model. It is a fantastic

pub, beautifully designed, the sense of spirit came across, everybody

making something. But what sets it apart is it is built in central

business district Manchester where developers realised there was

nowhere for business people and residents to go and put money in and

built it up from the ground, which is brilliant, but it is rare because

usually money is at the heart of these stories and it is money people

have not got. When we spoke to you in May, there were 27 pubs week

closing down. There is some good news on that front. Developers, as

we reported in May, off to see British pubs, usually historic ones,

as low hanging fruit and realise the planning laws are weak and can be

exploited. Since we reported in May, the figure has gone down to 21

closing every week. Often usually viable, and historic. But it is

still more than 80 pubs a month. Many communities are realising that

developers are targeting their local and they have realised they can

fight back and apply to councils to apply for an asset of community

status which gives them a layer of protection in planning. On the flip

side, some councils have realised British planning laws are weak and

we will lose our cultural heritage if we do not tighten them up and

some councils are doing that of their own volition because the

properties are worth more to developers as supermarkets, car

parks, office space or private homes. Looking back at some of the

pubs featured in May, and the situation they were in, what is the

update? I will update you on two in Kent. The Chequer Inn, 15th century,

the last proper community pub in the village which has been boarded up

for 18 months. The developer wants to turn it into a house and they are

keen to keep it. Dover District Council has said the community can

try to raise funds to buy it themselves. It has doubled in price

since the developer bought it but they are trying. They had a pop-up

pub in the village hall and raised more than ?70,000 so far. Very

determined. The last proper pub in the village and they will not go

down without a fight. We reported on the historic Red Lion up the road.

It has been a pub for 750 years, mentioned in the Domesday book and

grade two star listed. A developer wants to turn it into two private

homes and it has been boarded up for 18 months. The latest from the

council, the community was sent off to find a serious buyer, and they

found three, including a household name. They went back to the council

with the details, who have recommended that it should still be

turned into two houses. It has gone to the planning Inspectorate.

In his two decades on Time Team, Tony helped us visualise hundreds

But it's a lot harder to know what the people who lived

One man works to bring these faces back to life, an evolutionary

biologist, Ben Garrod, has been put to the test.

Facial reconstruction combines art and science to put a face on the

past. In archaeology, it can resurrect famous faces like the king

of the car park, Richard III. In forensics science it is used to

solve the most serious crimes. Just how accurate are the techniques of

facial reconstruction? The One Show is in a unique position to find out

because not only do we have a skull, we know who it belongs to. Using MRI

scanning and a 3D printer I became one of the few in the world to own a

plastic replica of my own skull. A copy is now on its way to Richard

Neave, one of the leading experts in facial reconstruction. He will use

my skull to rebuild a face that fits. What we have not told Richard

is it is my face he is reconstructing. One's first feeling

is it will probably be male. The faces big, nice and symmetrical.

Normally Richard would work with DNA and dental experts to learn more

about the age, sex and ethnicity. We have given him clues. Male,

Caucasian, aged 30-40. It will be interesting to see how he turns out.

For more than 40 years Richard has recreated faces from ancient history

and his work in police investigations has featured on

Crimewatch and led to the identification of murder victims.

For the next two weeks Richard will spend 60 hours using his talents to

sculpt my face. First, he inserts pegs to indicate the depth of my

flesh. Next, the eyeballs, eyelids and ligaments. Then he starts to

build the muscles of the face. This is one of the major muscles of

mastication, chewing. You can see it working on the side of people'sfaces

as they are chewing. Areas of soft tissue like the lips leave no hard

evidence. To reconstruct them, Richard has to use of the tricks of

the trade. The width of your lips should be approximately the same as

the distance between your two pupils and measuring from here, Richard

should be able to work out the width of my lips. The nose is a tricky

feature. Richard has to use the clues are available from my skull.

Sometimes you will get a nasal bones sticking up and sometimes you will

get one coming down in a big hook. That is relatively straight and that

is relative to the straits so no indication of a hooked nose. It

means facial reconstruction is never an exact science, but after two

weeks of care. Ting, how will Richard react when he meets the

owner of the face he has reconstructed? Hello, I am Ben. Nice

to meet you. Can I see you sideways? Of course. Wonderful. Yes. Amazing.

Do come in. Thanks. Sans hair and beard and moustache. It is quite

surreal. I can see my traits. Definitely has my nose and chin. In

profile you have more of a hump at that point. I broke my nose three or

four times and had it reset. That is cheating! It is great you can see

that. To be honest, you are a slightly more healthy version than

this. This is when you have been in the jungle and lost weight. Very

diplomatically put! I am always critical of my own stuff. There is

nothing wildly out, it is all about right. Richard has accurately

reconstructed the key features that would be used in forensics science

to help identify victims and solve crimes. And all he had to start with

were the bare-bones. I thought that was impressive.

Favourite line ever, can I see you sideways? Absolutely. Tony, we

thought we would put your mind to the test with some reconstructions

from the past. They have been created in a similar way to what we

saw. You have to guess these people. We will give you clues. I do not

know what sex that person is. He was born around 1323 BC. So he is

Egyptian. He is Ramos sees... You got that. He died in his late teens.

Oh, it is Tutankhamun. This gentleman, the first construction

from a real human skull. He liked music and lived from 1685, in

Germany. Sort of Beethoven. He is a Beethoven type. This is the music.

He is JS Bach. Very good. Wonderful. Finally, who was this dashing Viking

based on? Go on. Because this is the One Show, and I would not have

guessed it, it looks remarkably, hideously like the man right next to

you. I didn't make it into Madame Tussaud, but I made it into the

Jorvik centre. Really? I am supposed to be selling fish. I had to go, it

was an extraordinary experience, like being buried alive. They take a

cast of your head and put gelatin on and it goes hard and plaster of

Paris around. They made a model out of me. This was 16 years ago. There

is a bit of bad news. Because of the floods early this year, the Jorvik

centre... You are gone. Really? However, there is a silver lining.

They will give you a place, they will help you out. They gave you a

sendoff, they will give you a sendoff before they ditch you. Here

you are. I've been down. Westminster Bridge. Selfies. Got a lost. There

you are. Fish! Stopped the police, asked for directions. And finally, a

little bit underdressed, at Buckingham Palace. I love it.

APPLAUSE. Reunited. Look at that. The centre have said they would like

to recast you as an animatronic leather-work. I do not know what

that is! Thanks, Tony. You autobiography, No Cunning Plan, is

out now. Which is the real Matt? I am confused.

Alex will be back tomorrow, when we'll be joined by actors

And Ken Bruce will be here talking Sir Terry Wogan.