Hetty Feather Fun! Blue Peter

On today's show, we've got jelly.

We've got fish.

And we've got a sprinkle of Blue Peter magic.

Linds, you're going to love this.

See!

Wait, I don't get it.

Jellyfish!

-Hello.

-Hello, welcome to the show.

We are so excited and we just can't hide it.

We've got a fabulously fun-filled show for you today.

That's right. I visit a massive feat of engineering.

-Look, this is a gadget on a huge scale.

-I want one!

That's a massive gadget. But these, however,

are majestically magical creatures of the sea.

I am talking about jellyfish. Look at them!

Spot Shelley is a game you like to play. We do too.

-Here she is. I found her. I win.

-No.

-OK.

She's going to be hiding throughout the show.

You've got to try and spot her. Log on to BP Fanclub Live right now

and get in touch.

The first person to find her wins their very own horse called Eric.

That's not true.

What is true, though,

is we've got some fabulous guests in the studio today.

They're from the Victorian era and from the cast of Hetty Feather!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hugo, Orla, welcome to the show.

It's not quite Callender Hall,

but it is posh enough for you to be wearing your Blue Peter badges.

-You happy about that?

-Yeah, very happy.

-Welcome to the show.

It's good to have you here. So Hetty Feather is now in its third series.

You've recently joined the cast. Tell me about your characters.

My character's Emily.

She's the eldest of the Callender children.

She wants to be a doctor, but obviously it's Victorian society

so her parents aren't really mad on that idea.

My mum wanted me to be a doctor. How wrong can you get?

Let's talk about the new series.

There's a bit of a cliff-hanger in the last episode.

It must be amazing to be part of this new story and this new team?

-Yeah.

-We are new characters in it, so a new chapter for Hetty's life,

so it's very exciting.

You're already quite busy as far as the story goes.

Hugo, you play Edwin, who's a botanist,

but you're not allowed outside. How does that work?

Well, I'm not allowed outside because it's bad for my health,

but the way I study plants is I bring them

into my library which is basically my bedroom, kitchen, everything.

I sit there every day, all day and I study plants.

Does Edwin get to go out at any point? Do we know that?

-Well, you have to wait.

-Ah, yes, the "I'm not going to tell you" card.

-I understand that. Orla, you were kidnapped, but accidentally.

-Yes.

How does that happen and what happens next?

Well, you're going to have to watch if you want to find that out.

Neither of you are giving anything away today.

Hugo, help me out. She's giving me nothing. What's going to happen?

-No, sorry.

-OK, no more questions for now, then.

-How about we play a game instead?

-Yes.

-You're going to love this.

It's called Victorian or Victori-aren't!

I need to get my costume on for this

because you can't do a show about the Victorian era

and not look the part, so if you bear with me just one second...

I now look like an official Victorian. Hello, how are you?

Is that how they spoke? I don't know.

On this board in front of you are ten items.

These ten items have been invented by very clever people

but only five of the items were invented during the Victorian era,

the reign of Queen Victoria, which is 1837-1901.

So which of these five were invented during that time?

What you've got to do is make sure that these top five are all

invented in the Victorian era. At the moment, they're all mixed up.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah.

-Easy rules.

If you win, you get your own electric light bulb. You ready?

30 seconds on the clock. Your time starts now.

The kite, was it invented in Victorian times?

-Yeah, I think so.

-OK, X-ray?

-No.

-What are you going to replace it with?

-Teabags.

Tea bags, you think tea bags were invented before 1901, OK.

-What next? We've got television.

-No.

-Replace it with stamps, please.

Stamps going to go there instead, OK. Beautiful.

What about the electric light bulb?

-I'm pretty sure that was right there.

-Faraday, wasn't it?

What about the aeroplane?

-Replacing that with?

-Leave it there.

You think the aeroplane was invented between 1837 and 1901?

KLAXON SOUNDS

I know the answer cos I'm a bit of a geek about aeroplanes

and you're not a million miles away, but let's go through the answers.

Was kite invented in the Victorian times?

The answer is no, it wasn't.

The kite was invented apparently 2,800 years ago,

well before the Victorians got involved.

Tea bags, were they invented in the Victorian era?

The answer is no. That was in 1908.

My moustache has got a bit of a problem.

So that's a no. What about the stamp?

Was that invented in the Victorian times?

The answer is yes. Congratulations.

So that was 1840,

the first Black Penny or Penny Black was first issued.

It's very difficult to get facts right

with a moustache that's vertical.

Electric light bulb. What do you reckon about that?

It is. Congratulations.

And that was Thomas Edison in 1879.

He also invented the voice recorder and the motion picture camera.

Thank you for our studio, sir.

The aeroplane, now I know this was a little bit later

cos the Wright Brothers invented it. I think it was 1903.

I've got the facts here. Am I right about this? Yes!

I didn't even read that. Beautiful.

So, basically, you've got two out of five.

The ones at the bottom that were Victorian were the dishwasher,

believe it or not, in 1850. I'll have to show you that to prove it.

We're not just playing with you. Television's had it, it's done.

We don't need the TV any more.

What else was there? Horse glasses, as in glasses for horses.

It's absolutely true. Amazing.

I wondered why I kept going pffft when I was eating my grass!

So there you have it. You've got two out of five.

Congratulations, although you were pretty rubbish.

Maybe we could celebrate how rubbish you were by introducing a new clip

of the new series?

Now we have a sneak peek of episode ten, series three of Hetty Feather.

Why, Hetty Feather!

The book in the exchange for the girl.

-You've got Emily?

-And strict instructions. Keep it to yourself.

-You're from Mr Grace's gang.

-Just read and do what we say.

'Give the boy the book. Inform no-one.

'Do not sent for the constabulary...

'..Matron.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Even the sneak peeks have got cliff-hangers on them.

Orla, Hugo, thank you so much for being here.

A round of applause for our cast from Hetty Feather, everybody.

-Amazing.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, when you're not watching Hetty Feather, what should you be doing?

I think you should be watching Radzi fall over in water.

It's my favourite thing and I can't see it enough.

Whoo!

For this BP challenge, I've taken on water-skiing and it's been awesome!

Yeah!

Under the guidance of my expert coach, Nick...

Really good. I think we've got a natural.

..I've been giving it everything I've got.

Which is useful, because we are here

at the National Water-skiing Championships.

After just starting my training two months ago, I'm going to attempt

to perform an actual routine here.

Is it too late to pull out?

The Nationals attract the finest young water-skiers

the UK has to offer.

The very best of the best.

And...me.

I'll be performing three water-ski tricks in a row.

I have to do two 90-degree turns.

Two 180-degree spins

and, finally, two complete 360-degree rotations

and just two attempts of 20 seconds to get them right.

I've loved training for this challenge. It has been brilliant.

I've learned there are things I can do quite well and learn quickly

and there are things I actually cannot do at all,

but the thing that I'm most worried about are my 180s, because I only

get one chance at those and if they go wrong, well, you'll know,

because I'll stop on the spot and I'll face-plant the water

and it's really going to hurt!

And, because this is a top competition,

there's a panel of expert judges who'll be watching my every move.

If I put just one ski wrong, they'll disqualify me. No pressure, then.

Time for some last-minute advice from my coach Nick.

The tricks themselves are about how many degrees you turn through.

Did you get your skis perfectly backwards?

That's what the judges are going to be looking for.

If you get 170 degrees, it won't count.

I'm not just concerned about performing the tricks,

it's squeezing them in to just 20 seconds.

20 seconds doesn't sound long until you have to hold your breath.

This is a new thing by the way.

So when we were training, I had no idea that

I only had two lots of 20 seconds to get this right

until the penultimate session when you said, "Now we've got the skills.

"Now we just need to do it in a condensed time"

Putting the tricks together against the clock and in front of the judges

is going to be so tough and, as I do my warm up, I am very nervous.

One chance and hopefully, when I get out of this water,

you're going to see a big smile on this face.

Fortunately, I'm allowed one quick practice to get myself ready,

but as I try one of the 180-degree turns...

..disaster!

This is the worst possible start.

I have to put this out of my mind and get on with it.

'OK, skier.'

First up, two sets of 90-degree turns.

I have to turn to each side and slide on the water.

Right, yes.

Now left.

Good start, but now the tricks get hard.

Next, the dreaded 180.

I have to turn and ski backwards twice!

That's one.

And there's the other!

Yes, get in!

And, last, the hardest of all,

two full 360-degree turns.

One done.

A bit of a stumble! I nearly lost it, but I'm still standing.

Come on, Radzi, one more time.

Yes, I think I've done it!

What a feeling!

But then, Nick has some news.

I don't think your 360s were all in time.

He doesn't think I've managed to fit everything into the 20 seconds

and then the judges confirm it.

'The 360s were out of time. The 360s were out of time.'

So I need to go again.

I've got just one more chance to complete my two 360-degree turns.

If I fall, then those months of training will have all

been for nothing.

OK, Radzi, one last chance. Come on.

That's one. Now for the second. Can I do it? Come on, come on.

One hand off. I've started the turn. Can I get all the way round?

I've grabbed it. I've made it!

I cannot believe it! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

I am over the moon!

'All tricks in time.'

All that hard work by Nick and his team has totally paid off,

but what do the judges think?

It takes years and years and years

for the top trick skiers

to do what they do

so for him to come out here at a National Championships

and to do a run on two skis like he did

I just think is absolutely brilliant.

Of all the Blue Peter challenges I've done,

none have rested so much on one attempt and knowing that I could

start and fall in straight away and there's no coming back from it.

I cannot tell you how much I have loved this experience.

Water-skiing, what a sport!

What a challenge that was, and Nick, my coach, thank you so much, sir.

You are a legend.

Do you mean "water" challenge that was?

I write all the comedy on this show.

Let's have a look at the Big Badge Wall.

It's top-to-toed in your creative artwork.

We love hearing from you, especially when I say something that I'm

joking about and then somebody goes and does it.

A few weeks ago I said I want a life-size picture of me.

-Kate, you are an absolute genius. Look, there it is.

-That's so good.

It's my actual height as well, six foot four.

-And, Barney, not just you. Look at us as well.

-One, two, three, go!

-Thank you very much.

-I wish I was this tall.

Yeah, you're only four foot.

If you look at mine, you'll see a Blue Peter badge on it, Kate.

That's yours. It's on its way to you. Congratulations.

Orla and Hugo, what have you seen on here?

Over here we have a model of the Blue Peter studio,

which was made by Ffion from Conwy

and they're going to get their very own Blue Peter badge.

It's got everyone, including Shelley the tortoise.

-Found it.

-No, that doesn't count.

That's why Ffion from Conwy has earned HER Blue Peter badge.

-You need to be a presenter. That was wicked.

-Wow, Hugo, lovely.

-And you sighed when Barney told a jokey-jokey...

-You'll fit right in.

Thanks very much.

Now Rowena from Luton sent us in this fantastic segment work

with me, Barn and Lindsey all as thirds of a circle.

I like your work, Rowena. Thank you very much.

And Phoebe, who's eight from York, has done this.

It's a mini telly box.

She's put little buttons and everything,

and it's Iggy and I sat there with Calum by the BP Badge Wall.

-How good is that?

-It's so good.

-Well done.

-Thanks, Phoebs.

Please do keep your post coming in to the usual address

and if you do earn yourself a Blue Peter badge,

you will get yourself into over 200 attractions across the UK.

-ALL:

-# For free! #

-Nice.

# But make sure you keep checking the website

# Because the offers can change. #

Really good improv there, Radz. Very nice.

Now, when I found out my recent challenge was taking a ride

on an extreme piece of engineering,

I thought, "I've got to give this a go".

There are more than 2,000 miles of canal across the UK.

Most of them were built in the 18th century when engineers realised

water was the perfect way to move things smoothly around the country.

These man-made canals are a massive engineering achievement

and today I've come to see a very special section.

You see, the problem with canals is water isn't great at going

over hills, so locks were invented.

Basically, a series of steps to move boats up and down,

but locks take time - lots of time - though there is a faster way.

Meet the Falkirk Wheel.

So this wheel can actually raise and lower boats 24 metres,

so it's an engineering masterpiece.

Built using modern technology,

the Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift in the world.

Created to join the Forth and Clyde

and Union canals in central Scotland, it moves boats from

one stretch of water to the other by acting like a giant spinning lift.

It's ingenious, and boy, do I want to have a go.

It is just an epic bit of engineering, isn't it?

I mean, look at this.

The only worrying bit is as you look forward you can't

see where the canal boat's going to go.

Look - it just drops off.

I'm travelling down from the top level to the bottom.

Thank you very much.

Natural.

There we go. We're secure, we're in place.

They're just going to run round to the back now, shove us in,

and then we are ready to officially go on the Falkirk Wheel.

It might not look very fast, but the five-minute turn is a lot

quicker than the whole day it used to take by locks.

It's very smooth.

It doesn't actually feel like you're going anywhere,

and the cleverest part is, apart from a few wiggles, we are

staying completely straight here.

So weird, because I don't feel like we're going anywhere,

until you look over there

and see the other side of the Falkirk Wheel coming up,

and I think any minute now we'll be able to see

a boat on the other side.

They're going up, we're going down.

Oh, look, there's other people! You can just see their heads bobbing up.

Hi, guys!

This is so odd, just seeing a boat above your head.

There we go. We're nearly at the bottom.

All good, Ron. We're out. We did it.

Did you enjoy it?

Yeah, I did. Loved it.

But I'm not just here for a boat trip. Oh, no.

Oh, yeah. Nice high-vis.

I'm actually being allowed to go inside this mechanical wonder,

and see how it works for myself.

-Here we are.

-Access all areas.

Engineer Steven is going to be my guide for the day,

and our first stop is the Wheel's engine room.

Here we are.

So all the power happens in here, but it's a huge wheel,

so I can't imagine how much power that takes.

Yeah, the wheel is massive.

The rotating part of the wheel weighs 1,800 tons,

but it only takes roughly about the power of eight kettles

to make that whole structure rotate.

-Eight kettles? Is that it?

-Eight kettles. That's it.

That doesn't seem like enough. How is that enough?

The secret is keeping the wheel in balance.

When it's in balance, it's very efficient.

Because both sides of the wheel are designed to weigh the same,

it takes very little to make it move,

like a perfectly balanced see-saw.

There's no other word for this than "epic". Oh, my goodness.

Steven, what exactly am I looking at here?

Well, this is the main axle that rotates the whole wheel structure.

Really?

Yes, and what we're looking at here, we have ten hydraulic motors

and gearboxes that carry out that rotation for us.

OK, and they're actually just this small, aren't they?

Yeah, this is the tiny little motor that rotates the wheel,

and it's these small little motors that rotate that 1,800 tons.

LINDSEY EXHALES

It doesn't seem to add up, does it?

-Well, if you think this is impressive, follow me.

-Really?

-There's more?

-There's more.

-Oh, we're actually going to go inside it?

-Yep.

I love this.

Oh, my goodness.

This really is behind the scenes, isn't it?

Oh!

Being in here gives me an idea of just how big this wheel is.

I feel tiny.

BOTH: Blue Peter!

THEIR VOICES ECHO

How cool is that? We should get back to filming. Come on.

Whoa. Come on, this way.

Oh, my goodness. We are very high up. I feel sick.

The Falkirk Wheel has made the most of modern technology to solve

an age-old problem in a way we've never seen before.

Do you know what?

If you told me that I was doing a film where

I was going to go down the canal,

I would never have imagined something as epic,

on such a huge scale, as this.

It really is an engineering work of art.

Wow! That was "wheely" impressive. See what I did there?

Because it was a... It's a wheel.

Anyway, if you guys are lucky enough to go to the seaside this summer,

then you might come across a jellyfish in the sea,

and to help explain about that and everything in between,

from Sea Life London, it's James.

-Hi.

-Great to have you on Blue Peter.

-Good to see you.

First of all, this looks incredible. What have you got for us?

-Yeah, hopefully you're ready for this jelly.

-I am.

So at Sea Life London we've got a large jellyfish exhibition,

and as part of that, we breed our own jellyfish in our jellyfish

nursery, so these are some jellyfish we made earlier

that we wanted to show you.

So first off, I'll show you the different life stages of

a jellyfish, so if you just look here,

we've got a bowl with a bit of slate in it.

Now on it you can see these white dots.

Those dots are polyps, so these are the early

stages of a jellyfish, so it's like a little anemone.

They produce tiny jellyfish when the conditions are right,

so if you look in here, you can see tiny baby jellyfish.

WHISPERS: Inside that.

-You're telling me these are mini jellyfish?

-Yep.

They're about one, two mil in size,

and even the largest jellyfish in the world, the lion's mane,

which is 37 metres long when it's fully grown,

starts off as a tiny baby jellyfish like this.

That's incredible.

And they're not fish, even though you say the word "jellyfish"?

Exactly.

So "fish" is a technical term,

and it relates to animals with a backbone.

Jellyfish don't have a backbone.

They don't even have bones.

They're 95% water, and the rest of it is what's called a jelly matrix.

-This is the tough jelly substance.

-Incredible.

-Is it true they don't have brains?

-That's right.

There's no centralised nervous system,

so there's nowhere for the signals to go to.

They detect the world around them and make instant decisions.

It's like if you touch something hot

and pull your hand away, that's how a jellyfish lives.

-They are fascinating.

-Yolo.

We've seen them very small. What comes next?

Next - so, they release these jellyfish when conditions are right,

just like blooming flowers in the garden.

They then grow very quickly.

Because they don't have bones, they can grow super-quickly.

So if I just lift this up here, you can see a tube

here of about a week-old, maybe two week-old jellyfish.

These are baby moon jellies.

-Just almost like the size of the end of our fingertips.

-Exactly.

From a couple of mils to that very, very quickly,

and as long as the water conditions are right, and there's food,

they grow really quickly.

About a month on, we've got the moon jellyfish here.

If you look in here, we've got a group of moon jellyfish,

and they're still teenagers.

Fully grown, they'll be about the size of a dinner plate.

20 jellyfish in here, so that's quite a large group,

but actually, in the wild they end up in huge numbers.

They call them blooms or smacks.

And that's hundreds of thousands of jellyfish,

and they all congregate together, so they move with the tide

and they collect together into huge numbers.

That's them there. Look how many jellyfish there are in a bloom.

So the ocean currents pick them up.

These guys can move up and down in the water column.

They can move towards food,

but the ocean currents are still stronger,

so they collect them all together into huge numbers, which is

why we see these big swarms in the wild.

-Can I put my hand in?

-Yes, let's get in there.

So these ones you can touch.

We did a bit of training earlier about how to handle them.

It's all about being delicate with them.

-I'm being as delicate as delicate can be. Look at that!

-There we go.

So if we can just hold that one there.

These guys do have a sting,

but their sting isn't long enough to get through your skin,

so even though they do have stingers, you can't feel it.

So if you just stop him from moving,

I can just show you some of the body parts.

If you look on the outside edge,

that's where you're going to see all the stingers.

There's a fine lacy series of little stinging tentacles,

and they're full of things called nematocysts,

and these are like the mini hypodermic needles that sting you.

-Wow.

-If you look, there's these longer tentacles coming away,

and they're called the oral arms, so basically they collect the food with

their stingers, pass it to these oral arms,

and they carry it to their mouth.

Now, these guys are very simple organisms,

so they've got a mouth that takes in the food, but it's also

where the food comes out, so they eat and poo through the same hole.

They are fasci... I can't get over how almost not jelly they feel.

-They feel quite hard.

-Much denser than you think.

It's the jelly matrix. It's a very clever,

almost crystalline structure that gives them that really dense feel.

-So, yeah, if you just wash your hands.

-I will do.

Now, James, I can see the red jellyfish.

Now, where I come from, red means danger.

Exactly.

So all jellyfish have stings, but not all stings can hurt you,

so we've got a variety here.

We've got the moon jellyfish that have a very light sting that can't

get through our skin, then we've got some jellyfish near the front.

Now, these guys are called lagoon jellyfish.

They don't really have a sting.

They collect algae from the water around them,

and they grow it like a garden in their tentacles,

so to survive, what they do is essentially sunbathe all day.

So it's something we can all identify with.

It's a great way to live.

And in the final ones here, which we've marked as red,

just to let you know, these guys have real stings to them.

These are called purple stingers. These are Chrysaora colorata.

I was going to say that, actually.

Exactly. Just rolls off the tongue.

If you look, they've got these long, red tentacles,

and what they do is drag them behind them in the ocean,

and if anything bumps into those tentacles, they can sting them

and then wheel them into their stomach.

So what we've done is, we also grow plankton at home,

at the London Aquarium, and we've got a pipette here full,

so what we're going to get you to do is just gently spray that food

onto the tentacles, and you'll see them wheeling those tentacles.

Look at those.

It's good I've got these gloves on.

Otherwise, I could be in a wee bit of pain, as my mum would say.

Exactly. Unlike the moon jellyfish who don't really have a sting,

these guys have a sting you can really feel,

so we've made sure you're nice and protected.

If you want to try a bit more, put more on this guy here.

You can see how the tentacles just get

drawn in immediately as they touch the plankton.

Exactly.

They swim through the ocean,

and they drag the tentacles behind them.

If anything bumps into it,

they wheel it in and they can eat it.

James, thank you so much for coming.

It's been a genuine insight, and so from these fantastic

creatures to your fantastic creations.

Check this out.

Check out this awesome drawing

by Charlotte from Oxfordshire.

Charlotte, not only have you made Radzi's dreams come

true by making him a Wrestlemania champion, you've even included

a cheering fan and, in a minute, check out those stomach muscles.

He's actually got a 12-pack.

A blue badge is on its way to you.

Next up, Jessica from Preston loves Blue Peter. It says so right there.

So she's made this drawing with all her favourite BP memories.

There's wing-walking, wrestling, shark-diving,

and, of course, there's even our own little Shelley.

Jessica, you're a BP super-fan worthy of a silver badge.

Great drawing.

And speaking of great drawings, have a look at this.

It's from Freddy in East Lothian.

We're all setting sail on the Blue Peter ship.

You can see Barney and Radzi are on top of the sails,

and as for me, well, I'm chasing the ship on my wave-runner ball,

saying, "Not again!"

Not sure about doing that again, especially in shark-infested waters.

Freddie, my friend, you have earned yourself a blue badge.

Speaking of sharks, remember when I went swimming with them?

Well, according to Priya from Birmingham,

the sharks were thinking about having a little nibble.

Well, luckily, I survived in one piece. Fab work, Priya.

You have earned yourself a blue badge.

And last but not least, ever wondered what us

presenters would look like as insects?

Well, Maisie from Devon has the answer.

She's drawn me as a ladybird,

she's got Barney there as a stick insect, and she's even got

Radzi as a caterpillar, and he's even got his big afro.

We love this, Maisie. You have earned yourself a green badge.

Well done.

So Charlotte, Jessica, Freddy, Priya and Maisie,

well done for earning your BP badges this week.

If you've been playing Spot Shelley today,

you'll know that she appeared on the jellyfish tank.

Go to the BP Fan Club Live on the website to find out who

spotted her first.

And we love the BP Fan Club Live.

You can play other games like Spot Shelley

and chat to other BP fans.

That's all we've got time for.

Make sure you watch next week,

because we're going

to be in the garden.

-I take on a football challenge with the amazing Alex Scott.

-Legend.

And if you've ever fancied learning to juggle, make sure

you're watching. We're going to be meeting some world-class jugglers.

Have a great week, everyone. We'll see you then.

ALL: Bye.