Pumpkins and Parachutes Blue Peter

BLUE PETER CBC F160X/01 BRD000000

It was a cold spooky night when I turned on the telly to find

there was nothing to watch and all of a sudden...

Linds, there is Blue Planet II coming up and Max and Harvey's

-My Life.

-Yeah, I know, Radz.

I was just trying to tell a spooky story for Halloween.

And all of a sudden out of nowhere...

And don't forget right now is live Blue Peter!

Just roll the titles.

-Hello!

-Hello! Welcome to Blue Peter

and boy do we have a few treats for you today - just like these.

Feast your eyes on a papier-mache pumpkin and I am going

to be getting help from online sensations Max and Harvey.

As well as that, Radz I'll up you because not papier-mache,

it's a giant real pumpkin. I went to check some out at a pumpkin farm.

And I'm going to up you again, Linds, because that right there is

the Redoncasaurus Rex Children in Need challenge called Freefall.

-Look at my face.

-Look at your floppy face.

As well as that, we're going to be playing... He's doing the

happy dance... We'll be playing Spot Shelley.

Check it out, she will be hiding somewhere in the show

and she has got into the Halloween spirit and dressed up today.

She has come as a tortoise.

She has observed a loophole and exploited it.

Not her best outfit but if you spot her let us know.

Now, you may be aware if you have been watching any telly

lately there is something very special coming to BBC One.

Check this out.

It is, of course, the stunningly beautiful Blue Planet II

and we're joined now by two people that worked on the series -

please welcome Dan and Rachel!

APPLAUSE

Guys, I'm so excited to have you in the studio today.

Blue Planet is the biggest underwater

wildlife documentary ever.

Which is an amazing fact

so how does it feel to have been a part of that show?

Absolutely amazing.

Dan and I were teenagers when we watched the original

so to be part of the new one is a dream come true.

Yeah, making this series has been a massive team effort with

hundreds of people involved. We worked out the series was

filmed in almost 40 countries and over 6,000 hours were spent

underwater to get all the footage we need to make all the episodes.

Hang on! Everyone watching is thinking, 6,000 hours

because I spent half an hour in a shark tank and that felt like a lot.

So why do so many hours and so much time going to a series like this?

Well, the oceans are big,

they cover over 70% of the world's surface and we have to spend a long

time out there to get this amazing behaviour, get the animals used to

us and spend time with them to catch them doing these amazing things.

Of course. Some of us may remember that 16 years ago the first Blue

Planet came out so it is quite a long time to wait for a sequel.

Why now?

We wanted to show new things, we wanted to film things that

had never been filmed before and so we worked with scientists all around

the world and found some amazing things like the giant trevally.

-It leaps out of the water to catch birds.

-Wow!

And we also found a little fish on the Great Barrier Reef called

Percy and he uses tools in his kitchen to break open clams.

That is absolutely incredible. I suppose the last few years as well,

the cameras you're using have really developed, haven't they?

Yeah, absolutely.

Look at the way technology moves all the time and that's happening

with cameras as well so everything the camera is doing these days

we couldn't have done 20 years ago.

And you have brought something very cool along.

Yes, this is a very wicked bit of equipment here.

This is a suction tag

and scientists have been using these all around the world already to

study big animals and they record all kinds of information

like depth and temperature and light but they also have a little

camera on the front so we wanted a whale's eye view of the ocean.

So, you stick it onto the animals and they do the filming for you?

We have a clip here, it is

of a turtle swimming along. Look at that.

Beautiful, the shots that you can get and on the back of a whale.

It is unbelievable really.

Absolutely and it is literally stuck on with a little suction cups

and so a few hours later it pops up and it has loads of scientific

-data and hopefully some cool videos as well.

-Unbelievable.

A little bit bigger than that camera you may have noticed is this

huge one. This is called the mega dome. It is like a superhero camera.

What exactly does it do?

This is a very special lens that was made for the series and it floats

at the surface and allows us to film half in and half out of the water.

We can see someone using it there. Is it not heavy?

It is heavy on land but once it is in the water it is nice

-and buoyant so not too difficult to use.

-A walrus on an iceberg.

It's just beautiful.

It was a little bit sad filming up in the Arctic because

we were expecting to find lots and lots of sea ice,

but instead all the sea ice has gone because of climate change,

40% less sea ice than just 30 years ago

so they're clinging onto little bits of icebergs that are left.

-It is quite sad.

-It is really heartbreaking.

Well, hopefully Blue Planet II will raise awareness of their plight.

In the meantime, I am very excited because we got to test out

this bit of equipment, we went to the coral reef...

No, we went to Salford Quays, you plonked me the water!

Have a look at this.

So, the last person to actually do a piece to camera to this

camera was Sir David Attenborough himself and now it is my turn.

OK, guys. You ready, Dan? I am only going to do this once. Here we go.

Oh, my goodness. How cool does this look. All with a blue Peter badge.

Whoo! Can I get out now, I am freezing? Get me back to the studio!

Cheers, Dan.

I feel like I mimicked the walrus quite well there.

Guys, thank you so much for coming in and plonking me in Salford Quays.

I loved it and loved using this equipment.

Sunday, 8pm Blue Planet II. Dan and Rachel, everyone!

Thank you.

So, from the seas to the skies, I can't believe I'm finally

saying this, I have waited months!

It is my biggest and best Blue Peter challenge ever and here comes

part one and it's all for Children in Need.

-Watch and enjoy.

-Breathe!

-OK, are you ready to skydive?

-Yes!

Of the incredible challenges Blue Peter has ever taken on,

there is one I have always dreamt of.

Wow! A challenge that was first attempted more than 50 years ago.

This is John Noakes, the first Blue Peter presenter to ever do it.

Green for go. Suddenly all my training made sense.

I found I was enjoying flashing through the air at 120mph.

I'm sure Janet broke her pelvis when she was training.

I had become the first woman in Britain to freefall

over 16,000 feet.

Simon is one of the reasons I wanted to become a Blue Peter presenter.

I don't want to do this.

I remember exactly how I felt watching this.

Wow.

Here we go! One, two!

He is absolutely loving that.

Makes me realise just how big a challenge this really is.

For this year's Children in Need, I am taking on skydiving.

And I'm doing it with a group who are quite simply legendary.

The RAF Falcons are one of the most iconic parachute display

teams in the entire world.

For years they have wowed crowds with their skill and bravery.

And in that time they have taught generations of Blue Peter

presenters, creating a unique history.

Now I am attempting to write the next chapter in that story

and perform a skydive routine with the Falcons.

I am actually going to do that, it has really brought it home.

For Children in Need, join me as I freefall.

My training begins at their base - RAF Brize Norton.

This is going to be tough.

Skydiving puts a huge strain on both the mind and body.

If I'm going to join the Falcons, first they need me

to pass a medical.

I have no concerns and I'm very happy for you to go

-and do this jump course with the Falcons.

-Amazing.

To train to become a Falcon takes years, together

they have performed thousands of jumps, I have just weeks.

Under the guidance of Corporal Alex Williams and Sergeant Mark O'Brien,

I need to complete two days of intensive ground training.

OK, then, Radzi. Obviously, first element of your ground training.

We're going to introduce you to the parachute you're going to be

-jumping.

-Amazing.

-All right?

You've got a reserve parachute, which is on top,

and your main parachute, which is on the bottom.

Now, this one cable runs

to what we call the base of container toggle.

This is what you are going to pull to get your parachute off your back.

Is that right?

Skydiving is incredibly stressful,

so I need to know the parachute inside out.

That is going to save your life.

That is a good thing.

Next, how to jump out of the plane.

Put your left foot forward.

Right foot back, knees nice and flexed.

OK. So, you're going to have to squat down a little bit. OK.

In the calm, relaxed training hall,

they want it to become instinct for me.

So we practice again...

High on hips!

..again,

Hard arch!

..and again.

-Check in.

-OK.

-Check out.

-OK.

Every single jump has a series of actions that I have to remember.

My brain is currently somewhere between...

..fried and scrambled.

So we repeat them all.

The landing.

Controlling my speed.

You'll hear the wind going into your helmet.

It's like a - whooosh! - sort of noise.

As soon is you lift up, everything goes really quiet

and what to do if the worst happens

and something goes wrong.

Cut away.

Pull reserve.

Arch, 1,000, 2,000,

3,000, 4,000.

Check.

Canopy.

It's overwhelming.

But I know what these guys are teaching me

is designed to keep me safe.

I'm trying to make everything sink in and I think, I hope,

it all is.

I've concentrated so hard.

And I think I'm making progress.

But I've no actual idea of what it's going to be like to skydive.

And, if I'm honest, I don't actually know if I've got what it takes.

My next lesson is body position.

Get your chin up for me so you're looking onto the horizon.

Your arms are going to be a little bit more forward

with your legs bending the knee. OK. About 45 degrees.

Your toes are going to be pointed in that position there.

After jumping from the plane,

I'll be falling for thousands of feet before I release my parachute.

This is called freefalling.

In freefall, the position of my body is how I control my speed

and direction.

Were going to repeat it a couple of times to get your muscle memory,

so you're feeling that position. One more time then.

We're going through it again. Off we go.

And just down the road there's the perfect place to practise.

We're going to one of the largest indoor skydiving tunnels in Europe.

I've been here before, when Lindsey and I went head-to-head.

But, this time, it's serious.

The Falcons want me to practise

controlling my flight through the air.

Instantly, I can feel their training has paid off

and I'm manage to complete a full turn on my first attempt.

So happy with that!

This time, we're going to really concentrate on going up and down.

OK. So, when you go up, look down, arms come out.

The slightest move with my arms or legs has a huge effect.

I need to show I have control.

In just a few weeks, I could be doing this,

falling from a plane at 120mph!

-How's it feel?

-Awesome!

-Good.

-Let's get back in.

-Amazing.

-Go!

Thankfully, the Falcons are happy for me to progress

to the next stage.

That is so good.

For this amount of time that you've had, to be able to do that.

The control is really really good.

The RAF Falcons are saying, "Radzi, you're doing a good job."

That meant the absolute world to me.

And, they said, that if I enjoyed that, which I did,

I'm going to absolutely love the real deal.

So...

I can not wait!

But standing in my way is the weather.

It's too cloudy for me to safely train in the UK.

So, I'm joining the Falcons at their winter training camp.

In America!

I travel to California, where conditions are usually perfect,

to attempt to take on my first-ever solo skydive.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

A particularly drastic storm which has hit the US state of California.

This is a powerful storm...

The sky is now filled with clouds.

The news doesn't look so good.

It's probably quite dangerous for you to jump today.

I don't even know if the challenge is on.

So, I know you're thinking, do I actually jump out of a plane?

That is why you will have to watch part two which happens next week.

The journey continues and it does not disappoint. I guarantee that.

I'm doing that to inspire you to do your thing for Children in Need.

How do you do that? Easy. Print out and download this form here.

Cut out and decorate the parachute. Cut out the pledge bit.

Stick that on the back and then send it in to us, please.

Someone who's done just that is Bethany,

she's seven, from Swindon.

She says "I'm doing the walk wearing Pudsey ears

"and I'm walking two miles."

-Yeah! You are!

-Bethany, well done. Yes! The crowd love it.

-There's Swindon. Boom!

-Done.

-It's on there.

-I've got a deal for you.

You send us in a parachute, we'll put a spot on this map.

We want it to be filled.

We want England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,

to be filled, please, people.

-Strictly, Radzi?

-No, Linds, what's the closing time?

I was getting excited for the next bit of news.

Trying to besmirch my good name and my memory.

That's the address you need.

Now, got some more big news for you.

-I wonder what it is!

-So...

Imagine this, the Children in Need special on BBC1.

Myself and five former Blue Peter presenters

will be going on a Blue Peter Strictly special.

CHEERING

-Yes, we are.

-I didn't see it coming.

-Transition us.

You are going to have to cha-cha-cha this way to the big wall.

-Let's do it.

-Yes!

My name is Cha-cha-cha Chinyanganya!

-I look more like MC Hammer.

-We're joined by two little helpers.

-It's Max and Harvey!

-CHEERING

So, boys, no instruction required. 13 million online viewers.

But you're also part of a My Life documentary right here on CBBC.

Tell us about it.

So, basically, we've been doing what we've been doing

for the past year, which has been an incredible year for us,

and we've been so lucky to have that being documented on CBBC.

It came out this morning. 9:40am.

It comes out tomorrow morning. 9:40am, part two!

-Yeah!

-All the facts.

That sounds amazing. Did you just break the set, you're so excited?

-I'm excited!

-It does sound amazing.

-We've got a sneak peek from part two.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yeah. Let's do it.

-Yeah. Yes!

We are so excited. We are about to go on stage.

There are so many people out there. It's going to be amazing.

-We hope you guys enjoy it. Shall we go?

-Let's go!

-Let's go!

Are you ready, Camp Bestival?

CHEERING

# I feel this life like a swinging vine

# Swing my heart across the line...

# In my face is flashing signs

# Seek it out, ye shall find... #

CHEERING

Like the sound of that.

Please keep sending us in your stuff to the Big Badge Wall.

Guys, talk about your favourite stuff here.

Our favourite one right here is Eva's from Warwickshire.

She has done 3-D allotment of a garden patch thing

with pumpkins and stuff.

She has had a Blue Peter badge.

-Yes!

-Boom!

Next one. Daniel, Nottingham, has filled this out.

It's a beautiful turtle, maybe inspired by Blue Planet II, Daniel.

We love it. Well done. You got a badge.

Keep those coming in to the usual address. Get yourself a badge.

Do that, you get yourself into over 200 attractions across the UK.

ALL: # For free! #

Yeah. But do check the BP website because that can change.

We're basically asking you to get creative, just like Max, Harvey

and I will in about five minutes' time,

where we'll be showing you how to make this -

a papier-mache pumpkin, people!

Which inspired this.

Halloween is a time it's a time for fancy dress, spooky stories and...

Sorry. George, I'm just opening the film.

Just doing a piece to camera. Bear with me.

And it's... George, what do you want?

Well, it's also the time for pumpkins.

That's what I was going to say.

Pumpkins and Halloween go hand in spooky hand

and I reckon it's about time we celebrated these orange marvels.

This Festival in York makes a big deal out of the humble pumpkin.

So, I'm paying them a visit

and I'm joined by resident BP veg expert George.

So, George, what exactly is a pumpkin?

-Well, first, it's not actually a vegetable.

-What?

Well, technically, it's got seeds, so that makes it a fruit.

-Wow. This guy knows his onions.

-And pumpkins.

This place is pumpkin potty.

And George is off to investigate

some very special super-sized specimens.

But before all that, I'm keeping it classic.

I thought I'd check out what's going on here today

and that includes pumpkin carving.

It's your pumpkin basic. Carving a scary face into this versatile veg.

Sorry, fruit.

To create the image of Halloween we all know.

But, here, they're going one step further.

And it's down to professional pumpkin artist Christian.

I repeat, he's a professional pumpkin artist.

I'll just let that sink in.

These pumpkins are incredible.

So, can you talk me through how you actually made them.

-So, I use a sharp knife.

-Of course.

So, if you are doing it at home get a parent to help. It's a top tip.

Yeah. So, you start off by cutting the lid. A nice clean line.

Lid off, it's time to remove the insides.

Christian's top tip is to use an ice cream scoop for this.

You are welcome.

So, Christian, why do people actually carve shapes into pumpkins?

It originates from Ireland.

People used to carve potatoes and turnips.

It was only when they moved across to America that they began

using pumpkins instead.

-And now that's why we all do it every Halloween?

-It is, yeah.

We are working on a special BP design.

Oh, that looks great.

And, it seems, we're not the only ones loving a bit of carving.

Under the safe supervision of an adult, obvs!

I really enjoyed it.

I think my favourite bit was definitely scooping the insides out.

The big pumpkins were funny and scary.

While Christian I crack on,

George has been checking out the sort of supernatural phenomenon

that can only happen at Halloween.

Giant pumpkins!

Sorry. I didn't know... Sorry.

With the right treatment, pumpkins can grow to be big.

Like, really big!

Here they run a competition to find out who has grown the biggest.

So, I've come to the pumpkin pit lane to meet Ben and Henry.

And the competition is really hotting up, unlike the weather.

So, Ben,

how did you get it so big?

A lot of TLC. A lot of growing, and stuff like that.

A lot of watering and a lot of food.

Do you think you have a chance of winning?

Well, I did until I rocked up this morning

and saw these ones over here.

The competition is judged on weight.

So, each one of these monsters is loaded onto

an industrial weighing machine.

It's a whopper!

Then the competitors gather inside for the results,

delivered by yours truly.

OK. So, here we go.

In third place for heaviest pumpkin is...

Amelia!

In second place, Ben.

Well done, Ben. Good job.

The heaviest pumpkin is...

Ian and Stuart.

So, second for our man Ben

but, to be fair, he was beaten by a whopper!

Just look at that. Unbelievably, our winner weighs just under 800kg.

That's the same as a fully grown cow.

COW MOOS

Well, George, what a pumpkin filled day.

Some top-notch produce, Lindsey. High five. Go, us!

Time to reveal the Blue Peter pumpkin that I carved myself.

Let's have a look at it.

How good is that?

She didn't do that.

-What are you talking about, George? Yes, I did.

-She didn't.

Smile and wave.

That is an awesome pumpkin. George is an awesome presenter.

-Should we start this make?

-I think we should, yes.

-Definitely, yes.

-So do you want to kick off by blowing up the balloon?

-All right.

-I'll do that.

-Thanks, Harvey.

No pressure, dude. Here we go. Here's your moment.

Oh, it's looking good.

-And while you're doing that, Harvey...

-Yup.

-..do you want to

tell the good people what we need to make this make?

HARVEY READS THE DETAILS

WHOOPING

-Not so much as a stutter, I like your style!

-They like the glitter.

So that's a full balloon, if we now reduce that

to about half the size... SCREECHING

Not a painful noise at all, that.

Oh, dear, that's gone pear-shaped.

Right, fortunately, however, we've come prepared.

-Now, where IS our preparation...? Here it is!

-There it is.

You can find this in shops, no strings attached...

WHOOPING There was a delay, but it worked.

-So we're going to wrap this like a parcel, aren't we, boys?

-OK.

So we're going to take the strings, tie it in a knot on the neck,

and then we're going to turn it upside down and put it there, and

this is where I need you to help me, Max, that would be great.

And we're going to wrap the string around and pull it tight,

and obviously, Max, you did this wrong...

-I had one tiny string!

-Now we're going to take it

the other way round, tie it off there

and do it again diagonally...

And when you've done that twice and turned it into

essentially eight, you'll have something which looks like

this one here. However, to give it its structure,

that's what the papier-mache comes in.

If you need help doing that or advice, or want to find out

how it works, just jump on to the Blue Peter website,

and then, when you've painted it, it will look like

this one here. But we've not only painted it,

we've also, just down the creases here, the folds if you will,

we've put a little bit of black paint,

but that doesn't look authentic which is where YOU come in, Harvey.

So basically what I'm going to do is get a darker orange or gold,

whatever you want to call it...

-Gold.

-Yeah, that works.

-Or we can just lie and call it pink!

-Yeah.

Erm...

And we're just going to paint that there and just make it look,

-I don't know...

-You're so good at art, Harvey. GCSE, yeah?

GCSEs, mate, you've got them coming up, haven't you?

-Yes.

-Should have taken art.

I think you've got...not even an A+ any more, you've got a 1.

Yeah... No, that's the worst one.

-That's the bad one.

-Is that the worst?!

I'm old, is what it means.

Well, he deserves it, for that. He deserves it for that.

So, how would this contain anything? We'd need to have a lid.

So, if we pull this one out and pull out the one with a completed lid...

how do you make the lid match?

So, you poke a pencil through it and then you either

cut it with scissors, or a knife

but make sure you ask for parental

-supervision, permission...

-Oh, yeah!

No knives for children!

Stand up to knives for chil...

-Stop!

-Sorry.

-Too far,

we went too far. You were so close to being great - but you just kept

-tipped over the balance.

-Sorry.

So now, what we're going to do is we're going to open up the lid

and pull out what would then be the balloon and the string -

however, we're then going to add to it a stalk.

So we're going to race through this process here.

So all you need is a pipe cleaner, and then you also need

a piece of paper which you're going to cut into the shape of a leaf,

and you simply rotate it over, like so, into the shape of a leaf.

Through papier-mache once again - the details are on the website.

You then have something which looks like Max's and Harvey's,

and I have to say they're doing a really good job of

lashing the stalk onto the leaf.

They'd stick that onto the lid of the pumpkin,

and then there's a template as well for the face,

that you can get on the website -

although you're perfectly holding it up like a pro there,

thank you, Harvey. In fact you're going to eat it as well,

why don't you enjoy yourself while you're on Blue Peter?

That's been there for quite a while. HARVEY RETCHES AND COUGHS

Don't worry, health and safety never takes a day off here.

All the details are on the website but also a whole lot more.

Urgh!

I pooped on my dad's hand when I was a baby.

What's is that called? Tinsel!

A parrot came onto my dad's head at a zoo, and...pooped on it.

Tinsel!

Here is a fun idea...

Right, these'll do. We can use these.

How great is that?

Oh, we love the BP website -

it's about to get even better by the way, because after the show

there's going to be Fan Club Live, and these two are going to be there!

So log on, people, you don't want to miss that.

Boys, where was Shelley hiding?

Shelley was creeping about whilst Lindsey was jumping in the Quays!

-There she is!

-Did you see it?

-Quite a big Shelley this week.

And look, I even took her for a little swim, she had a great time.

Who spotted her?

Well, the person that spotted her was Mini Merry Berry!

-ALL:

-Yeah!

-Let's hope she's watching.

That's just about it for today. Make sure you're watching next week

-where it'll be a Fan Club Takeover.

-Yeah,

we're making all your wishes come true, or as many as you can.

We're going to have Sophia Grace in the studio, and a brand-new band,

-it's going to be good!

-And part two

of my awesome Children in Need challenge!

-We'll see you next week!

-Happy dance!

LINDSEY LAUGHS