Episode 1 Gareth Thomas: Alfie's Angels

Outside, ladies. Outside!

12 months ago, Welsh rugby legend Gareth Alfie Thomas

took on his biggest challenge yet...

HE YELLS

..training a team of 16 fun-loving but totally unfit ladies to run

the Cardiff Half Marathon.

OMG!

It was 16 weeks of pure purgatory.

Go!

But, in the end, all 16 of Alfie's angels crossed that finish line.

We did it!

THEY CHEER

And now, one year on,

glutton-for-punishment Alfie is back for second helpings.

But, this time, I'm going to super size it.

Because, this year, just to make life even harder on himself,

he's going to try and train...

not one,

not two,

but three teams of angels to run the

Cardiff Half Marathon.

THEY CHEER

So will that mean three times the fun?

Or triple the trouble?

Wupa-hey-wupa!

Will Alfie's latest clutch of angels raise him up to heaven?

Or drag him down to hell?

No, he's just caught us having a fag. Well!

Oh, you did put them in there?

Well, well, well.

We won't be doing this by the end of it. We will give up.

Hoo!

Gareth Alfie Thomas is a living legend

with a life full of firsts.

He was the first Welsh rugby player to 100 caps.

The first openly gay international sports star.

And then, just last year, came his crowning achievement,

when he became the first sporting gay icon with 100 caps

to persuade 16 reprobate Welsh women

to ditch the fast foods, the fags and the booze

and successfully train to run the Cardiff Half Marathon.

But having reached this pinnacle in life,

how is Alfie to top last year's triumph?

Simple.

He's going to do it again, but this time it will be bigger,

bolder, barmier...

COMPUTER: 'Gareth Thomas here.

'Have you ever fancied running a half marathon but think you're

'so unfit, so out of shape, that you never can?'

In May of this year,

Alfie put an online shout-out to the people of Wales.

'I'm looking for 100 Alfie's Angels,

'so if you're a member of the public, who's never run

'a half marathon before, but would be keen to train over the summer,

'and if you can form a team of five people, I'd love to hear from you.'

Hi, I'm Heidi. I'm Susan. I'm Siobhan. I'm Jill. And I'm Jo.

ALL: And we want to be Alfie's angels!

In his search for 100 new angels, Alfie asked for a short video

from every interested team telling him why they wanted to take part.

Never run it before, always wanted to,

but always had a little bit of cushion.

And soon the applications began flooding in.

ALL: Hi, Alfie!

We want to be Alfie's Angels because Alfie is awesome.

Alfie is lovable. Alfie is fit. Alfie is inspirational.

Alfie is enthusiastic. And Alfie is our...

ALL: Superhero! Oh! They give me goose bumps.

Hello, my name is Ellen.

This year, I'm celebrating ten years since my heart transplant. Oh, wow.

My consultants say that I need to aim to run a marathon.

In fact, Alfie received over 70 videos from all over Wales -

some of them were very funny.

We're just waiting for our fifth member now,

who's always running late.

Here she comes. Oh! Oh, God, Jasmine.

HE LAUGHS

Some were slightly alarming. Hi, my name is Roxanne. I need your help.

A typical day in my life consists of McDonald's for breakfast,

Burger King for lunch and McDonald's again for dinner.

And if I continue down this road, I'm going to end up like this.

So please pick me and help.

And some were just downright bonkers.

# I want to break free

# I want to break free... #

Turn about now!

# God knows... #

THEY LAUGH HYSTERICALLY

Oh, they were... That is amazing. That is brilliant.

That is truly, truly brilliant.

Alfie now had a bit of a dilemma. 78 teams had applied,

but he could only pick 20 of them to make up his hundred angels.

Please pick us! Alfie, please pick us! Hm. So what was he to do?

Please pick us,

you really won't regret it.

Yeah, one, two, three, four. Can you hear me?

Well, there was only one fair way out of his predicament -

to draw names out of a hat.

Team number seven.

The Hywel Dda Hobblers.

Just to make sure he wasn't cheating,

it was all recorded live for the BBC Wales Facebook site.

It's team 37. The Sofa Surfers.

Once the 20 chosen names had been pulled from Alfie's bobble hat,

there was one very important task left -

to reveal which three teams he would be following with the TV cameras,

up close and personal, throughout their 16-week training programme.

In the end, there were three teams that stood out for Alfie,

each for different reasons.

My name's Sian Morgan and I'm 34.

I'm only doing it because I'm getting married next year and

I don't want to be a fat, old bride.

Team number one are five nurses and health care assistants working

on ward 12 of the acute medical ward of

Royal Glamorgan Hospital in the Rhondda.

I chose the Royal Glam nurses because I thought they were

a really cohesive, good group of people,

but I thought they'd spent so much time looking after everybody

else they've kind of forgotten about themselves

and let themselves go.

Team number two. We're a group of mums from Ty Gwyn School.

We've all got disabled children and life is incredibly difficult

for all of us.

The Ty Gwyn mums' children all attend the same

special needs school in Cardiff.

I chose the Ty Gwyn mums because I think they're an

amazing group of women.

I think, from the moment they wake up in the morning until the

moment they go back to bed, they're looking after other people.

Pa-pa-pa! Hey, buddy!

And if anybody deserves to have something done for themselves,

then it's this group of women.

And last, but by no means least...

ALL: We are the girls from Pro Nails.

We can only run like snails.

We will do our best to run like the rest.

We're only good at tanning and nails.

Team number three, The Flying Filers,

five batty beauticians from Haverford West.

I chose the nail bar girls because I think they'd bring something

completely different to the other two teams.

They're very lively, they're very outgoing, but also I think,

underneath the make-up, I think underlying,

there's something else and I want to find out what that is.

So, three different teams in three parts of Wales

and only 16 weeks to turn them into athletes.

Time Alfie paid each a visit to find out what makes them tick.

Alfie's first stop, the Royal Glam nurses.

On their feet all day, working 12-hour shifts, up and down

those corridors and wards,

they must be as fit as a flock of butchers' dogs...

Or not. My fitness regime, I'd say, is quite poor.

My fitness is terrible.

My fitness regime is zero at the moment, to be honest.

Don't do anything.

I probably walk the dog - that is the most exercise that I get.

As for exercising,

I take my dog for a walk and that's about it.

And exercise is not the only issue.

I skip meals a lot and then just eat junk food.

I class myself as being overweight.

I'd like to lose a little bit of weight.

I've tried dieting many times - it doesn't last.

Not that the nurses are wholly to blame.

Many of our patients or relatives, when they leave,

they often give us boxes of chocolates.

We have cakes, chocolates,

biscuits, sometimes the same person

fetches four boxes of biscuits in.

And, of course, you've got to eat them.

By the end of the day, there's, like, two tins of

biscuits gone and two boxes of chocolates.

You know, and then you think, "Oh, my God,

"did we just eat all of that?"

So, five unfit life-saving cookie monsters. Over to you, Alfie.

THEY LAUGH

You look like a bunch of naughty schoolgirls who've done

something wrong. Right, let's get down to business.

Who's the ringleader of this?

ALL: Michelle. Michelle, are you the one who put up for it?

Well, sort of. We saw the poster in the office, me and Sarah... Right.

And we were, like, yeah, let's do it.

She was more up for it than me, I've got to be honest.

And then we roped the other girls in.

And what did you think when they asked you?

Yeah, I was really up for it. Yeah? Yeah, really.

What about you? 100%. Yeah?

Hmm. THEY LAUGH

Not so sure. No. Why? Is it a fear of exercise?

Well, I don't know. Exercise scares a lot of people, see.

Definitely.

Yeah. What's your history of exercise?

I'd do it but then I would quit. Oh, is it?

So you get to a certain stage and then you stop going.

I'm excited, I'm just buzzing for it.

Keep on top of each other. Yeah, yeah.

Do you bounce off them? Yeah. Yeah?

THEY LAUGH

Bless her. I'm feeling her fear here. I'm feeling her fear.

Introductions to the bouncy, giggly, nervous nurses over.

Shall I do you up? Yeah, do me up, lovely.

It's time for Alfie to work the wards and get to know them

a little better.

Ready? I'm ready, yeah.

We are only making a bed, aren't we? I'm just getting that right.

First task, changing 28 beds with angels Zoe and Joanne,

where the bedside news flash is that mum-of-two Joanne

has just got engaged.

Wait a minute! THEY LAUGH

You can't just chuck that in. You're getting married?

I got engaged at the beginning of the year, yes. OK, so is this...?

Is this...? Motivation, yes. Yes. Yes, definitely.

For being fitter. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you have, like, a target?

Well, I've always sort of gone by how I weigh and things,

and it's never really worked out to me because I lose the weight

and I put it straight back on. I've never worked out -

I've only just dieted. I've always been afraid of exercise.

Ah, right, OK.

Fellow mum-of-two Zoe has also got some refuelling issues.

So, how do you feel your lifestyle is as far as your diet goes?

Terrible.

I miss breakfast, I miss dinner and then I just have, like,

something for tea, and then I'm snacking all night because

I've had nothing for breakfast and nothing for dinner.

Do you know if patients come in who lived exactly the same

way that you live your lives, what advice would you give them?

We'd tell them off. We'd say, "You must eat breakfast,

"you must eat dinner and

"you must make sure that you drink!" Yeah, yeah.

All right, John?

Out on the rounds,

it seems that confidence is the issue for angels Lee and Sarah.

What are these girls like with you, bud? Absolute fantastic. Yeah?

And they've got a steely determination, which is good

for when they run this race. It's very good for when they run it.

Absolutely. What do you reckon, lovely? Is he right? I think so.

Sure? At this moment, no. This one seems very scared.

I don't know if she's scared of me,

or scared of the prospect of doing it.

Lacking confidence and essential nutrients, Alfie is worried

the Royal Glam nurses won't have the stomach for a marathon.

What does team leader and deputy sister Michelle think?

Our diets are rubbish. Right. We will be honest. Right.

And obviously we've got to change our diet plan.

and we've just got to get there. We want to do it. Yeah.

It's just, we've got lazy and we've just got into the routine.

OK. That's the challenge. Yeah.

Alfie's next port of call is Haverford West,

where a non-descript industrial estate on the outskirts of town

conceals the poshest parlour in Pembrokeshire.

ALL: Cheers!

Here, the beauty therapists of the ProNails beauty salon are

for everything from colourful cuticles to luscious lashes.

For a bit of a laugh,

five of the beauticians applied to be Alfie's angels

and sent him a cheeky little rap.

ALL: As long as we don't break a nail,

we will eat the curly kale,

and maybe run faster than a snail!

But now that they've been chosen, it appears the joke's on them.

Well, I just don't know what I've let myself in for.

I don't want to do it!

SHE LAUGHS

I'm a bit nervous, to be honest.

I'm dreading the training

and being put through assault courses.

I hate it.

I don't like hurting.

I drink, I smoke,

and I'm a nail technician. I'm a beautician.

I'm not somebody who goes out and does running.

Like, we have to actually run the marathon - the half marathon -

I can't visualise that yet.

In order to help them visualise their predicament,

and Alfie's impending arrival, the ladies take some Dutch courage

and hit the hacker. Come on, this is private, it's OK. We are wild.

We really are wild.

Ha-kare-keetiya!

Wupa-hey-wupa!

We're a fun bunch and we are a good team,

so he's going to have a lot of fun with us.

Upa!

Upa-para-paka-leekiteya!

Hoo!

We're ready to shock Alfie, I think.

He thought he was going to surprise us coming in,

but we're actually going to surprise him.

# Sweet little angel eyes... #

Oh, here they are!

THEY WHOOP

HE LAUGHS

THEY CHEER

Oh, they've got a little dance as well!

Yay! Rhythm! He's a good man! HE LAUGHS

Now, there's a surprise!

So you are...

I'm Cat. Cat. Angela. Angela. Betts Ann. Right, OK.

So where are we at, girls? Cos you all look super fit, I must admit.

We are far from fit. Really? I don't even own trainers. Oh, right, OK.

Genuinely, so Lisa does no running at all.

I'm knackered from just moving in there.

THEY LAUGH

You walked it well, old girl, you walked it well.

Can I just touch your face? Yeah, go on, why? What's the...what? What?

I just can't believe that you're here.

Oh, right. No, I'm here, lovely,

and I'm real. I used to watch you on the telly, like, you were the...

legend. Oh, wow.

And now you're standing here, it's, like, I'm a bit...

You're like the David Beckham of the rugby world. Do you know what?

Seriously, probably within the next 20 minutes, you'll be

so over that, yeah, yeah. THEY LAUGH

You'll be over it. It's like, "Shut up, Alfie."

Trust me, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We have drunk about half a bottle of Pimm's before you arrived, so...

Oh, OK. Just to get a couple of swigs in there. Right.

Oh, cos I didn't know if I could smell

a smoker in here or it was the poppers that were going off.

So how many smokers altogether? Three? Three.

Girls, do you realise you'll be doing, like,

a lifestyle changing thing? Yeah, can I drink on weekends?

Listen, everything is moderation.

We haven't come to, like, totally change your life.

We've come to make your life better, we hope. Do you drink?

Yes! Ahhh! What do you think?

I do everything in moderation, but I train extremely hard as well.

So, at the end of the marathon, we'll have a drink together.

Oh, at the end of the marathon, we'll have a big, big party.

That's exactly what we want. Yeah, a big party.

But before there's any party,

there's going to have to be a heck of a lot of hefting.

And are these lush ladies really ready to get their exquisitely

manicured nails dirty? Salon owner Lisa's not convinced.

So where are you as far as fitness-wise goes?

I am like your typical couch potato.

I hate fitness. I hate exercise.

I hate being hurt.

HE LAUGHS

So is there anything you like? No, nothing at all.

The only fitness I do is shopping.

And the vibe's no better with Angela.

So what's your experience or history of keeping fit?

Nothing, really. Nothing. Running-wise? History of running?

I don't like running. No? No.

So if I ever need you, you're usually shopping? Yeah.

Where Lisa is, where you go. And you holiday together?

Socialise together? Drink together? Yeah.

Is that a bit of a downfall, do you think, for the two of you?

Um, probably, probably.

SHE LAUGHS Yeah?

OK.

So far, Alfie's got two shopaholics who'd rather drink than run.

So what have glamour girls Cat and Betts Ann got to offer?

Right, girls, what do you want to get from all this?

Well, for me, I definitely want to become fitter. Right. Yeah.

I want to give up my smoking. So you're one of the smokers?

Yeah, I am one of the smokers.

Yeah, get fitter, look better, isn't it? That's good.

Yeah, that's what I want from it.

Again, for me, it's to get a bit fitter.

I've only ran... I did the Race For Life,

but I was drunk from the night before.

So to do something sober, running, and just to enjoy it.

And I really can't imagine...

I can't imagine myself doing the marathon.

OK, so it's something you think that is, right now, in your lives,

totally impossible. Yeah, like, there's no way.

13 miles is... A long way. That's a long, long way. Right, OK.

So you are both very,

very glamorous and I'm sure image has a lot to do with your lifestyle.

It means a lot. So how do you feel you are going to cope with

the training regime...? Bumbag. We've bought a bumbag.

We've bought a bumbag for our lip gloss and bronzer.

And make-up to come with us. Leopard print.

We'll be spray-tanned every week.

Leopard-print bumbag, so when we're running...

We can touch up. Yeah?

Ah, so, maybe, you're not trying keep up fitness-wise,

we've got a competition of glamour going on here.

When you're fit and you're healthy, you look it, don't you?

Yeah, you glow.

You have a natural glow. You have like a natural glow.

Yeah, but we're not that natural. There's lots of other fake bits -

fake tan, fake nails... Fake boobs. Fake boobs, yeah!

Did you not feel that maybe, by getting fit and maybe giving up

smoking and cutting down the partying lifestyle,

that the image may all of a sudden be not as relevant

because you'll feel so good about yourself? Never.

Really? 100%.

And what about make-up and everything when you're sweating...?

BOTH: That's why we need a bumbag.

Yeah. To top up. Right, OK.

THEY LAUGH

So what's the verdict, Alfie? It pains me to say,

but I can't see them doing it. I really can't see them doing it

because it seems like that they care so much about

so many other things that are, to me, pointless and meaningless...

and the things that I find really relevant and important are

pointless to them.

So, you know, we're going to come to a point where one of us is

going to have to fall

and I'm not going to be the one to fall.

Alfie's final stop is the Ty Gwyn Special Needs School in Cardiff.

This third team of angels is made up of eight mums,

whose children all attend the school.

Ty Gwyn caters for up to 150 children, aged three to 19,

all with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Hayley?

Hiya, yeah. Lovely to meet you. I'm Gareth.

Before he meets all eight mums, one of them, Hayley,

has agreed to give Alfie a quick tour of the school.

Obviously, school is a huge part of our lives.

Huge support to us as parents, you know, aside from family,

I would say this is probably the most important aspect of our lives.

With an emphasis on learning through play,

the whole school is geared towards stimulus and enrichment activities,

something Alfie can totally get on board with.

Yay!

This is a school of children with special needs,

but, ultimately, it's a place of happiness. One, two, three, go on...

Muak! Yayyy!

Every child is smiling. Every teacher is smiling.

Whoa. Is that nice? Is that nice?

And you don't get that in many mainstream schools.

You don't get that happiness.

This school is an amazing, amazing place.

Hello! How are you doing, girls? Are you all right?

Having toured the school, it's time to meet the mums on his team.

First things first - he needs to resolve a bit of a dilemma.

There's eight of us altogether. There's eight altogether?

Yeah. Oh, right, because obviously

there's only five we can fit in a team,

so I thought what we'll do, to start, is real simple.

No, if you all lie on the floor. Turn around. Simple.

We have to get five.

Seriously, lie on the floor, facedown, to do a press-up.

Lie on the floor? It's clean! Come on! I'm serious.

THEY LAUGH

I'm serious. So go on the floor in the press-up position.

I'm genuine, now, I swear. There's room over here.

Come on, split up, ladies! Jesus. Oh, my God!

Girls, do you realise how stupid you all look right now?

Get on your chairs! Get on your chairs!

HE LAUGHS

Well, at least I know you're up for anything.

At least I know you're up for anything.

I've been on a tour of the school and it's been absolutely fantastic.

But all you lot, then,

the little I've learned so far, I can obviously imagine that

the time taken up in your lives must be phenomenal.

So, to find the time to do this, how the hell are we going to do it?

I don't know. And why the hell are you doing it?

THEY LAUGH

OK, so why the hell are you doing it?

I had quite a busy job before I had kids and,

since having four kids and my last one being disabled,

I've just lost my confidence. I tried to go back to work,

I couldn't do it. You become a bit of a recluse, so your body...

Not only is your body unfit,

your mind and your head just all starts to go.

And, for me, it would be getting back a bit of my personality.

That's it for me. It would be a bit of an emotional journey, I think.

It'll be emotional.

If you have an emotional attachment to something,

then you'll try so much harder.

Do we have anyone else with...? This is a real, real challenge for me.

Right.

Because of the lack of sleep, grabbing what I can eat here,

grabbing what I can eat there, and all of those obstacles.

So it's trying to prioritise things as well. Yeah.

If my son's had a really bad night and he's had loads of seizures,

and he wakes up in the morning and he smiles.

And you think, "Oh, my God." You know, if he can smile after

the night that he's had, and get on with his day, it's got to be...

This is something that I'm going to be able to do. Yeah.

Do you not look in the mirrors and think that you are

inspirational people to other people as well?

ALL: No.

No? Really? I find that really interesting.

You don't see yourself as a person any more,

you see yourself as a full-time carer and a mum and

a nurse and a doctor, and everything else that goes with it.

Yeah.

Impressed by the mums,

it's only when Alfie talks to them about life outside of school

that he begins to realise how challenging things really are.

My son, he's been diagnosed with

pervasive developmental disorder.

It's on the spectrum of autism.

He's eight. He has no speech. His mentality, I would say,

is of a three-year-old.

He's a happy boy, though. He is happy.

Jonah, he's non-ambulant, so he can't walk, doesn't crawl,

no speech, he is tube-fed, not because there is anything

physically wrong, he just refuses to eat.

And he's recently been diagnosed with autism.

My son's got autism. He's non-verbal and he's eight.

He's got a lot of sensory issues and he self-harms sometimes.

Imogen is ten years old.

She was born with a rare genetic condition called Angelman syndrome.

She has profound and multiple learning difficulties.

She is non-verbal.

She understands an awful lot, although there's no vocalisation.

Grrrr. SHE GIGGLES

I've got five children - Theo is my youngest. He has severe autism.

He self-harms. He's non-verbal. Can be very, very unpredictable.

He will throw himself to the floor, head-butt, pinch, bite, kick.

I've got two children. My daughter's 14 and currently doing her GCSEs,

and I've got an 11-year-old son with special needs.

He's got severe learning difficulties and epilepsy.

I've got my little girl Emily, who's nine.

She's autistic, but she has seizures as well.

Then I've got my son, who's 11, Scott, but he's in a wheelchair.

He's a lot more severe than Emily.

He can't walk, talk, feed himself, toilet himself.

Both of mine have autism,

but they're very different, so my son's got no speech whatsoever,

but he understands everything you say

and he's quite chilled and calm.

OK. And then I've got Charlotte, my daughter. She's a real character

and she's got speech, but you couldn't really have

a conversation with her, but she can let you know what she wants.

Are you finished? Finished. Finished. Finished. OK.

Every day is different. You don't know what is going to happen.

You become isolated, because we can't...

We can't go bowling, we can't go to the cinema,

we can't go in a restaurant, we can't go even in shops with him.

Do you get a worry every single day? Yeah.

Are you always kind of on edge?

Always. For a phone call or... Always.

You kind of do it. You have to get on, that's just your life, you know.

I really don't know how I learned to cope with it,

but you do and you have to. We've got to be strong for our kids.

I've just kind of got used to it, really.

This is my life and this is what I've got to deal with.

I don't really dwell on it.

It is what it is and you've just got to cope with it, really.

So, given the daily trials these ladies face, why would they want to

put themselves through the torture of training for a half marathon?

I don't know.

I think it's come to a point in my life, well, one, the fitness,

I want to make sure I'm fit and healthy.

And two, I think that it would put me in a better place to do

better for my family if I could do something for myself.

Getting fit is actually a big thing, isn't it?

So we can stay fit and strong for longer,

cos I do worry about what happens when we get old

and who's going to look after him.

I think the next 16 weeks we can do, definitely.

And even the half marathon, although it sounds ridiculous,

because I can't even run down the road. Right. That, I think I can do.

What scares me is not sticking with it. Yeah.

And that's why I get emotional because we have to...

cos our kids run. They're impulsive.

They lose control in public places.

You have to be able to keep up with them. Yeah. We're getting older.

Your joints are going, your ankles are going

and your feet hurt.

Don't know what the future holds - can't think about that.

But, for now, we've got to chase them. Yes. So we've got to be well.

We've got to be mentally well as well, you know,

look at the state of me!

SHE LAUGHS

There's nothing wrong with the state of you.

Ohhh!

'It's not often that I'm lost for words. But, I tell you what,

'if it's done one thing for me, it's stirred my emotions.

'I'd love to be able to say right now that I have

'no doubt that these people will be able to do it.

'But these women in particular, not their lifestyle choice,

'but the life they have to live,

'is so much taken up by other people that for them to find the

'time to do something for themselves is going to be the challenge.

'I am honoured that I can be a part of it

'and I want to see them succeed

'because, if anybody deserves it, this group of women do.'

So three teams of angels for the TV series -

the mums, the nurses and the nail-bar girls -

with another 17 teams to make up Alfie's hundred and, ahead of

them all, a long, hot summer of sweat, sprains and tears.

Go, go, go, go, go. Let's get it started. It's a race!

Next time on Alfie's Angels...

It's a race!

Oh, I'm dying!

It's no pain, no gain as the angels

attempt to go from cake to 5K in just 28 days.

It's worth it to have a snog off of Alfie. Ah!

Alfie fumes at the smokers.

I'm looking at you like that and

you've got your head down you're not even looking,

you're not even listening to her. I am. You're not, pet.

You're sitting here and you're just paying lip service.

Come on! And all hundred angels get kicking. Fabulous!

Hello, I'm Sima Kotecha with your 90 second update.

Ukip has a new leader.