:00:21. > :00:24.We've got a show as stuffed as a Christmas turkey. We skpwroin a big
:00:24. > :00:31.switch-on street with more than 100,000 street lights. And I'll
:00:31. > :00:37.take you behind the scenes on my first night at panto. And we'll
:00:37. > :00:47.reveal the amazing secrets behind the Christmas decorations you'll
:00:47. > :01:00.
:01:00. > :01:06.Jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell rock jingle bell swing and jingle
:01:06. > :01:16.bells ring snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
:01:16. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:24.Now the jingle hop has begun Jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell
:01:24. > :01:28.rock Jingle bells chime in jingle bell
:01:28. > :01:35.time What a bright time
:01:35. > :01:45.It's the right time To rock the night away
:01:45. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :02:00.Jingle bell time is a swell time To go glidin' in a one horse sleigh
:02:00. > :02:07.
:02:07. > :02:11.That's the jingle bell rock I feel festive. Welcome to the Blue Peter
:02:11. > :02:16.Christmas show. Thank you to members of the BBC
:02:16. > :02:22.North Choir. And children from the primary school in Cheshire.
:02:22. > :02:30.Back from panto and I'm here to show you what it's like behind the
:02:30. > :02:36.scenes. Nervous but fun too. have been getting Christmas cards,
:02:36. > :02:43.including this hand made one. Thank you very much. And Jake made this
:02:43. > :02:51.himself, stuck on the snowman and flakes. We life that. Joshua thank
:02:51. > :02:56.you for your Christmas card. this is the inside out card that we
:02:56. > :03:03.made on the show a few weeks ago. We don't know who you are. If you
:03:03. > :03:09.would like to give us a shout we'll mention you. And thank you to
:03:10. > :03:17.Graham and Jay, saying to Barney, and the dogs and cat. There are
:03:17. > :03:23.presents under the tree not for us or you, for our pets. It's too
:03:23. > :03:28.early for presents. You're in the early stages of festivities. I you
:03:28. > :03:33.have probably put up the tree and Christmas lights. We have
:03:33. > :03:40.discovered loads of you have been being -- going crackers with the
:03:40. > :03:46.lights. They have lights on the trees, and reindeers. Only a multi-
:03:46. > :03:53.coloured snowman. Check out this. Christmas tree on the walls. On a
:03:53. > :04:00.par, the same as the other one, but it has lights. The most lights
:04:00. > :04:09.belong to a road on Somerset. 100,000 bulbs on that street. We
:04:09. > :04:18.went to visit Hareve. Me and my family are crazy about Christmas.
:04:18. > :04:23.This is what it's liking withing with -- being me. My family live in
:04:23. > :04:33.a cul-de-sac. We are one of six in our street. In our street we like
:04:33. > :04:35.
:04:35. > :04:41.to go mad. We cover our house with more than 30,000 bulbs. All use low
:04:41. > :04:47.snerg LED. We do this every year to raise money for charity. We have
:04:47. > :04:53.previously raised thousands of pounds. That's my dad. Hello.
:04:53. > :05:00.These are my mum's famous mince pies. And shortbread. The
:05:00. > :05:05.shortbread is lovely. I can never stop eating it. It takes a lot of
:05:06. > :05:10.planning to make our winter wonder land. Here's questions from the
:05:10. > :05:15.message board. Do you use different decorations every year? Most are
:05:15. > :05:20.the same but sometimes we change them. We might put different
:05:20. > :05:27.coloured lielgts in a tree. designs the plans? Me and my mum
:05:27. > :05:32.and dad sit down and talk about it. We might put stars on the wall one
:05:32. > :05:38.year, and snow flaibgsz the next. How long does it take? A week
:05:38. > :05:45.usually to put them up. How do you put them up? My dad goes up a
:05:45. > :05:49.ladder and clips them to the house. That's all the questions. So, thank
:05:49. > :05:56.you. Time to get ready for the big
:05:56. > :06:06.switch-on. A lot of last-minute preparations. We want this year to
:06:06. > :06:09.
:06:09. > :06:15.be our best display ever. Tonight has been amazing. The lights have
:06:15. > :06:25.been stunning. The lights look really pretty and they are getting
:06:25. > :06:29.
:06:29. > :06:32.me ready for Christmas. It's been a great success. I've
:06:33. > :06:37.never seen so many people down our street. Looks like the evening has
:06:37. > :06:41.been a great success. I've really enjoyed myself and I think
:06:41. > :06:46.everybody has done a great job making it happen. I hope you have
:06:46. > :06:51.enjoyed seeing what it's like to be me. We have got Christmas
:06:51. > :06:57.decorations and done singing. That means it must be time for a few
:06:57. > :07:04.presents. This year I'm going to be away for Christmas. I'll take part
:07:04. > :07:14.in a special trip for Blue Peter. All will be revealed tomorrow. That
:07:14. > :07:16.
:07:16. > :07:26.means I've got to give Barney the doggie present now. Have you
:07:26. > :07:28.
:07:28. > :07:38.wrapped this? I would like to say "yes". Please tell me it's not
:07:38. > :07:40.
:07:40. > :07:49.squeaky! What about cats? This is for Socks. A necklace. A tunnel.
:07:50. > :07:57.Christmas cracker tunnel. Barney is in there! This is like getting in
:07:57. > :08:06.the box. I don't Noah how to get it off. You're wearing it well!
:08:06. > :08:09.Cookie? Look at that. Cookie he likes things that jingle and
:08:09. > :08:16.japbgle. Cookie! It is about the critics mass spirit. We have got
:08:16. > :08:22.the tree, and the presents, and the lights. We'll find if the most
:08:22. > :08:28.magical thing that can happen will happen -- is it going to be a White
:08:29. > :08:33.Christmas. We can only ask Carol Kirkwood. We're excited about
:08:33. > :08:39.Christmas. We would like to know is it going to be a white one?
:08:39. > :08:44.early to say at the moment. We tend to give a good forecast five days
:08:45. > :08:50.ahead for the following five days. Tune in next week. How much snow
:08:50. > :08:57.does there need to be to qualify for a White Christmas. Not very
:08:57. > :09:03.much. One snowflake falling in a specific place during the 24 hours
:09:03. > :09:11.that are Christmas. It could be Old Trafford, or the Met Office. The
:09:11. > :09:21.observers will say they have seen one, and they will verify, and say
:09:21. > :09:21.
:09:21. > :09:26.yes it happened. It's not random. There are people looking out for a
:09:26. > :09:33.superior snowflake. It's not an official location. It doesn't
:09:33. > :09:37.count!. How often do we get a White Christmas? When you look at it as a
:09:37. > :09:43.Christmas? When you look at it as a single snowflake. Not that often.
:09:44. > :09:51.The last White Christmas 2010 which is great when all you have to do is
:09:51. > :09:56.play in it. If you have to travel in it, it creates problems. A
:09:56. > :10:03.single snowflake, we have had that 38 times. Most of us think of it as
:10:03. > :10:06.lying snow. That's infrequent, in the last 51 years only had it four
:10:06. > :10:13.the last 51 years only had it four times. I like a thick amount of
:10:13. > :10:20.snow. Have a lovely Christmas. Thank you very much for joining us.
:10:20. > :10:28.Happy Christmas to you and your viewers. He will have hours of fun
:10:28. > :10:33.in there. Barney has not been with us, because he has been in panto,
:10:33. > :10:38.playing Muddles? Oh no I haven't. Yes you have. Three million see
:10:38. > :10:43.panto every year. Because I've been away I haven't been able to tell
:10:43. > :10:51.you what it's like. We have filmed a little behind the scenes. You get
:10:51. > :11:00.a sneak peak when it was like on the opening night. Christmas is
:11:00. > :11:05.approaching. Panto is gearing up in the festive season. I'm starring in
:11:05. > :11:13.snow white and the seven dwafrbzdwafrbz. We have to learn
:11:13. > :11:18.over 1,000 lines, and dance moves, to entertain people who have parted
:11:18. > :11:24.with hard-earned cash. For many families panto is the Christmas
:11:24. > :11:31.highlight. We have to get the performances spot on. Tonight is
:11:31. > :11:38.opening night. Will we be ready? I don't know, stay tuned.
:11:38. > :11:48.tradition of pantomime has been around for 2000 years. Our journey
:11:48. > :11:49.
:11:49. > :11:59.started two weeks ago. It's lucky I have a brilliant cast. Sarah Locke
:11:59. > :11:59.
:11:59. > :12:09.is snow white. And pats si Kensit is the wicked Queen. I'm playing
:12:09. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:17.Muddles, the court jester, and Snow White's best mate. In a couple of
:12:17. > :12:25.weeks, we don't have these, we have to learn our times. I should be all
:12:25. > :12:33.right at this! We're during the read through. Everyone has been
:12:33. > :12:38.perfect. Muddles what are you doing I don't know, what am I doing?
:12:38. > :12:46.Something while you're talking? the greatest start. At least I've
:12:46. > :12:53.got 1 days left. After a week of rehearsing only seven days until
:12:53. > :12:59.opening night. With deadline looming the whole cast crank up --
:12:59. > :13:03.for the opening night. Today is an important day. It's a halfway point,
:13:03. > :13:07.we try and run everything 6 -- we've learned so far. All the
:13:07. > :13:13.dances and numbers. Today is the first day we put it together. And
:13:13. > :13:20.the boss is coming to see how we're doing. We open in a week's time.
:13:20. > :13:26.The pressure is mounting. The next thing is costumes, and we'll get
:13:26. > :13:33.them working on the set. With the producer watching from the
:13:33. > :13:39.sidelines. It's not just the cast's performance under scrutiny. Our
:13:39. > :13:48.director is feeling the pressure. We're on the first run-through.
:13:48. > :13:52.It's goodish. Quietly optimistic. Ask me in a few days! And And while
:13:52. > :14:00.by day we rehearse as hard as possible, by night the cast hit the
:14:00. > :14:09.streets to do their bit to promote the sno show by turning on the
:14:09. > :14:15.Christmas lights. There are around 300 professional pant miepls in the
:14:15. > :14:25.UK this Christmas. Tonight we need to attract the crowds to make sure
:14:25. > :14:25.
:14:25. > :14:30.our show is the biggest and the best. -- pantomimes. After the buzz
:14:30. > :14:34.of the fuss activities back to reality for the final dress
:14:34. > :14:40.rehearsal. There's not a lot of time to rehearse. There's a paying
:14:40. > :14:47.audience in tomorrow night. We're not quite ready. That's what this
:14:47. > :14:52.is about. Fine-tuning. A few minutes in, and there's a massive
:14:52. > :14:58.technical problem. You can probably hear, one of the audio tracks has
:14:58. > :15:04.failed. It should be a backing track with brass and fanfare, but
:15:04. > :15:09.the computer keeps crashing. At the moment we have three guys playing
:15:10. > :15:19.music to cover us. All being well by tomorrow we'll fix the computer.
:15:20. > :15:27.The show must go on. We have a show. A bit rough around the edges as far
:15:27. > :15:34.as some of the technical sides. Scene changes are rough in act two
:15:34. > :15:38.but I've seen an awful lot worse. This is it. Opening night. Everyone
:15:38. > :15:43.has worked so hard over the last two weeks. Will it come together
:15:43. > :15:49.when it matters the most? Behind the scenes final preparations are
:15:49. > :15:54.under way. The nerves are starting to show. As the audience files in,
:15:54. > :16:04.the anticipation is building. There's nothing more to do but go
:16:04. > :16:17.
:16:17. > :16:24.out and deliver the best show you - Any worries we had, melted away
:16:24. > :16:31.with our audit ens' laughter. love it. Everyone is smiling and
:16:31. > :16:37.full of energy. All the long hours and hard work have paid off and I
:16:37. > :16:44.reckon we have pa fantastic show. What do the critics think of
:16:44. > :16:49.tonight's performance? Makes me feel jolly. Well done Barney!
:16:49. > :16:55.done Barney you're great. Thank you very much, we had a great time. We
:16:55. > :17:02.had fun, the audience had fun. Everyone is smiling. We did it.
:17:02. > :17:07.Barney was brilliant. Here's to the next 25 million. We really do that
:17:07. > :17:13.many shows. You look like you have so many laughs. Do you kiss snow
:17:13. > :17:20.white? No the Prince does that. It's so much fun. We are in the
:17:20. > :17:28.foyer of media city, it's the only room big enough for the tree. We'll
:17:28. > :17:35.be inviting a lot of singers to join us in a special performance of
:17:35. > :17:45.O' come all ye faithful. Look at this. The fa activity scene. Joseph
:17:45. > :17:47.
:17:47. > :17:52.and Mary, and the Three Kings. And lots of animals. -- nativity scene.
:17:52. > :17:58.Many believe over 2000 years ago we were given the best Christmas
:17:58. > :18:04.present in the form of Jesus. have lots of things associated with
:18:04. > :18:13.Christmas. The nativity scene. And Christmas lights and tinsel and
:18:13. > :18:21.Holly, why? While you have been away we sent designer Michelle from
:18:21. > :18:24.I Want My Own Room to a Stately Home to investigate further. I love
:18:24. > :18:30.Christmas. As well as spending time with family and friends eating
:18:30. > :18:40.delicious foods and sharing gifts, it's a chance for me to decorate
:18:40. > :18:44.
:18:44. > :18:50.the house and turn everything sparkly. You might know me from
:18:50. > :18:56.CBBC's Deadly Art and I Want My Own Room. There's no better time than
:18:56. > :19:03.Christmas to get inspired. I've come to one of the biggest stately
:19:03. > :19:09.homes in the UK. It takes 50 people five days to get it ready for
:19:09. > :19:15.Christmas. If anyone knows how to do Christmas in style, these guys
:19:15. > :19:22.do. Every decoration has a story behind it. I met up with the head
:19:22. > :19:30.guide to find out more. A lot of us have Christmas trees, where does
:19:30. > :19:36.the idea come from. The 17th century, St Boniface used to use
:19:36. > :19:46.the trees as a symbol, the shape, to represent the holy trinity, the
:19:46. > :19:48.
:19:48. > :19:57.father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit. Only in the 1840's Queen
:19:57. > :20:02.Victoria was shown in a family they wanted a tree. How did the
:20:02. > :20:09.decorations fit in, the fairy lights? A lot of the decorations
:20:09. > :20:18.came with the tree from Germany, a lot German inventions, the fairy
:20:18. > :20:23.lights used to be stuck on to the trees, candles with wax. It wasn't
:20:23. > :20:31.until 1882 the first electric lights. This is a totally different
:20:31. > :20:36.kind of tree. Tell me about it? This is our wishing tree at
:20:36. > :20:46.Chatsworth. All our visitors can write their wish on the tag and
:20:46. > :20:50.
:20:50. > :20:57.attach it to the tree. I'll make my own message. Absolutely! This is up
:20:57. > :21:01.a beautiful room. So cosy, I feel like we should be sat down telling
:21:01. > :21:07.Christmas stories. The red and the green you notice at Christmas time.
:21:07. > :21:15.What is the manying? Holly and Ivy have developed over the years. It
:21:15. > :21:21.started out pagans who worshipped the earth. They found Holly and Ivy
:21:21. > :21:28.was beautiful in the winter, when other plants had died. They thought
:21:28. > :21:37.2 must have a special meaning. The Christians took it on but it found
:21:37. > :21:43.a new meaning, the red berries shared the blood of Jesus on the
:21:43. > :21:48.cross, and the thorns, the Crown of thorns. Stphr and the wreath 1234
:21:48. > :21:54.Came from Ancient Rome originally. The idea was it was a sign of
:21:55. > :22:02.victory. And the pagans brought in wreath shapes. The Christians saw
:22:02. > :22:07.it in a different light. They saw the circle meaning ever-lasting
:22:07. > :22:12.life. I've seen so many wonderful decorations. I would like to get
:22:12. > :22:17.stuck in myself. Is there anything I can help you with? We could do
:22:17. > :22:25.with another wreath in the house. I wonder if you would like to join
:22:25. > :22:32.Mick our gardener and make a new wreath? Definitely! I'm off to make
:22:32. > :22:38.my own wreath. You're going to show me how to make a traditional
:22:38. > :22:45.Chatsworth House wreath. Heavy. Chatsworth House wreath. Heavy.
:22:45. > :22:51.has been soaked for about a minute before we started. The Flora works
:22:51. > :22:59.better if you only put a thin puncture wound in it. How many do
:22:59. > :23:06.you do for the estate? About 700. I try and use the bits I am doing to
:23:06. > :23:14.blend the edges in. When I was a kid we used to make our own, out of
:23:14. > :23:21.stuff to forage from our neighbours garden or our own garden. What is
:23:21. > :23:30.next. I'm going to make a traditional with pine cones, and
:23:30. > :23:39.I'll finish it with variegated Holly and Holly berry. The leaves
:23:39. > :23:46.are beautiful. Is it looking all right? Really good. Putting me to
:23:46. > :23:52.shame. That's a traditional Chatsworth wreath. I think with
:23:52. > :24:02.mine I'll add a couple more things. I've been making Christmas
:24:02. > :24:05.
:24:05. > :24:10.decorations. Stars Can I put them decorations. Stars Can I put them
:24:10. > :24:16.in? Yeah, go ahead. A bit of a Michelle twist. I like it. I better
:24:16. > :24:25.find somewhere to hang it. I'm told there's an empty door inside the
:24:25. > :24:31.house! Perfect! I had no idea that wreaths came from Ancient Rome.
:24:31. > :24:36.can come to my house and decorate. You learn something every year.
:24:36. > :24:44.It's time for our Christmas sing-a- long. This is my favourite Blue
:24:44. > :24:52.Peter tradition. I used to watch the show as a kid it gives me a
:24:52. > :25:02.great pleasure to introduce the Salford Salvation Army, and schools
:25:02. > :25:03.
:25:03. > :25:13.to sing O'Come All Ye Faithful. come all ye faithful
:25:13. > :25:13.
:25:13. > :25:22.# Joyful and triumphant # O' come ye O' come ye MUSIC: To
:25:22. > :25:32.Bethlehem MUSIC: Come and behold him MUSIC: Born the King of angels
:25:32. > :25:42.
:25:42. > :25:52.MUSIC: O' come let us adore him # O' come let us adore hymn
:25:52. > :25:56.
:25:56. > :26:01.Christ the Lord God of God, light of light
:26:01. > :26:11.Lo he abhors not the voirg begin's womb
:26:11. > :26:12.
:26:12. > :26:22.Very God begotten not created Oh in let us adore him
:26:22. > :26:23.
:26:23. > :26:30.O' come, let us adore him O' come let us adore him clies the
:26:30. > :26:40.local authority It's a beautiful sound. Now might
:26:40. > :26:47.be a good time to look back on 2011. It has been a huge year. You joined
:26:47. > :26:53.then. You have been in balance lay, and came up the quays on a jet sky.
:26:54. > :26:59.You have walked on a small rope. Lots of you have been in touch
:26:59. > :27:05.asking about my next challenge. I'll be away for the whole of
:27:05. > :27:09.Christmas. It will be my toughest challenge yet. I'll need your
:27:09. > :27:18.support. We can't say thank you enough for watching Blue Peter and