Episode 1 12 Again

Coming up, three celebs become 12 again.

I hated my glasses and yet,

if I took them off, I couldn't see a thing.

-Do your impression, Sam.

-No, that's what used to happen!

I think I cried for about 24 hours.

And we caught up with One Direction.

My older sisters always used to try and influence my fashion

which may have involved high heels.

Ohhh!

Want to know what they're all talking about?

Ever wondered what it would have been like

to be best mates with your favourite celebs

when they were your age?

What did they get up to? What were their favourite songs?

And watch TV shows did they watch?

Because, despite the glamorous lifestyles they now lead,

once they were a kid with a dream, just like you.

This show lets you look back in time

with your favourite celebs as they become 12 again.

# Yeah, the bad boys are always catching my eye... #

She's the number one pop singer who really does have the X Factor.

But in the year 2000,

Alexandra Burke had just begun to set her sights firmly on success.

When I was 12 years old, I knew what I wanted in life already.

I loved going to school.

I would be so angry at friends who'd bunk school

cos I'd be like, "Education is the key!".

I sounded like an old woman.

They are the presenting duo who totally like

to wind you up on a Friday.

# Daisy dukes, bikinis on top... #

But back in the 1990s, Sam and Mark were total strangers.

Go on, you start.

-I was quite confident for a 12-year-old.

-Yeah, I'd say.

-You didn't know me.

-Yeah, I'm just trying to be nice.

-Can you hear that? That is your weekend starting about now!

-Yeah!

-I think I was a little bit arrogant.

-Oh, yeah?

I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did.

At that age, you think you know everything

and everybody else who's older than you knows nothing.

And she is the children's author who created

one of the best-loved characters ever.

But in 1957, Dame Jacqueline Wilson had her head in the clouds,

just as much as she did in the books.

I was frequently called Jacqui Daydream when I was at school

because I WAS a daydreamer.

I was the sort of child that stared gormlessly out of the window

and I'd be making up stories in my head,

instead of listening to the teachers.

All are massive celebs today and, for the first time ever,

we're going to find out everything there is to know about

what they were like when they were 12.

So let's go back in time and meet their 12-year-old selves.

I didn't really like the way I looked when I was 12.

I was...

..chubby.

When I was 12 years old, I was never interested in boys. I hated boys.

But I loved being a tomboy.

Years 7, 8 and 9, I wouldn't say I was bad but lovable rogue,

I'm just going to put that out there for you.

Spots! Oh, man, I had spots!

I remember really wanting my voice to break

because I wanted to have a lower voice, a more manly voice,

but I always thought you'd notice it straight away.

Like, (SQUEAKY VOICE) one day you'd be speaking like this,

and (DEEP VOICE) then you'd go like that.

But it didn't. It just gradually happened.

I hated my hair. My mum made me have it very short, with a perm.

And I also had to wear glasses. I hated my glasses.

And yet if I took them off, I couldn't see a thing.

Looks aside, what else did our celebrities get up to?

You know what I used to do?

-I was so nervous about my first proper kiss...

-Oh, don't say it!

..that I used to kiss my TV remote.

Er, OK, Sam.

I had a TV in my bedroom and I used to kiss the TV remote

to practice the, the action of...

Which side, though?

Not the one with the buttons. No, the bit on the bottom.

-Hey, it worked a dream, though!

-It's weird, though.

She couldn't believe that she was my first kiss.

-And I went, "Yeah. Yeah, you're my first kiss."

-It's weird, though.

OK, Sam, each to their own.

What about Alexandra?

When I grew up, I used to think my sister and I were twins

because my mum used to dress us the same,

until, one day, we both wore the same thing and she turned to me and

she went, "You know I'm a lot older than you and I'm not your twin."

I think I cried for about 24 hours.

When I was 12, I used to play every sport that there is.

-Football, cricket...

-Polo.

No, not polo.

If it has a competitive side to it, you know how competitive

I am now, but at 12, you're even more competitive.

I was always performing and I was always the kid that,

not the first person to get up at a party and do impressions

and things like that cos that's just annoying.

-What parties?

-Loads of parties.

-"Do your impressions, Sam."

-No, but that's what used to happen.

See, I used to do impressions in the privacy of my own home and

then your mum would embarrass you by saying, "Oh, do your impression."

Impressions of who?

I used to do an impression of a presenter called Cilla Black.

You're all watching Live and Kicking with a lorra, lorra laughs.

She always used to go, "Ohhh!"

"Oh, we're going to have a lorra, lorra laughs" she used to say.

Dun-dun, der-der-der, dun! Thank you.

The worst item of clothing, without a question, was my crocodile shoes.

And to make it even worse, I used to have really high trousers.

Not cool.

-There was a singer that had a song called Crocodile Shoes.

-Yeah.

-So people called you that?

-Yeah, I heard that a lot.

We lived in a flat that was considered, actually, very luxurious

because we had central heating and constant running hot water.

So we quite fancied ourselves in our posh flat.

Believe it or not, when Jacqueline was a kid,

having a radiator and being able to get hot water

when you turned on a tap was considered a luxury!

In fact, even by the 1970s,

only 30 percent of homes were properly heated.

But, while it may have been luxurious,

life at home wasn't always comfortable for Jacqueline.

Mum and Dad didn't get on very well, so there were lots of arguments.

My dad had a fierce temper and would yell a lot.

I really entered into my own imaginary world then

because I think when you're 12,

mostly you're around your family or you're all day at school.

You don't have time just to daydream. And that's what I liked to do most.

I shared a bedroom with my sister and my mum used to get so angry

cos we'd put loads of stickers on it, right.

We'd stick them up on the wall, ruin the paint, the whole shebang.

And every time I sang in my room, my audience was the posters,

because we had it, like, literally, you wouldn't see the wall in there.

It was literally stickers of people we loved everywhere.

My mum constantly had to keep painting the walls.

Every time she painted it, we'd stick more on.

We were naughty in that respect.

So that's what Sam and Mark, Jacqueline and Alexandra

were like when they were 12.

But what music were they listening to?

When I was 12, the band that I liked was Oasis.

# I'll never make my baby cry... #

-They were massive.

-Pretty big in the '90s.

When I was 12, they released their third album, Be Here Now,

which has recently become my favourite Oasis album.

Oasis exploded into the charts in 1994

and quickly became the biggest band in the UK.

By the time Sam was 12, Oasis were at the height of their fame.

They were so famous that, even though they

looked kind of funny, everyone still wanted to look like them.

I even grew my hair once like Liam Gallagher, really long

and over my ears and it was just like it.

That was the thing back then.

The Oasis haircut swept through the nation

and everybody wanted their own mop-top in the '90s.

So, while Sam was listening to the most popular music of the time,

Mark, well, I'll let him tell you.

In '93... Oh, wow, I can't believe this is going out on air,

but Meat Loaf came back with Bat Out Of Hell II.

-Wow!

-And you know when... Oh, what's that song?

It's this song and I am so sorry.

# And I would do anything for love... #

-# If I would do anything... #

-Yeah, that was good.

-That one!

-I loved that tune!

-That was big.

And I thought I was so cool buying that. Obviously I wasn't.

# Oh, I would do anything for love... #

Don't worry, you heard Mark right.

He said he liked Meat Loaf when he was 12.

Not that kind of meatloaf! Although it does look pretty tasty.

This Meat Loaf is actually called Marvin Lee Aday,

and he is one of America's biggest rock 'n' roll legends.

This song, believe it or not, was number one for seven weeks.

If you'd been at school with Mark,

this song would have definitely been played at the disco.

The Meatloaf video, it's kind of like

-a beauty and the beast fantasy story.

-Yeah.

-It's not great. It is not a great video.

-No.

But I remember it being number one

for about 100 weeks or summat silly like that.

Yeah, it was a long time at number one.

Now, the song title, he says,

"I would do anything for love, but I won't do that."

We've never found out, to this day, what he won't do.

# No, I won't do that. #

Let's leave Sam and Mark

contemplating what Meat Loaf wouldn't do.

When Jacqueline was 12,

all she wanted to do was actually buy some pop music.

I knew how important it was to be up to the minute with popular music.

But it was quite difficult for me.

We didn't have a record player, so I was a bit stuck.

At 12, I would go round the town with a couple of friends

and we'd go into a music store

and listen to those little single records.

But I could never buy one cos I had nothing to play it on.

I pretended that I liked various popstars

just because all the other girls did.

There was Cliff, Cliff Richard.

# Got myself a crying, talking, sleeping, walking, living doll... #

And, I know it sounds rather ridiculous,

but he was considered quite raunchy when I was young.

He did have a sort of mean, moody look.

# Take a look at her hair... #

Jacqueline, you are not alone.

Sir Cliff Richard, as he's known today,

was one of Britain's first-ever popstars,

a bit of a Justin Bieber of his day with very similar hair.

He first hit the charts in 1958...

# Christmas is love... #

..and he's been so popular that he's had a number one

in every decade until the year 2000.

Sam and Mark are also big fans

and even did a parody of this music video, Mistletoe and Wine.

# Christmastime, mistletoe and wine... #

So, while Jacqueline was figuring out how to listen to pop music,

in Islington, Alexandra Burke was listening to anything she could.

At the age of 12, I was listening to Al Green, Gladys Knight,

Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey,

Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Boyz II Men...

-So Alexandra liked a lot of music.

-..Spice Girls.

-Oh, has she not...

-Take That, erm...

As I was saying... Oh, she's not finished.

-SWV, erm, TLC as well.

-Let's...

I mean, no, for real, let's keep this going.

No, let's move on. Come on, now.

-Who was that rapper? Limp Bizkit?

-What?!

# Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'... #

I used to listen to him. "Rollin', rollin', rollin'..."

I appreciate music. Full stop.

I mean, for me, as a person who wanted to be a singer,

it kind of made me realise

where I wanted to go and what direction I wanted to go in.

And that direction was to appear in the hit TV

singing competition Star For A Night.

The whole school knew that I was on it apart from me

because my mum had told the head teacher.

My mum had set it all up so they'd come in the school and surprise me.

Star For A Night was a show that would surprise people

and give them a chance to be, er, well, a star for a night.

I remember the day of the surprise and my mum was like,

"Your hair's not looking that great. Let's go to the hairdresser's."

I was like, "But Mum, I've got school. I've got English. I'm not..."

She goes, "You're going to the hairdresser's."

'I get to school, don't know what's going on, start playing the piano.'

Oh, my God!

'Next thing you know, Jane McDonald walks in the classroom

'and I'm, like, freaking out.'

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's rewind.

-Oh, my God!

-I've seen that face before.

# It's not a cry that you hear at night... #

Let's take a look at Alexandra's first single

and compare her face from when she won the X Factor.

Hallelujah, indeed! They are exactly the same face.

# When somebody reaches for your heart... #

And when I actually got onto the TV show,

my whole school was so behind me.

They, like, put posters up for everyone to watch it.

They were very supportive. And I got really popular, very quickly.

The winner on Junior Star For A Night is...

..Joss Stone.

I didn't win. Joss Stone actually won the show.

You mean Grammy-award-winning soul singer Joss Stone?

# Wait a minute, wait a minute... #

-Fair enough!

-I just kept going from there.

That's when I was like, "All right, cool.

"I have to be in school choirs, church choirs."

I was just singing whenever I could sing.

Whenever anyone would listen to me and I weren't yapping, I was singing.

That's the way forward. That's what I would do.

Still to come, we catch up with One Direction

and find out all the goss from when they were 12.

All the girls would do those faces where

they don't even look like they're enjoying themselves,

just like...

Mark has a go at a well-known celebrity.

John Barrowman, if you are listening,

what was going on with your waistcoat, mate?

And Jacqueline remembers a not-so-golden age of CBBC.

Children's television was pretty basic then.

But, first, it's time to find out what news stories

had a lasting effect on young Sam and Mark, Jacqueline and Alexandra.

The big news when I was 12 is that the Spice Girls,

major girl group, had been around for quite some time,

but Geri Halliwell decided to leave the band.

I didn't know what to do with meself when she left.

Crazy.

Hello, and first, fans across the world are coming to terms

with Geri's decision to leave the Spiceworld behind her.

She blamed differences between her and the other girls.

The Spice Girls were the biggest girl band of the '90s

and Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice,

was one of the most popular members.

This is a message to the fans,

"Sadly, I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls.

"This is because of differences between us."

Back then, when somebody left a major group like that,

it was like the end of the world.

-Yeah. Well, for fans, yeah.

-Yeah, people, like, started crying.

Geri was my favourite so, actually, I did start crying.

Now that Geri's leaving,

she's sort of letting the whole country down.

Steady on!

# Too much of something is bad enough... #

It was mad because it was on the news

that Geri Halliwell had left the Spice Girls.

Now, I don't think, if a member of The Saturdays left,

it would be on the 10 o'clock news at night.

-But it was weird, wasn't it, back then?

-Yeah.

While Spice Girl fans were upset

with the news of Geri leaving the band,

when Alexandra was 12, a news story affected the entire nation.

Hello, our top stories this afternoon,

closing the countryside, foot-and-mouth takes hold.

I remember in 2001 when I was 12, the big story was foot-and-mouth disease.

Foot-and-mouth was a highly infectious disease that affected

any farm animal with hooves, such as pigs, sheep and cows.

There were more than 2,000 cases of foot-and-mouth in Britain in 2001.

To stop the disease from becoming worse,

millions of animals were put down.

Not only did the disease had a massive effect on the farmers

and their businesses around the country, but tourism

and other industries were also affected.

The images from around the countryside that year

will always remain in peoples' memories.

We used to go to our local farm and stuff every, kind of, weekend.

So being around animals, we loved animals.

The disease took around nine months to control before Britain

was declared free from foot-and-mouth.

Since then, strict rules have been put in place

so an outbreak as bad as 2001 will hopefully never happen again.

When Jacqueline was 12, one big sporting team had its darkest hour.

Here is the news.

So far, we know there are 23 survivors

after Manchester United's air crash at Munich this afternoon.

I remember when most of the Manchester United football team

were in an air crash.

On the 6th of February 1958,

one of the worst sporting disasters in history happened.

The Manchester United team, known as the Busby Babes,

were flying back to England after a match in Belgrade.

The plane stopped off in Munich

but when it tried to take off again, sadly it crashed.

23 people died in the crash, including eight of the team,

and the news came as a shock to everyone in the country.

It was huge headlines and everybody thought how disastrous this was.

I'd never flown at all. Most kids of 12 had never had an experience.

I did go on a school trip later when I was 15 and I remember that,

before the plane took off, we were all terrified.

After recovering from the crash, manager Sir Matt Busby

began to build a new team out of respect

to the players who had lost their lives.

Not only did that new team win their first match,

they also made it all the way to the FA Cup final.

Manchester United are now one of the world's biggest teams

and a statue of Sir Matt Busby stands

outside the stadium, in honour of him

and the team that lost their lives in that crash.

Still to come, we ask the all-important question,

what would our celebs do if they were 12 again?

I wish I could change the fact that I was a little bit cocky

and a little bit arrogant.

It's an age of transition. There's no other age quite like it.

You've really got to concentrate. You can't take that time for granted.

But, first, we caught up with One Direction

and they told us what they were like when they were 12.

# You don't know Oh, oh, oh

# You don't know you're beautiful... #

One Direction may not know that they are beautiful

but when Liam, Niall, Zayn, Louis and Harry were 12,

they were a bunch of lads who didn't want to go to school discos.

The thing is, with the school discos is, like, most guys

actually didn't want to go.

But if you didn't go, you weren't cool, so you had to go to the disco.

All the girls would be dancing and do those faces

where they don't even look like they're enjoying it, just like...

and all the guys would be sat round thinking,

"I really want to go and talk to her but I can't."

Er, that's my dance move! But, come on, guys, what about girls?

School disco when I was 12.

There was a girl in my year, hadn't spoke to her much before at all.

Spoke to her for a little bit at the disco

and then started going out with her.

And then I went on holiday

and I think we broke up as soon as soon as we got back.

Aw, Harry, that's such a shame!

# It's got to be you... #

I didn't think I looked very cool when I was 12.

I think my sisters used to dress me every so often

because I had older sisters.

Yeah, they always used to try and influence my fashion a little bit,

which, you know, may have involved a high heel or two.

OK...

Despite the dubious fashion choices, what were the boys listening to?

When I was 12, I loved Peter Andre.

# Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Mysterious girl

# Move your body... #

When we first got put together, we all spent a week together

and me and Liam found our mutual love for him cos Liam used to love him

as well when he was younger.

-Used to, yeah. Used to.

-You still love him, don't you?

-Yeah.

-12 was like...

-Just fun. Just fun.

-Yeah, that was a really fun year.

I think the fact that you can kind of be so carefree.

For me, it was a really, really fun year of my life.

Oh, Louis's my favourite. And Harry. And you, Niall. And you, too, Liam.

Oh, you're all so lovely! Right, OK!

Back to Sam and Mark, Jacqueline and Alexandra,

and find out what TV shows they were watching when they were 12.

When I was 12, the Saturday morning show of choice was Live And Kicking.

Live and Kicking was essential viewing on a Saturday morning.

Well, all of Saturday morning, actually.

The show lasted three and a quarter hours.

We will have the best, the most high-quality entertainment for

the next three and a quarter hours that you could possibly have.

Not only was it the place to see all your favourite pop idols...

SHOUTING AND LAUGHTER

..it was also home to comedy duo Trevor and Simon,

the Dick and Dom of their day.

Ooh, ooh, watch out for the rolls there.

Stop the car. What Rolls? I can't a limousine anywhere.

No, the rolls, the rolls!

Live and Kicking had loads of presenters

but when Mark was 12, it was Andi Peters and Emma Forbes,

but they were joined by none other than Doctor Who star John Barrowman.

Sir.

John Barrowman was actually a presenter...

-Of Tonight's The Night fame?.

-Indeed, indeed.

-What a packed show it is, Emma, today, isn't it?

-Unbelievable.

He wore some horrendous shirts, John Barrowman.

-Look at that. Pure, sheer muscle.

-Yeah!

Waistcoats that, like, oh, wow!

I knew that was going to happen.

Yeah, John Barrowman may be able to

sing, dance and act, but don't let that man near a wardrobe.

John Barrowman, if you are listening,

what was going on with your waistcoat, mate?

-He wears some pretty bad suits

-these

-days!

While Sam and Mark were TV's fashion police,

in Islington, Alexandra was watching...well, a lot.

I loved Kenan & Kel, Sister, Sister, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Alex Mack.

I used to also watch Blue Peter all time.

Erm, Rugrats. I still watch Rugrats. It's crazy. Er...

All right, we get the point.

You liked a lot of kids' TV back then,

but in 1957, kids' TV was anything but fun for Jacqueline.

When I was 12, I think you could get two television channels.

Children's television was pretty basic then.

Erm, excuse me, what's basic about this?

Flobbada flobbata, flobba lob sclob.

Flobba lob sclob.

OK, OK, it's quite basic.

So basic in fact,

Jacqueline turned her attention to what her parents were watching.

I particularly liked, though, a programme for families,

which was called The Grove Family...

Remember, if anybody talks, I shall have something to say.

..which was the first funny domestic drama long before all the soaps.

There was a terrible old granny and a mum and a dad and, I think,

a schoolboy and schoolgirl.

The Grove Family was one of the country's first-ever dramas,

a bit like the EastEnders of its day.

I'm not here for you to play jokes on.

You won't believe some of the things that happened in The Grove Family.

It was mad! Like the time the granny properly kicked off

cos her food was not good enough!

Would you like another helping of stew?

No, thank you. I can't get through this.

Always the same when Gladys is away. That's only fit for a dog.

Thank you very much(!) I wonder why people always say that.

OK, maybe not that exciting, but it all kicks off in this scene!

-Hello. I just put my bags on the taxi. How are you today?

-Fine.

-Morning, dear. What a lovely dress.

-Oh, thank you.

Right, off we go, then. Oh, hello, Jane.

OK, so maybe it's not that exciting, then.

It probably looks terribly dated now

but it really seemed realistic to us watching it.

Even though TV was a bit basic back then,

it will always remain in Jacqueline's memory.

But what do our celebrities remember most about being 12?

When I was 12, I definitely was feeling

that transition of being a young kid to turning into a teenager.

And, you know, it was difficult at times, obviously.

But that transition was great.

Scary, because you're about to become a young,

a young person, like a young grown-up.

You've really got to concentrate. You can't take that time for granted.

The best thing about being 12 was not having any cares in the world.

You're in your own little fantasy world where everything was great.

It was just a really, really nice time.

I do think you are sort of fizzing over with happiness

and yet also, there's the other side,

where you can be tremendously despairing.

But you are experiencing life with a real deep intensity that age.

I wish I could change the fact that I was a little bit cocky

and a little bit arrogant.

Don't answer back. Just be nicer to people.

If I was 12 again, I'd probably embrace it a little bit more.

Embrace the fact that...

..I was kind of popular!

It's a difficult age because part of me longed to wear lipstick

and to be able to go out with a boyfriend, say.

And yet I would want to be looking at my paper dolls

and doing all sorts of quite childish things, too.

I mean, perhaps that's the advantage of being 12, that you can

sometimes behave like a 9-year-old and sometimes pretend that you're 16.

Whatever. But it's an age of transition.

There's no other age quite like it.

So what have we learnt?

If you're ever cooking for your granny,

make sure it's not overcooked.

That's only fit for a dog.

If in a girl band and thinking of leaving,

always consider how it will affect your fans.

She's sort of letting the whole country down.

And, even though you don't stay 12 for ever,

some people just don't change that much when they grow up.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd