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Thursday, 24 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
ScreenThe winning entry in this year's Script To Screen competition has been revealed as coming from Ashdene Primary School in Wilmslow.

The theme of the contest was the Olympics, and the team's mini-episode, which stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and sees the return of the Weeping Angels, is to be shown on today's episode of Blue Peter, airing on CBBC at 5.45pm.

Irene Spawton, Year 6 teacher at the Cheshire school, said the pupils involved, named only as Emily, Libby, and Rebecca, pictured above, left to right, with Smith and Gillan - click on the thumbnail to expand, were thrilled and surprised to have won the competition:
It's unbelievable. I couldn't believe it when I got the call to say that the children's script had been chosen as the winner. They worked so hard and came up with some brilliant ideas. I'm so proud of them all, and meeting the Doctor and Amy Pond was a fantastic experience for the girls, their parents and me.
In a short piece last week in the school's newsletter, head teacher Keith Wadcock congratulated the trio on their victory.

The three-minute adventure, called Good As Gold, was filmed at Roath Lock studios the week before last, and Keith Gaskin, the father of Emily, tweeted about it on 8th May: "I've just wished my daughter luck as she's off to Cardiff to have her script made into a Dr Who episode after winning BBC comp. Good luck Em!", 9th May in reply to a comment about the win probably blowing her mind: "It certainly did thanks. The worst part was she knew a while back but couldn't tell anyone! Blue Peter are filming as well" and 10th May: "I've just picked up my daughter after their script was made into a Dr Who episode. Brilliant time apparently & Matt Smith fantastic with them."

The girls' script was chosen by Doctor Who supremo Steven Moffat, BBC Learning executive producer Katy Jones, and Doctor Who executive producer Caroline Skinner, who praised the quality of all the entries, saying:
We loved reading all of the scripts from schools across the UK and the standard of entries was truly outstanding. It was a difficult, but a tremendously fun task to choose a winner and it was just brilliant to see so many children being creative in developing an adventure for the Doctor. We hope all fans enjoy this special one-off mini episode!
Jones said:
This competition aimed to inspire and capture the imagination of storytellers of the future and we're thrilled that so many schools have engaged with it. Pupils have described the competition as the highlight of their school year. There was so much real talent displayed in the entries we received and the final film is a real testament to the hard work the school put into their entry.

A behind-the-scenes item on how Good As Gold was made will also feature in today's Blue Peter, which is repeated tomorrow on BBC One at 4.30pm and will be available via the BBC iPlayer here within the UK following today's broadcast.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Competitions - Caroline Skinner - BBC