Episode 7 12 Again

Three celebs become 12 again.

I liked Posh because I support Man U.

I never, ever got myself into trouble.

-Kylie Minogue.

-I did not!

-Sinitta.

-I didn't!

-Sonia.

-No!

And we find out what life was like for TV presenter Alex Jones.

It was like the highlight of the week.

It was the highlight of life.

-Want to know what they're all talking about?

-Yeah!

-He does.

Have you 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 what 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.

They're the legendary comedy duo who know how to make a scene.

-You confess that you did it!

-It was me!

BOTH: Ahhh!

But back in the late '80s,

Dick and Dom were...

well, pretty much the same.

When I was 12, I was wrong.

I wore the wrong clothes, I had the wrong hairstyle. I just looked wrong.

BOTH: If you're happy and you know it, do this...

'I was naughty.'

That's the word that can sum up, really, rather than a sentence.

I was very, very naughty.

# Number one

# You lift me off the ground... #

He's the number one rapper who has loads of celeb mates.

And back in 1998, Tinchy Stryder was

just getting in with the in crowd.

In school, you've always got different groups,

but I think me personally,

socially I fitted in with the cool kids.

Football and the cool set. Yeah.

She's the business dragon

who can crush dreams with just two words.

I'm out.

But back in 1971, Deborah Meaden

knew exactly what she wanted.

'I think I was a pretty independent child.'

If you couldn't convince me to do something,

then absolutely no way was I going to do it.

It may all be high-flying business deals

and showbiz parties today, but it wasn't always that way.

So let's see what they were like before they were famous

and still wearing their school uniform.

When I was 12 in school, I've always been small for my age anyway,

so I always somehow stood out. "That's that little one."

I had this big quiff for a hairstyle, and I also wore the wrong clothes.

I was never cool. Always clothes that other people wouldn't wear.

I was quite slight.

Pale blonde. I think I had dark rings under my eyes,

but that might just be my sister telling me I had them.

-What did your hair look like then?

-It was terrible.

-It was like a bird's nest had landed on my head.

-It was curly, wasn't it?

-Big, curly shock of hair.

-Yeah.

I used to really love trainers.

When I used to go to school,

I remember you used to save up your school dinner money.

I used to get maybe £1.50 to go to school with every day,

and then that saved up.

So maybe in, like, a month, you can buy some trainers.

I probably spent most of my 12-year-old year looking atrocious.

Trying to look like my older sister, trying to be fashionable,

but actually kind of not getting it.

I think the worst thing about being 12 was acne. Did you have acne?

I had it all over my forehead.

You could do dot-to-dot with it. It was everywhere.

I went through so many different phases.

One day I might look like this, the next day like that.

I always think, cos I had older brothers who...

to me they were cool,

so they might be like, "I've got this for you,"

and then I felt like, yeah, I was cool.

So despite the spots, trying to be fashionable,

and falling in love with...trainers,

what else did our celebs get up to when they were 12?

'I was a businessman when I was 12.'

I used to have a paper round with my mate on Monday to Friday,

and one on a Sunday morning as well.

-Just paper round mad, I was.

-What happened? Eh?

-To the business sense. What happened to you?

-It's all up there, mate.

I was an absolutely angelic child.

I did absolutely nothing wrong

and I never, ever got myself into trouble.

I probably need to tell the truth.

I think, because I was quite independent,

I'd just go off and do stuff and then find out later

I wasn't supposed to have done it.

I was the joker. I hung around with the cool bunch,

but I was always the slightly nerdy one

that tagged along to the cool bunch.

Rubbish at sport as well,

and all my three older brothers were really good at school,

so I kind of thought, "What do I do? What's my thing at school?"

And I discovered I could make people laugh.

I wanted to be a footballer. That was my main thing.

In a way it helped with my music,

because I wasn't paying full attention.

I was doing it because I enjoyed it.

It was fun, it was a hobby, but football was my main focus,

so you have to just train. I used to love playing football.

So whilst Tinchy focused on his football,

Dom was finding school life not so easy.

'At school, 12 was a very difficult age,'

because I hadn't been diagnosed as dyslexic at that stage.

I remember other kids used to call me thick,

and that really hurt. It really, really hurt.

Dyslexia is basically a learning disability.

My main one was reading, as you know.

And my spelling's awful.

-How many times do I ask you how to spell words?

-True.

Very simple ones, like "there" and "their", and something like "else".

I'd just being going round in my head, "How do I spell it?"

Fast forward to 1998,

where Tinchy Stryder had just started making a name for himself.

Quite literally.

'My close friends call me Kwasi. That's my birth name,'

and people that are close to me still call me that.

When I was going into secondary school, I thought,

"Yeah, we want to MC, but we need names.

"Everyone's got a name." But my one was sort of easy,

cos I was always the smallest out of the group, so Tinch, Tinchy,

that was like a nickname that came with it.

And then "Stryder" was from a computer game which I used to know.

It just sounded like Tinchy, but big strides. Tinchy Stryder.

Yeah, it sounded cool.

Long before Tinchy's name was in place, back in 1971,

Deborah was helping to run the family business.

'Even as a small child, I was helping out.'

Every holiday I would be working.

Deborah's mum and dad owned fairground rides

at Longleat Safari Park,

and it's where Deborah began to make her fortune.

By the time I was 12, I was getting to the age

where I could take on responsibility.

To me it was great fun.

It wasn't like, "Oh, I was working at the age of 12!"

I loved it. It was fantastic.

So Deborah might have been earning money,

but Dick was spending it.

'I used to save all my pocket money up.'

£2.50 a week, actually,

and the first ever biggest burger establishment in the world

-beginning with "M-C"...

-Right, yes.

..opened in Sheffield. I remember it opening,

and every week we used to go there,

every Saturday, to buy these brand new little burgers.

OK, let me put this into context for you.

When Dick was 12, lots of cities across the UK

didn't have the famous M restaurant,

so when one opened in your town, it was big news.

And it was massive news

when the first one opened in Russia in 1990, because until then,

people who lived there couldn't get a lot of Western products,

so the first McDonalds in Moscow caused huge excitement.

But there was one problem.

Food isn't cheap. Half a day's roubles for a Big Mac alone.

Despite it being hugely expensive for them,

people queued for miles to try and get the food

that they thought they would never taste.

The opening of the restaurant

was seen as the start of a historic change for Russia.

I had a crush on a girl in my area.

She was the girl who everyone liked, and I really liked her.

We got along as friends, but then, I don't know,

maybe I started liking her more.

Yeah. And then I kind of got a kiss.

Yeah.

Back in Sheffield,

Dick was about to start his showbiz career.

I started on children's hospital radio

at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

When I was 12, I was the youngest presenter they'd ever had,

and I was just obsessed with it.

I'd even record all the jingles off Radio 1 onto a cassette tape.

What was it?

# Two million watts of music power

# Radio 1 FM! #

I was a questioning child. That's in my genes, and as a child,

it must be very annoying to have a 12-year-old constantly say, "Why?"

When you're asked to do something, "Why?"

And I'd go to school, and we'd have these rules,

and I'd think, "Why?"

That's the question that's followed me through life. "Why?"

And it's obviously done well for you, Deborah.

But "why" don't we see what music

our celebs listened to when they were kids?

Good link, thanks.

'I was given a cassette tape -

New Order, Substance, the album was, from 1987.

So I got it in 1988. And I put this cassette on,

a double cassette, and I remember listening to it

and thinking, "This is my kind of music."

# How does it feel? #

This is New Order's most successful song, Blue Monday.

They rose to fame in the '80s

with their unique style of electronic music,

and have influenced loads of bands over the years,

probably some you listen to today.

But Dick's record collection wasn't as cool as he'd like to think.

You did also used to have quite a big record collection

of awful music as well, didn't you?

-Like what, Mr Wood?

-Well, it was...

there were basically three guys called Stock, Aitken and Waterman,

and they basically made lots of pop music. And...Jason Donovan,

-Kylie Minogue.

-I did not!

-Sinitta...

-I didn't!

-Sonia.

-No!

# But you'll never stop me from loving you... #

Stock, Aitken and Waterman

were the three-headed Simon Cowell of the '80s.

They wrote and produced hit after hit after hit.

So much so, they were often called The Hit Factory.

Welcome to The Hit Factory in London.

And one of their biggest stars was Kylie Minogue, Dick's favorite.

# You keep on asking me

# Why can't we be together? #

Have you got a favourite Kylie track, have you?

You know, from when you were 12?

Yeah. Got To Be Certain was quite good.

# I've got to be

# Got to be certain... #

'It was a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Not any more, though. No.'

-You're such a liar.

-It's true!

-He is a liar.

He's trying to make himself better, cos he just likes all the pop.

Just cos you were a rock fanatic!

-IN HIGH VOICE:

-Yeah!

# This must be just like living in paradise... #

So whilst Dick was trying to be cool listening to Kylie,

Dom was listening to some rock.

Because I used to be a drummer, I used to love rock music.

That was absolutely brilliant.

And I was influenced by my three older brothers.

One particular tune was Crazy Nights by a band called Kiss.

# These are crazy, crazy... #

Kiss were a massive American rock band with a massive sound,

and guess what? They rocked.

With huge hair and sell-out shows, they were the kings of heavy music.

But if you think this is heavy, feast your eyes on this.

HEAVY GUITAR RIFF

This, believe it or not, is the same band 10 years earlier.

Their crazy dress sense and flashy face paint was legendary,

and all of them made an effort with their characters.

There was Starchild, who obviously went with the star.

There was comic book fan The Demon.

Some pretty cool characters.

(And Catman.)

It's not looking good. You've got that, I've got Kylie,

-I Should Be So Lucky.

-It's good. Don't knock it.

It's...OK, I know what you mean.

So let's leave Dick and Dom

popping and rocking in the '80s,

and found out what Deborah

was listening to in the '70s.

'At boarding school, the only programme

'we were allowed to watch was Top Of The Pops.'

We had a matron who would sit there

and make sure we didn't see anything inappropriate.

And I just remember when Rod Stewart came on.

# Wake up, Maggie

# I think I got something to say to you... #

'I think it was Maggie May. I think it got to number one,

'which was why it was on Top Of The Pops.

He's a good-looking guy,

and he was just a bit edgy, a bit different.

You know, his hips moved a bit.

And they really did move.

But there was one feature Rod really became famous for -

his hair.

Rod and his hair have been going for over 45 years.

Back in the '70s, he was massive,

and having sold millions of albums worldwide, his hair -

I mean, sorry, he -

is still as big today as ever.

The matron... I could just see her thinking,

"I've got to switch it off."

There's nothing like that to engage a bunch of 12-year-old girls.

It was just, like, "Right.

"I'm going to watch Rod Stewart and I'm going to love him."

Right, let's fast forward to the late '90s

and find out what Tinchy was listening to in London.

The music I listened to -

so many different ones, but garage.

# Re-e-wind

# When the crowd say bo, selecta... #

'I remember when Craig David, Artful Dodger, had Rewind.

That's one of them songs where you feel like,

"Whoa. That's something we like."

At first, for some reason, I didn't understand, I thought,

"Why's everything going backwards?"

And everyone was like, "The song's called Rewind."

Rewinding.

Good work, Sherlock(!)

But as an aspiring rapper,

Tinchy didn't restrict himself to one type of music.

I liked different things. I liked Destiny's Child,

TLC, Jay-Z. So many different things.

# No matter how pretty she is... #

But our Tinch didn't just like the cool acts.

He didn't mind a bit of pop as well.

I liked a bit of Spice Girls.

-Told you!

-My favourite Spice Girls song,

I have to say, was I think, 2 Become 1.

# I need some love like I've never needed love before...

'I liked the video.'

I liked how it felt fresh and exciting and new.

# Set your spirit free... #

'My favourite Spice Girl was probably Posh,

because I support Man U

and David Beckham, and it all made sense. It linked up.

Everyone's got a favourite Spice Girl.

Mine was Sporty, but don't tell anyone!

BOTH: Oh, yes!

We catch up with top presenter Alex Jones

and find out what life was like when she was 12.

There's nothing worse than having a crush on somebody at 12,

when you are super-geek and they are super-cool.

Deborah watches some funny talking animals...

It was sharp. It was funny stuff coming out of those animals' mouths.

..we find out what show Tinchy would stay up for...

I love football, so I couldn't wait.

..and Dick and Dom pursue their dreams.

Watching that, we went,

"That has got to be the best job in the world."

But first, let's see what big news stories

had an impact on our celebrities when they were 12.

'When I was 12,'

there were a few big stories. I remember the eclipse.

The last total solar eclipse this century

was experienced by millions in Britain and around the world.

In August 1999, the nation held their breath in excitement

to see a total eclipse of the sun, as the sun, moon and earth

lined up with each other for the first time in 72 years.

At first I was like, "Whoa. Is this really going to happen?

"It'll be dark, it'll black out. Is the world ending?" It was weird.

When you're young, whatever you hear, you believe.

'And when it started getting closer, you started having a bit of fear,

'thinking, "This ain't a joke, it's actually happening."'

Sunlight faded, temperatures dropped,

and the whole southwest of England plunged into darkness.

CROWD CHEER

'This is it. It's gone totally dark.

'I've never seen anything like this, ever.'

Everyone watching waited for the moon to pass the earth

and for the sunlight to reappear.

But the eclipse wasn't fun for everyone,

as some people were scared about what would happen during it.

When it happened, I did start wondering,

"What if it stays like this?"

There was a bit of fear in the air, yeah.

It was darker than I expected.

Scary. Dead scary. Really, really, really scary.

People were scared, but not forever.

More like a minute, to be honest.

'It's starting to get a bit light again.'

We've had the darkest time of it, but it's been incredible.

Around 350 million people in Europe and Asia witnessed the eclipse,

which was lucky for them,

as the next time this happens over the UK will be in 2090.

So, not so long to wait, then(!)

Whilst Tinchy was being left in the dark,

what was a big story for Deborah when she was 12?

One thing I was really aware of

was either the first or the second year -

I think it might have been the second year - of Glastonbury.

The early '70s saw a new craze in the UK.

No, not bearded man playing tambourines,

although that was very popular back then.

It was this - music festivals in fields.

They quickly became very popular with those who loved music,

as they could see all their favourite bands in one place

over a weekend, but they weren't so popular with the locals.

-I think it's dreadful.

-Can you tell me why?

Well, sanitation, for one thing, and there's just not enough room for it.

And Glastonbury was no different.

In those days, it was a farmer who decided to put on an event in his field

and I've got to tell you, locally, it was a nightmare.

Nobody wanted Glastonbury.

The Glastonbury Festival was started in 1970

by a local farmer called Michael Eavis.

Thousands of people arrived for the event on motorbikes, in cars

and with caravans, blocking roads and causing a lot of disruption.

It was not welcomed with open arms, and it scared people.

They had no idea what was going to happen

and people, they don't like the unknown.

Now I smile a bit, because I think,

if it wasn't for the tenacity of one man,

because we all sit here now saying how fantastic it is.

Boy, did he get a lot of opposition when he first started.

Today, Glastonbury is one of the biggest festivals in the world

with over 100,000 people enjoying the event

with some of the biggest pop stars in the world.

Back in 1971, Deborah didn't want to miss out on the party either,

but her mum and dad had other plans.

My parents were very emphatic, I was not going to Glastonbury.

In fact, my sister, who was a little bit older, she wasn't to go either,

and she went, and I was really, really envious.

I don't really regret much in life but that might be one thing I regret,

I still wish I'd done it.

In 1989, when Dick was 12,

a football disaster shocked the country.

When I was 12, a big news story was the Hillsborough disaster.

The government announced a full investigation

into Britain's worst ever sports disaster.

In 1989, 96 people lost their lives

in one of football's most tragic disasters.

Liverpool and Nottingham Forest fans were in Sheffield

at a stadium called Hillsborough, watching their teams play.

Fences surrounded the pitch

and when too many fans entered the ground, people were crushed.

I remember it personally, because it was a Saturday afternoon

and my mum got rushed away for work,

she worked at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, in A&E.

And a short time ago, the Prince and Princess arrived

at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital to meet some of the injured fans.

I said to my dad, "Where's Mum? Why did she go to work for the weekend?"

Because she didn't come back until Sunday afternoon

as she'd been signing in all the casualties from Hillsborough.

It was unbelievable, the amount of people that had been crushed

and I can really remember the news footage from Newsround,

seeing some of the other supporters ripping off those advertising boards

and then using them as makeshift stretchers.

The tragedy had a huge impact on safety at football grounds.

Premiership football stadiums removed their fences

and put in seating to stop it happening again.

After that day, grounds throughout the country changed their seating,

so now it's a lot more spacious in a football ground than it was then.

On the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster,

the fans and players from both teams pay tribute

to the memory of those who lost their lives on that day.

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

what would our celebs do if they were 12 again?

I think the most important thing is to find what it is you're about.

When you go to secondary school,

it feels like, like you're a big boy now.

There's a lot of changes, your hormones are changing,

-your mind is changing.

-Your body's changing.

-And your body, yeah.

Before that, we've got two minutes with Alex Jones

to find out what she was like at 12.

Hello! Help!

She's the star of the "One Show" you should never miss.

BOTH: Oh, yes!

But strictly speaking, what was Alex Jones like when she was 12?

The only word to describe me when I was 12 was "geek".

Very, very small, a face full of freckles,

I just looked horrendous.

Aww! But did Alex ever have a crush when she was a kid?

Stephen Davis was a year older than me in school,

the most popular boy in his year,

and so far out of my reach.

There's nothing worse than having a crush on somebody at 12

when you are supergeek and they are supercool.

I bet he's super kicking himself now,

and talking of boys, there was one boy band Alex loved.

My favourite band in the world were New Kids On The Block.

# The first time was a great time

# Second time was a blast... #

We used to have New Kids On The Block nights

so every Thursday, we would get together in somebody's house

and watch all their videos back-to-back while eating doughnuts.

It was the highlight of the week, the highlight of life at the time.

Doing dance moves and eating doughnuts

may have been the highlight of life,

but what telly influenced our aspiring TV presenter?

The show I actually really loved was Blue Peter.

MUSIC: "Blue Peter" theme

-My favourite presenters were Caron Keating and Yvette Fielding.

-Yeah!

Good morning!

They made me want to be a children's presenter

-and to this day, I'm a little bit jealous of Helen Skelton.

-Hello!

If I was 12 again,

I wouldn't change much, I'd still do mostly the same thing

but just try and have a bit more belief in me

and not give myself such a massively hard time.

Have a lovely weekend! Byee!

And it's all worked out in the end.

Right, let's get back to business

and find out what Dick and Dom, Tinchy and Deborah

were watching when they were 12.

I was probably the kind of kid you wouldn't want to talk to

cos I was a TV geek at that point,

meaning I was obsessed with children's television,

-because at 12 years old, I knew what I wanted to do.

-I was the same.

We used to watch childrens' TV and CBBC, so you know watching that

I went, "That has got to be the best job in the world."

I remember me and my brother were so obsessed with childrens' TV

we'd applied to go on lots of different shows

so I was in the audience once of Going Live!

It had a great theme tune as well.

Here we go.

DICK SINGS THEME TUNE

# Going...Going...Going Live! #

But it wasn't just the BBC that Dick was watching on a Saturday morning.

There was also a programme on ITV, on the other channel,

the other side, called the Wide Awake Club.

# We're wide awake! #

-HE MAKES A SIREN SOUND

-This isn't annoying.

The Wide Awake Club was ITV's big Saturday morning show.

And the masked team wins again.

I was jealous cos my brother went on the Wide Awake Club.

He got a Whack Pack, a little lunch box you got.

And he did the Singing In The Shower bit.

Like a lot of kids' shows, it launches many careers,

but this one launched Hollywood legend Mike Myers.

Hi, I'm Mike.

The voice of Shrek made his first TV appearance on the show.

But for Timmy Mallet, it made him one of the most popular kids'

TV presenters of all time.

Timmy Mallet, he came onto the Bungalow

and had then become obsessed with our show.

He gave me my own mallet.

-Pinky punky.

-Thanks, Timmy.

-IN CHILD'S VOICE: Mr Mallet.

Saturday wasn't just Dick and Dom's best day for TV,

it was also Tinchy's favourite.

Saturday mornings, you feel like when you wake up, you know without having

to go through any channels, you know, I'm watching Live And Kicking.

Live And kicking was the big BBC saturday morning kids' show of the '90s.

And when Tinchy was watching, it was at the height of its fame.

Everybody, out!

It felt like it was cool.

For me, personally,

I remember Saturday morning Live And Kicking definitely.

With Tinchy's saturday morning sorted, in the evening,

it was all about football.

I love football so Match Of The Day was one of those,

you just couldn't wait.

My mum used to tell me,

when I was four, I could name so many football players.

I thought, "How did I know this at four.,"

football has always been a part of me.

Match Of The Day was something you couldn't wait for on a saturday.

You just wanted to get in and watch Match Of The Day.

Tincy, I couldn't agree more.

In 1971, Deborah was watching a show with one of the best

theme tunes of all time.

Animal Magic hosted by Johnny Morris started in 1962

anfd ran for 21 years. What a tune!

You'd go and visit the animals in the zoo and these animals would

move their mouths a bit and then there'd be this...

He put words to it.

'Do you mind if I come and sit on your lap?'

'Don't you think you'd better support your baby's head, Delilah?'

'Look, if you're so blinking clever, you look after him. Go on.'

Lots of TV shows add voices to animals nowadays

but Animal Magic was one of the first

and Johnny Morris and his chums became an instant hit.

It was funny, it was sharp,

it was funny stuff coming out of those animals' mouths.

That's an odd way of putting it.

Its main aim was to teach kids all about animals.

Johnny Morris was like the Steve Backshall of his day,

-except he owned a shirt.

-You must be very quiet,

because a lot of noise seems to upset the mother panda.

But I do think it gave me a place to learn about animals

and to watch animals and be engaged with animals.

It was entertaining and informative.

But not always for Johnny.

Ouch! Dear.

So that's what our three celebs were watching on the telly

but what do they remember most about being 12?

Being 12, when you go into secondary school, it feels like,

you feel like you're a big boy now,

social life, girlfriends,

growing up, it's really where it is now.

It feels like a whole new world.

It's very easy to spend your life

trying to best guess what it is

that life or your friends or your family are expecting of you,

and it all getting ever so confusing.

I think the most important thing is to find what it is that you're about.

As well as being good, being 12, it was quite an awkward time.

-You're about to become a teenager, aren't you?

-Yeah,

so there's a lot of changes.

Your hormones are changing, your mind is changing.

-Body, everything's changing.

-And your body.

And that's quite something to deal with.

But you know, I quite like change

and I think even then, I quite liked change,

cos it presents lots of new stuff.

While some of that stuff is really confusing

and you don't know what to do about it, it's also really challenging.

I wouldn't change anything if I was 12 again

because I believe strongly everything happens for a reason.

Maybe there are a couple of things where I may have made things easier

but at the same time,

the harder struggles you see when you're younger,

it makes you appreciate and understand more

and respect where you are now.

Well, if I could talk to myself again when I was 12,

I would tell myself that I am dyslexic

and that I'm not as stupid as I think I am

and that all the problems I've got with learning is purely because

dyslexia is basically a learning disability.

You do your stuff in life and you embrace it, you enjoy it.

I still wish I'd got on that bus with my sister to go to Glastonbury.

Don't lose your vision of what you want to do. I made that decision

I wanted to be sitting here now, being a CBBC presenter

and I never looked back, so I'd say to myself, "Carry on, lad.

"Do exactly the same," really.

Jazz hands? Jazz hands!

So what have we learned?

If you're ever lucky enough to see a total eclipse,

remember it's not that fun for everyone

Scary! Dead scary, really, really, really scary.

If you're a rock band picking characters,

make sure you don't get left looking like a badger.

And if you don't want a free baby, don't sit beside a gorilla.

'You look after him, go on.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd