Blue Peter Project Petra announces final three candidates who will visit MI5 HQ

Blue Peter revealed the final three candidates who will become CBBC Intelligence Officers and go on their first mission to visit MI5’s headquarters in London, Thames House as part of Project Petra. The Blue Peter cameras have been given exclusive access to follow the candidates’ visit to MI5 HQ. This will be the first time that any TV cameras have ever been allowed to film inside the building.

The final three are Jamie (13) from Glasgow, Reuben (13) from North Yorkshire and Finley (10) from Surrey. The CBBC Intelligence Officers visited Thames House in March 2015, where they were given a tour of the building, were shown a range of spy gadgets, some of which date from World War Two, and they also had the chance to meet the Director General of MI5, Andrew Parker. Viewers can see for themselves what the three candidates discovered in this very special mission. Blue Peter’s final Project Petra episode will be shown on Thursday 16 April at 5pm on CBBC.

The three successful children were thrilled to see inside what is normally such a top secret building.

Jamie from Glasgow said: "Before going into MI5 I felt really nervous but excited at the same time because I knew no kids or TV cameras had ever been in MI5 before. It felt really cool because we were making history that day.”

Thirteen year-old Reuben said: “CBBC Spy School was an incredible experience because it was so great meeting new people, making new friends and seeing how a TV show is made. It was fascinating to see what goes on behind the doors of MI5, which not many people in the world have seen. Being there for the very first time cameras have been allowed inside MI5 was an awesome experience and I loved doing it. The people were really hospitable and made the whole tour utterly brilliant. Project Petra was amazing and I am so glad to have been a part of it.”

Finley from Surrey said: “Project Petra has been the best experience of my life. When I was first told I had been picked to visit MI5 I thought it was a dream. I was so amazed and excited because I was going somewhere that not many people get to go to. And it was even more exciting as there would be TV cameras with us too. When I first entered MI5 it was way cooler than I thought it would be and I got to see loads of things that no-one else will ever get to see.”

Joining them on the experience of a lifetime to visit the MI5 HQ was Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood, who has accompanied the children throughout the process.

Over 5,000 Blue Peter viewers applied to take part in Project Petra and the final eight candidates attended the CBBC Spy School weekend in Manchester in March where they were put through their paces and asked to complete a variety of tasks and challenges to test their physical, analytical and observational skills. The judging panel was made up of the children’s best-selling author Anthony Horowitz, TV presenter and journalist Sonali Shah and Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of the Security Service, MI5.

The three judges decided that Jamie, Reuben and Finley were the candidates who had most impressed them and would go through to the next phase – the experience of a lifetime to see inside the MI5 HQ, Thames House.

Ewan Vinnicombe, Editor of Blue Peter, said: “The judges were so impressed by the abilities of all eight candidates at CBBC Spy School but what really stood out with the final three was their communication skills, their ability to work as a team, which is key to being an Intelligence Officer, and also how they were able to solve problems quickly and calmly. I hope the audience at home will enjoy watching too and that Project Petra will help them understand more about the world in which we live.”

Blue Peter is made by CBBC Productions, the in-house unit based in MediaCityUK in Salford, and can be seen every Thursday at 5pm on CBBC.