• Virgin TV captures the magic of the primary school Christmas play and will share it with the nation this Christmas
  • TV presenter, Stephen Mulhern, narrates the winning school’s play after joining the children live on stage for a very special performance

A primary school’s Christmas play is being shared with the nation after they won Virgin TV’s Christmas Stars competition – a nationwide search to find the UK’s best primary school play.

Carlisle’s Pennine Way Primary School scooped the top prize and their production of ‘Robin Hood Saves Santa’ has been professionally filmed and is being shared with four million Virgin TV customers from today.

As part of the prize, the children were joined by TV presenter, Stephen Mulhern, who took to the stage as the play’s narrator in front of a live audience of family and friends.

The play tells the story of the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham who plots to capture Santa to stop him from delivering Christmas gifts and joy to the people. Santa’s last hope rests with Robin Hood and his band of merry girls who have to pull off a daring rescue mission to free Santa so he can once again bring festive cheer.

TV presenter, Stephen Mulhern, said: “These schoolchildren are true Christmas stars and I had a blast narrating their feel-good festive play which Virgin TV customers will love watching over the holidays.”

David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, commented: “School plays are amongst the most anticipated and heart-warming events for families at Christmas. We are absolutely thrilled to be sharing this magical moment with millions of Virgin TV viewers by airing the winner of our national competition, Pennine Way Primary School.

“Pennine Way’s winning production features pitch-perfect performances, a laugh-out–loud script and sing-along songs, plus the acting talents of Stephen Mulhern as the play’s narrator. Virgin TV customers are in for a real treat this Christmas.”

Sue Blair, Head Teacher at Pennine Way Primary School, said: “We are beyond excited to have won Virgin Media’s competition. This is an unbelievable opportunity – when in our lives would we ever get the opportunity to let the children experience making a “real life” film and get to meet a “real life” famous person?

“It’s a wonderful way to acknowledge the talents of our staff and children alike. Thanks Virgin Media!”

Incredible entries

Virgin TV’s Christmas Stars competition captured the imagination of primary schools across the UK with entries ranging from traditional nativities to modern takes on fairy tales and plenty of stories featuring Santa.

A panel of judges comprising of members of Virgin Media’s Executive Committee, Stephen Mulhern, and Lisa Prime, BAFTA Children’s Events Programmer, presided over a final shortlist of entries and praised the highly creative and imaginative submissions received.

As well as getting to work with Stephen Mulhern, Pennine Way Primary School has won £5,000. A runner up – Ladywood School in Bolton – received £1,000 and twenty two schools were awarded £100 for reaching the final stage of the competition.

All Virgin TV customers can watch ‘Robin Hood Saves Santa’, via on-demand, from Thursday 20 December until 31 December 2018.

ENDS

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses and we’re expanding this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our network to up to 17 million premises.

Our interactive Virgin TV service brings live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games to customers through a set-top box, as well as on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 21 million customers through operations in 10 countries across Europe subscribing to 45 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 6 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service through 12 million access points across its footprint.

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