FOUR friends from Kidderminster showed their star qualities when they stowed away on hit BBC children’s TV show, Transmission Impossible with Ed & Oucho, last Saturday.

James Bendall, Felix Haynes and Abby Lawson, all 8 and pupils of Franche Community Primary School and James’s older sister, Emma, 12, who attends Bewdley High School, were selected from 5,000 entrants to star in the live broadcast on BBC2.

They were cast as stowaways aboard a flying blimp, piloted by presenter, Ed Petrie and his talking cactus, Oucho.

The quartet then had to perform a series of crazy tasks on a health and safety theme, which included dressing up in bubble wrap and trying to catch bubbles in a bucket, performing their own rap and donning safety gear, against the clock.

During the programme, the four were whittled down to two finalists, siblings, James and Emma, with James emerging as the winner. It was just reward for James, who had even crafted his own mini version of Oucho, dubbed Incho.

The quartet also recorded a short piece which was shown at the start of the follow-up show, broadcast on Sunday.

They had previously had to travel to BBC studios in Manchester to audition for the show and were among just 44 youngsters who made the final cut. The series is recorded at world-famous Pinewood Studios, near Slough.

Adam Young, show researcher, who looked after the youngsters during their visit, said they had all been wonderful and had done a great job. The series concludes in a fortnight.

The foursome added: “It was amazing being on a live TV show and meeting Ed, he was really funny. We’ll remember it for ever.”