The Programmes
Programme One
Britain has the fastest growing obesity problem in the world. One in three teenagers is overweight or obese. If nothing is done, experts predict this generation of couch potato kids will die younger than their parents.
But ex-Arsenal football legend Ian Wright wants to prove that things can, and should, be different. He's going to choose eight unfit, overweight and exercise phobic 13-year-olds and in just six months see if he can get them fit. How will one of England's most famous sportsmen cope with a group of teenagers who hate sport and exercise? What will he do when his approach comes under fire from their parents? And will the kids survive when Ian turns up the heat? If Ian can get these kids to lose weight and get fit, is there hope for the one million obese kids in Britain today?
Ian embarks on his plan by selecting eight of north London's unhealthiest kids from a school sports day. The kids are a motley crew. These are the children who are picked last for team sports. The ones who always finish last in school athletics. It's through getting to know these kids and engaging with their lives and their problems that Ian hopes to find out why exactly we're breeding a generation who may be destined to die young.
But it's a tough job. Most of these kids live on junk food and would do anything to get out of PE. Robert is almost 10 stone overweight and has four TV's in his bedroom; Jerome is addicted to computer games and gets bullied at school; and test results reveal that at over 18-stone Gabbie is the most unfit of the group and all are at risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Ian starts by putting the kids through their paces with circuit training in the gym but he soon realises that coping with teenagers is going to be harder than he thought and it's not just the kids he has to deal with. After making them do extra training for not bringing their 'Activity Diaries' he gets a call from Jerome's Mum. She wants to know why her son came home crying.
Ian sets up a meeting with the parents and tries to get them to start taking part in sport with their kids. But the excuses sound oddly familiar...
Programme Two
Arsenal football legend Ian Wright is attempting to turn around the lives of eight chronically unfit teenagers and he's six weeks into the challenge. He's set up an after school sports club and some of the children have finally decided to ditch their listless lifestyles in favour of a more dynamic approach to life.
Eighteen stone Gabbie has started to play badminton, and 14-stone Jerome has joined a boxing club but Robert, weighing in at 10-stone overweight for a boy of his age, is proving harder to inspire and is still spending up to 30 hours a week playing on his game console. Not to be defeated, Ian believes he can still motivate the kids and continues with his plan by enlisting the help of a nutritionist who examines what the kids are eating and advises them on new diet plans in the hope of conquering their addictions to junk food and sugary snacks.
Transforming these kids into a winning team is not going to be easy and Ian arranges for the kids take part in a relay race against children of similar abilities. Even after six weeks on the fitness programme they finish way behind the other team with Robert having refused to take part.
Back at the sports lab, Ian has the kids tested again to see if they are showing any signs of improvement. Jerome has almost doubled his fitness levels but nearly half of the group have put on weight. Desperate to motivate them, Ian changes tack and takes the kids away for a team building activity weekend. But it's not off to a good start as Ian discovers the kids have blatantly broken the rules by smuggling in sweets and fizzy drinks. Outsider Jerome has to face one of his greatest fears – abseiling off a 70-foot high tower – and Ian has his work cut out with Robert who doesn't even want to leave his room. But by the end of the weekend, and for the first time in the fitness programme, the kids are finally beginning to put in the work and look like a team.
Encouraged by the recent progress Ian approaches Barnet Council to find out if they would set up clubs like his in every school across the borough. Without funding they are doubtful so Ian goes out on a limb and approaches a number of companies for sponsorship but none are able to help.
Defiant, Ian will not give up and he determines to continue his quest. A re-match of the relay race is organised and in the space of four weeks Ian's team triumph and take 15 seconds off their previous race time.
Can Ian continue to motivate his kids and keep them committed to his programme and will he be able to fulfil his dream of extending the club to other schools in an attempt to tackle this national problem head on?
After six months of pain, sweat and tears, Ian Wright's attempt to transform the lives of eight out-of-shape 13-year-olds comes to a dramatic climax when the kids take part in a final sports day. Inspired by attending his after-school fitness club, Ian's team of one time sporting no-hopers are finally getting involved in regular exercise and activity for the first time in their lives. Jerome, with a body fat level of 51 per cent, has taken up boxing. And Gabbie, who weighs almost 18 stone, is playing badminton. Even games console addict Robert, whose weight ballooned to 18 stone 13 lbs at the halfway stage, has ditched his Playstation for the time being and joined a gym.
Everything at Ian's club is going well – but most of the kids are still taking no part in sport at school. In an attempt to find out why, Ian decides to go back to school to spend some time as a PE teacher himself – and is shocked by what he finds.
Ian's plan to roll out his fitness club in schools around Barnet is proving problematic. And after contacting more than 100 of Britain's biggest companies, he's still without a financial backer. But he does manage to get a meeting with computer giant Microsoft and decides to take star pupil Jerome along with him.
After doing some research on the Internet, Ian discovers the Government's schools watchdog, Ofsted, does not scrutinise PE in the same way as Maths, English and Science. He comes up with a radical solution – league tables for schools' fitness levels – to force schools to take PE more seriously. And he decides to take his idea to Secretary of State for Education, Alan Johnson.
Ian's fund raising – and his day job as a BBC football pundit – have been getting in the way of his work with the kids. And with Ian away in Germany to cover the World Cup, they return to the unhealthy habits which landed them at the club in the first place. After returning from Germany, Ian decides they need a short sharp shock. So he takes them to an army-style boot camp, where they are forced to stand on their own two feet as they cook and clean for themselves, and take part in a serious of lung-busting military style activities. Sophie – whose mum wound up in hospital because of her own weight problems – discovers some new-found mental toughness. But Tiana lands herself an extra hard session of circuit training as punishment for stealing some chicken.
Finally, with a donation from Microsoft, Ian manages to set up after school clubs for kids who don't engage in sport in a handful of other schools in Barnet. But none of it will mean a thing if Ian can't prove it has worked for his own eight kids. So how will they fare when the final sports day arrives? And back at the sports lab, will the kids have actually improved their fitness and lost any weight?
As Ian's six month journey with the kids comes to an emotional end, one thing is guaranteed – it will all end in tears.