Episode 5 Help! My School Trip Is Magic

'It's term time again

'and our four magicians have left school on a brand-new mission.

'Do you think you'd recognise them if they were outside the classroom?'

Do you?

'Now's your chance cos they're going deeper undercover -

'with new disguises, ambitious costumes and even taller tales.'

# La, la, la, la-a-a-a-ah! #

'This time, we're taking unsuspecting kids out of school,

'piling them on coaches, and sending them on school trips.

'They're off to visit some amazing locations,

'where they'll witness incredible magic.'

I was like... "Oh, my gosh!"

'And once again, we're hiding secret cameras in every corner,

'so you don't miss a trick on any school trip.

'The magic is bigger than ever.'

Wow!

'It might be term time, but school's out.'

I can't believe our teachers did that.

'How long will it take before the classes shout...?'

CHILDREN SCREAM

Hello, it's me, Iain, and welcome to Help! My School Trip Is Magic.

Our magicians are no longer supply teachers.

They are now masquerading as staff in some popular attractions.

And because we know you know them, we've disguised them even more.

We've secretly filmed the results with special hidden cameras.

We take a visit to an opera house today,

where they specialise in classical ballet and opera.

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

You can't beat opera for that... wonderful music.

It can reach inside you and caress your soul.

It calms you, lifts away your troubles

and takes you to a land of peace and tranquillity.

-Will you turn that off?!

-NEEDLE SCRATCHES

I'm trying to tell the viewers about peaceful music!

Here's what's coming up on today's show.

'Katherine's summoned some musical magic

'that will have you - and her - off your seats.

'James produces a floater you'll be happy to copy

'in Tricks Of The Trade.

'You've been sending in clips of all your best magic tricks

'and, later on, I'll be picking my favourite.

'It's the Wannabe Wizards.

'And John and Fergus are Victorian gents

'with a curious cure for hiccups.'

Boo! Ha-hah!

'Let's hope there's no HICCUPS with the magic.'

Do you think you would be able to tell if your school trip was magic?

Do ya?

'This is Katherine, she's an ace magician,

'and she's in the frame for this next school trip.'

This is Year Five getting on the coach.

They've been set up by their teachers and their parents.

They've been on plenty of normal school trips before,

but never a magical one.

They've no idea.

The only thing they do know

is they're off to the Royal Opera House.

Many classics have been performed here like Swan Lake, Figaro,

and The Nutcracker.

This school trip is blissfully unaware

they're in for some cracking magic by our very own prima magician.

Since the Opera House is also home to the Royal Ballet

and Katherine loves to dance, she's turned up in her tutu.

I thought I'd make an extra-special effort today,

so I'm wearing sequins but also a tutu because we're at the ballet.

Katherine's got TUTU excited.

Nobody told her she's overdressed for this trick.

She better get backstage

because the kids are about to make their big entrance.

That's better - less flashy, less obvious, Katherine.

The trip is learning about dancing and singing,

while Katherine is preparing for the magic she'll be bringing.

Lights, hidden camera, action!

Here come the class now.

First positions, please.

FRENCH ACCENT: Hello, boys and girls.

-ALL:

-Hello! Hello.

That sounds suspiciously like a French accent!

Her ballet disguise is tres chic.

I work here, so welcome to the Opera House, home of the Royal Ballet.

Now, does anyone know what you call a dancer that dances in the ballet?

Careful, a trick question with a trick accent.

-Yes.

-Ballerina?

It's close.

A lot of people think this, that it's called a ballerina,

but not the case.

When a dancer dances in the ballet, she is called a ballet dancer

or a ballet student.

You only get the name ballerina

if you are the most exceptional female soloist.

That's true, even if Katherine's accent is fake!

And if you are the best ballerina, then you get to be called

prima ballerina, which is the absolute elite.

But you know, it's not only the ballet dancers

that make the ballet so magnificent.

What else do you think it could be that makes it so beautiful to watch?

Any ideas?

Yes.

The costume.

Excellent. Yes, they have the most beautiful costumes, don't they?

-Very romantic. Yes.

-The music.

The music, absolutely.

One of my favourite things is the music

and I love listening to the classical ballet music.

She's lying. She normally likes fat hip-hop beats.

For me, it makes me feel like I can float and I just love it.

I adore it.

Here's where the facts end and the fantasy begins.

So we're going to do an exercise now where you all stay seated.

A magic exercise, that is.

I want you to close your eyes and listen to the music

that's going to be played

and imagine that you are floating through the countryside.

The magic's coming up, quite literally.

Relax, close your eyes. Perfect.

They totally believe her - they've all got their eyes shut.

But will they be able to keep them closed when the magic begins?

Can we have some music, please?

Music, maestro.

-CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

-Magic, maestro.

Listen to the soaring melody and how it lifts your spirit.

And it's beginning to lift Katherine. Will anyone notice?

He's sneaking a peek.

Katherine's derriere is in the air!

Someone else has noticed - the word is spreading through the class.

More eyes are opening and they can't believe what they're seeing.

I'd say Katherine's at least 60cm off that stool.

This magic is certainly going UP in my estimations.

The whole class have not only got their eyes open,

but they can't take them off Katherine!

This school trip is way up there with the best

and it's going to get better and better.

They can't work it out. She's in midair and seemingly unaware.

They must know it's magic,

but they haven't worked out who their mysterious ballet teacher is.

Katherine's floating back to earth and the class's jaws are dropping.

You don't see Darcey Bussell doing this on Strictly now, do you?

I don't know about them, but I can't see how she's done that

and I know magic, well, I know some magicians.

Wasn't that lovely?

Understatement of the century!

I just adore that song, it's so beautiful.

Some beautiful magic there, too.

Katherine told them how music can lift your mood.

She didn't tell them it could physically lift you, too.

They had been asked to keep their eyes closed and imagine.

They couldn't resist opening them,

but still wondered if they'd imagined the whole thing.

The class could see underneath Katherine,

but they still haven't seen through her story.

And you know, I help that get me up every morning.

That music certainly does help Katherine GET UP.

And there's more magic coming up, you ain't seen nothing yet.

It's a magical pirouette.

Now, James is going to set you a magical challenge

in Tricks of the Trade.

If you fancy yourself as a magician,

here's a trick you can try on your mates.

James is going to show you how to make a paper clip like this...

float in a glass of water like this.

Can you work out how to do it?

Keep watching and you'll find out how to do this metal magic

later in the show.

Let's rejoin our school trip to the Opera House.

Katherine's been teaching the class about the ballet.

I hope our twinkle-toed magician doesn't slip up

before her big finish!

When I was a little girl, I used to pretend I was a ballerina.

Ironically, Katherine is still pretending to be a ballerina.

But they haven't realised she's not what she seems.

I used to dream about it all the time

and I used to spend hour after hour dancing in my room,

pretending that I was a prima ballerina.

So much so, that my father built me my very own miniature opera house

and this is the very one he built me.

And I used to play with this for hours and hours.

Who's she kidding? She still does! But that box is a magic one.

I used to play with this doll, which was my first-ever ballet doll.

Or is that a Katherine action figure?

They certainly can't figure her out.

Er, she's a ballerina and I used to play with her

inside the opera house, like this, and I used to imagine this was me.

I used to make her do pirouettes and I thought she was so beautiful

and I'd imagine that all the people would be cheering for me

and throwing flowers on the stage and I just used to love it.

So I want you to try and imagine now that...

You see the ballerina in there, can you imagine that she is real?

-KIDS:

-Yes.

-Can you imagine? I can't hear you.

-Could you really imagine?

-YES!

Watch that box.

You really could. I could imagine this, too, you know.

Whoa! How did she get in there? Katherine's doll's come to life!

Beautiful.

She just can't believe it.

Stupendous dancing, outstanding magic and a stunned audience.

She's just stunning beautiful. Thank you, Megan.

Now, she is a real ballet dancer from the Royal Ballet.

I don't know about Royal Ballet, this class is need a ba-LAY down.

Obviously, the theatre is all about acting, you know this, yes?

They do. And for Katherine's final act, her comes our denouement.

Basically, she's going to come clean.

I tell you a little secret. I've been acting. You know?

I don't really work here.

NORMAL ACCENT: My name is Katherine.

They're happy about that.

And all of you have been set up by your teachers and your parents,

and you're all being filmed right now.

There's a camera over there and there's a camera over there,

there's a camera over and you're going to be on CBBC's

Help! My School Trip is Magic!

THEY CHEER

Bravo! Bravo!

Katherine gave a well-choreographed performance

worthy of a standing ovation.

Can one get an encore?

For our first act, Katherine got carried away with the music

and the class couldn't take their eyes off her.

I actually peeked and I saw that she was she was on the chair floating.

Katherine didn't PEAK too soon because she had another trick.

She put a dolly in a box and it became a real person.

You know.

Not only a real person, a real dancer from the Royal Ballet.

It was like the doll came to life and it was...

it was astonishing,

amazingly awesome.

This dancing trick had all their heads spinning.

I thought that trick was so, so amazing.

The school trip had no idea Katherine was a magician.

How long will it take for you to shout...

Still to come - James will unleash the secret in Tricks of the Trade.

Have you figured it out yet?

And Fergus and John are lords of the manor on another school trip.

Fergus tries to catch some radio waves,

but will the magic leave the class catching flies?

Or will they realise their school trip magic?

It's marvellous. Yes rather, what?

But first, we asked you to send in clips of yourself

performing your best magic tricks.

We received loads of clips from all over the country.

Each week, I'll be choosing a favourite Wannabe Wizard

and showing them to you guys.

My Wannabe Wizard this time is Eleanor from Kinross.

Hi, guys. My trick is I'm going to do today is magic rings.

My favourite.

First, I need my assistant, white rabbit.

And, as you know, white rabbits come out of hats.

So I've got my magic hat here.

No rabbit in there.

It's empty. I've got my magic wand.

Vital for a magician.

One, two, three.

Then, white rabbit comes out.

Whoa! You'd never catch me with a puppet.

I need you to get these three rings and a rope, OK?

So I've got one, two, three

and your rope here.

Right, as you can see, it's a normal rope.

Nothing wrong with it.

That's a normal-looking piece of rope.

And the rings are normal, too, OK?

We're with you.

So I'll thread this first ring on to the rope like this

and twist it up.

Then I take my other two rings

and bend them over. As you can see,

they don't get past this ring here.

Those rings are going nowhere.

So, I'm going to have a go at trying to pull these rings off

Not possible.

One, two, three.

What?!

And all three rings come off the rope.

Let's get a rewind.

One, two, three.

Those rings came right off!

That tricky rope was dope, Eleanor.

This is Fergus,

he's one of our strongest magicians.

Here's John muscling in

on the action as usual.

The dynamic duo are about to flex their skills in a new school trip.

This is Year 5 clambering on the coach.

They've been set up by their sneaky parents and cheeky teachers,

like Mr Girton here, who's going to be a...glamorous assistant?

In the next magic trip.

The class think they're going on a regular school outing,

but it's a trip of a lifetime.

They're on their way to the Geffrye Museum to

learn about the history of the home over the last 400 years,

nearly as long as John's been a magician.

Here he is now.

Don't sit down too long, mate, you'll become an exhibit.

John and Fergus need to get made-up in case the kids get on their case.

Because the museum features a Victorian sitting room,

John thought he'd get into character and sit around.

He is doing his research.

Let's home that John gets the tricks the right way round.

The class are about to have their school trip

turned on its head, but they have no idea what story John's invented.

For this particular presentation, we're looking at inventions

and cures of the Victorian age, so I'm going to have a cure for hiccups,

which is ridiculous cos I can't remember the last time I had hiccups.

Hic!

It better all go without a hiccup,

as the kids have arrived with Mr Girton.

John and Fergus are fully undercover,

acting as Victorian gents would do.

But it's nearly time for the magic to happen.

John's wound up and ready to go.

Come on Fergus, mate, the clock is ticking.

But wait, seriously, it is.

The kids are now inside the museum, looking at the historical homes.

Fergus made it there OK, they're both in situ.

The cameras are set and John and Fergus

look like they're on the set of Downton Abbey.

Here come the class, stepping back in time

and about to have the magical time of their lives.

Now, the Victorians, as you know, or may not know

but you're going to know once I've told you...

The Victorians, they used to love lots

and lots of strange things, they were strange people the Victorians.

They used to like strange inventions and all sorts of things

and experimentation and invention.

And also cures. They were mad about cures, strange cures,

weird cures for illnesses.

They used to have a thing called pasting.

He's very amused by John's pasting patter

and the magic's not even started yet.

What they used to do is have an infected area,

let's pretend it was...it was Thomas' arm here, it was infected.

What they would do is they would make a paste,

they would make a paste, it could be herbs and spices...and cow manure!

-KIDS:

-Ew!

Mentioning poo always gets a great reaction.

And then they'd rub it on the infected wound

and they would think that would heal it.

Of course, it didn't do anything. In fact, it probably made it worse.

But another thing...another cure they had, I'd like to show you now,

was a cure for hiccups.

Now, how many people have had hiccups?

Yes, you've all had hiccups. It's terrible!

You're sat there, trying to have a conver... Hic!

..and you're doing... Hic!

It's absolutely ridiculous, Thomas.

And they had cures for it, and this is a very good...

This is what we call a hiccup frame.

Some magic coming up will stop wind coming up.

The hiccup frame would cure hiccups.

I'm going to try and demonstrate the hiccup frame with you.

I need one of your teachers to help me.

Have I got a teacher who can volunteer?

Yes, you, sir, come on out. Yes. Jolly good.

-Yes, give him round of applause.

-Boys and girls, come on!

Their teacher's about to star in a magic trick.

Let's hope he's got his best shirt on.

Oh, dear.

Mr Girton, wonderful. Mr Girton, would you just stand here, please?

Wonderful. Now, the way the hiccup device worked was it uses two things.

It used some ropes, two ropes like these,

and it used a silk handkerchief like this. Now...

It's actually three things, the third being magic.

What you would do is you would get your silk handkerchief

and you would tie it around the ropes, like so.

So we would tie the two ropes together.

-Mr Girton, can we hear your very best hiccup?

-Hic!

Do you think it should be louder? A bit louder,

-a bit louder, Mr Girton.

-Hic!

-Very good.

No, no, no, your hiccups have got to be lots worse than that.

-Really hiccup!

-Hic! Hic!

-Hic!

-Very good. Is that enough, boys and girls?

-KIDS:

-Yeah!

-Wonderful.

Great hiccup acting from Mr Girton there. Shame about the shirt.

And raise your arms. That's it. Close the curtains, Mr Girtons.

He hasn't heard that one before(!)

Now, we'll just wrap...

Ha! I see what you did there.

Fergus and John are now wrapping the silk and string around

-Mr Girton.

-Tie the handkerchief around his middle like this.

-Excellent.

-Now...

We then take one of the ropes

and pass one of the ropes around the body, like this.

You can take that one and I'll take this one.

Now, what we're going to do is pass these ropes in a moment

through this little hole in the side of the hiccupping frame.

Wonderful. Now, Mr Girton,

if you could just step back into the frame, please.

The teacher is now tied securely into the frame.

There's no way he can get out.

-Can you keep hiccupping, Mr Girton?

-Hic!

-Wonderful, that's it.

Keep hiccupping. In the olden days, they had lots of cures for hiccups.

Don't overplay your part, sir.

That sounded like a frog, Mr Girton, not quite as soft.

That's better, thank you.

Now, they used to drop a cold key down the back,

or they used to... They'd make you stand on your head

and drink a glass of water. We won't make you do that.

Another thing that they used to do is this.

BOO! Ha-ha!

That surprised her, but the big shocker is still coming up.

To get rid of the hiccups with this device,

what we do is pull on the ropes. And the idea is that the ropes would

pass cleanly through the body, the silk handkerchief would

stay in place protecting the body, the ropes would pass cleanly through

the body, eliminating the hiccups and making him cured for life.

Watch carefully, the teacher's tied inside that frame.

I'd like you to step forward on the count of three. Are you ready?

One, two, three...

He's completely free!

Whoa! He's melted right through the rope!

And the ropes have passed completely through his body.

Thank you very much.

The rope's still in one piece and she's nearly in bits.

He's usually tied up marking papers,

but Mr Girton got literally tied into this wooden frame.

With Fergus and John's help, he melted through that rope.

And some of the class couldn't cope.

The teacher stepped through and now the magic's going to step up.

Fergus catches radio waves,

but will he have the class doing a Mexican wave?

Now it's time for James to reveal the secret in Tricks of the Trade.

James will show you how to make a paperclip float in a glass of water.

Have you worked it out yet?

Do you just drop it in and hope for the best?

Didn't work earlier.

How about clipping it on the edge of the class?

Oh, that's not floating, is it?

Here's the secret.

Get another paper clip,

then bend the middle part of that paperclip into an L shape like this.

Balance the other clip on top

and slowly put the whole thing into the water.

Easy does it, captain.

Now, carefully remove the L-shaped paper clip

and the other one will be left floating on top of the water.

You might want to use that paperclip to file the trick under Awesome.

Back to the Museum Of The Home,

where our magicians are dressed as Victorian gents,

but they're lying to this school trip.

That's not very gentlemanly, is it?

Fergus is about to talk inventions,

but he's being inventive with the truth.

One of the other things that the Victorians were

fascinated by was invention.

And this joy of invention led to the invention of the radio.

-Oh, yes.

-Popularised by a man named Marconi.

Marconi. I love a little bit of MACARONI, don't you?

She clearly doesn't like macaroni... or maybe it's John's jokes.

Over here, we have some early antique radios.

Now, Timothy, I believe this is your favourite, isn't it?

This is my favourite.

This is not from the Victorian era, this is from the 1920s.

The Edison 423 - a beautiful radio, dual dial, dual dial system.

Rather primitive, and made from?

Made from mahogany, pure mahogany.

Mahogany? Well, I wouldn't believe that.

And all this here, though, rather primitive, wouldn't you say?

What we've got over here is something a bit more trendy.

It's a 1982 model. Only 15, 15 of these made in the country.

Have a look at home, see if you've got one of these.

It's worth an absolute fortune, bucket loads!

The only thing it's really worth is watching,

as it's going to be a great trick.

This is the Phoenix, the Phoenix 127, and it's...

-Does it still work?

-It still works.

You can still turn it on. Unfortunately, you can't tune it in.

It hasn't got an aerial.

But the Phoenix was a very popular model. In fact, when

the Phoenix was in the shops, they absolutely flew off the shelves.

Now, I'm just going to cover this up.

It may have flown off the shelves, but will this trick hit the heights?

What Timothy's going to do is raise that radio into the air,

and what's the going to do...

Because, Timothy, would you believe that in Victorian times,

not everybody could afford a radio? Not everyone could afford a radio.

-Wasn't that a shame?

-That's correct.

So what they did, those crafty, sneaky little Victorians,

is they made use of a radio wave catcher, which we have here.

That looks suspiciously like a fishbowl.

Now, what Timothy's done is he's sent radio waves

flying round the room.

You may feel one pass your ear, you may even hear a little one.

If you do hear a hint of a radio wave,

I'd like you to raise your hand in the air.

You'll feel them coming past you, you will feel it at some point.

Raise your hand in the air or you could get a little wave.

-Can anyone feel a radio wave yet?

-KIDS: No.

Oh, dear. Right, well, anyway, I shall collect the radio waves

-that I can see in the radio wave...

-Away you go.

There's a low note under there.

Some above the head, just above the heads there.

-Just above the heads.

-I'll find it.

-Wonderful, yes.

What about just behind your ear?

There's a big radio wave here, Timothy.

Round we go. Fantastic.

Fergus is pretty handy with that bowl, and he's hoping

the class will be bowled over with the magic any minute.

Brilliant. Fantastic. Now, if we bring these back...

Don't let them escape! Oh, very good.

Very good.

Fergus has caught the radio waves and he's holding them in

with that book, and the class are not on his magical wavelength yet.

All we need do is leave a moment for those radio waves to settle.

Once those radio waves have settled, something quite remarkable

-will happen.

-Yes.

-Are you ready, boys and girls?

-KIDS: Yes.

-You won't believe your ears.

POP MUSIC

There they are!

There we go.

Wow, that Victorian pop music sounds very modern.

-Remarkable!

-Incredible!

-Remarkable!

They're clapping, but there's more.

It depends how many radio waves you could collect on one trip,

and only a true expert of the radio wave collector

would know exactly how many. I have a rough idea,

so let's see if we have anymore.

Oh, I like that.

I'm rocking the Katy Perry, I might do a little bit of a wiggle.

Please don't, John, I've just eaten.

Katy Perry in Victorian times?

It looks like he's enjoying it.

-..as well as you Timothy?

-Why not?

The magic's working, John's twerking.

I think we should try that one more time.

-Do you agree, boys and girls?

-Yes.

One more time.

How's he doing that?

The book is catching those sound waves,

but the magic's about to turn up to volume 11.

Timothy, those radio waves seem to be confuddling themselves.

They are confuddled.

I think this radio's a little confuddled as well, look.

No, Timothy!

-It's gone.

-Marvellous!

-Yes.

Wow, that's incredible, the radio's disappeared. They can't believe it!

Now, boys and girls.

Quieted down, nice and quietly.

We do actually have a slight confession here for you today.

I enjoyed that radio show and now its time for our undercover

magicians to show and tell their big secret.

We don't actually work here, believe it or not.

And we are magicians.

-My name is Fergus.

-My name is John.

And you have all been set up by your schools, your teachers and

your parents, and there's a hidden camera there, there's a hidden

camera there, a camera there, camera there...

And you're all going to be on CBBC's

Help! My School Trip is Magic!

THEY CHEER

Those reactions were off the hook. Air turntable

and John's dancing, I've seen it all.

But what did our wannabee DJ's think of it?

I can't explain it, it's...it was just too cool.

We'll just wrap...

Well, let me help you explain.

First, there's a magical frame for curing hiccups.

One, two, three...

-Marvellous!

-There he is, completely free!

Step to the side.

It was a bit freaky, I didn't understand, cos he was tied up,

but how did it go away?

John revealed a radio, then there was some interference from Fergus.

Timothy, those radio waves seem to be confuddling themselves.

They are confuddled.

I think this radio's a little bit confuddled as well. Look!

No, Timothy!

It was really cool when the radio disappeared,

cos everyone was like, "Where's the radio gone?"

It might have gone, but it left a lasting impression on the class.

It was the best day of my life.

They never suspected a thing,

but this Downton trick left everyone happy.

If your radio vanishes, here's a little tip.

Turn it on, you'll be able to hear it and find out where it is.

What?

How do you turn it on if you don't know where it is?

Details. Anyway, see you later.

Until then, if you're on a school trip and you think something

magic's going on, maybe you'll find yourself shouting,

"Help! My School Trip is Magic!"