Don't Look Down will see ten brave celebrities take part in a terrifying high-wire challenge on Channel 4 in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.
The new five-part series hosted by Paddy McGuinness will see Paddy and the other nine celebs, including soap legend, Beverley Callard, Olympian Victoria Pendleton and former football stars, David Ginola and Anton Ferdinand, complete an intensive training camp in the Austrian Alps where they are put through their paces by the world’s foremost authorities in high wire walking.
The series will culminate in all the celebrities tackling a never-before-attempted feat as they must high-wire walk 300 feet up in the air from a London landmark.
Paddy says, "The thing with high wire walking is it’s not like you can practice at home in advance and go out on your washing line in the garden or something! You just don’t know how to do it. When Jade [Kindar-Martin, lead trainer] who is the world authority on high-wire walking gave us our first group lesson, I remember thinking, no one’s going to be able to do this. I genuinely thought we are screwed here because it’s so difficult. The amount of time we’ve got to learn it in is unheard of."
From the challenges in store to the celebrities taking part, air date and interviews, here we tell you everything you need to know...
Don't Look Down — air date
Don't Look Down will air from Tuesday, October 10 2023 at 9.15pm on Channel 4 - straight after The Great British Bake Off 2023 has aired.
The show will air in the same slot each week and you will also be able to stream episodes after they have aired on on All4.
Don't Look Down — why did Paddy want to take part?
Paddy says, "My dad passed away from colon cancer and my brother had leukaemia. My thing with Stand Up to Cancer, especially with the raising money, is I hope – touch wood – that within all our lifetimes, they’ll have cracked the cure. I’m all about the research and the more money that can be pumped into that the better."
Don't Look Down — is there a trailer?
Yes, you can see the trailer here...
How did Paddy find the training?
Paddy says, "Any challenge you do at that kind of height, if anyone says they’re not scared, they’re lying. For a lot of the stuff you’re rigged into things, and it’s all alien to you so you’ve always got that fear. It’s about managing it and getting on with it. I think the more you wait to do something, it just gets worse and worse and worse. It’s about how you deal with it when the chips are down.
"The balancing poles, when I've seen them on telly I presumed they were light like fibreglass but they’re essentially like a scaffolding tube. It’s like holding a set of dumbbells while you’re 100 metres up in the air!"
Don't Look Down — who are the nine other brave celebrities taking part?
Beverley Callard
Soap legend, Beverley is best known for playing Liz McDonald in Coronation Street. The actress, 66, first graced the cobbles in 1989, pulling her final pint at the Rovers Return in 2020. That same year, she competed on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Beverley says, "I had cancer when I was 32 – I’m absolutely fine now. But a very dear friend of mine died in my arms a few years ago of cancer and another is suffering from bone cancer now. I even lost a very young dog to cancer. I think when you talk to people, it touches everybody in some way; even if it’s not touched them personally, it’s touched someone they love."
"I was told before the show that the training would be in Austria and it will help you with your core strength and with heights. However, they didn’t say we’d be jumping off bridges! So now I've jumped off bridges and leaned off mountains, but on that high wire, I am rubbish. I’m a brave person, but I am completely rubbish at it."
Anton Ferdinand
The ex-footballer earned his sporting stripes playing for Queens Park Rangers, Reading FC, Southend United FC and St Mirren FC. In 2020, Anton, 38, fronted BBC documentary Football, Racism and Me.
Anton says, "My sporting background hasn't really helped at all with walking on the wire. This is really different from being a footballer I’m not flexible – far from it. David (Ginola) is not flexible either. Our balance comes from our feet being shoulder-width apart so it’s completely alien to everything we've known from the last 20 years."
"I’m also terrible with heights. I was a bit more ballsy when I was younger, but as I’ve got older and had kids me and heights don’t really get on."
Kimberly Wyatt
Singer, dancer, actress, presenter and member of the Pussycat Dolls, 41-year-old Kimberly Wyatt has her own dance academy.
Kimberly says, "One in two people are affected by cancer and so throwing myself into challenges, all for the greater good of raising awareness and, hopefully, a lot of money for cancer research was something I wanted to do.
"I thought I was really good with heights but during our first challenge, as I was falling through the sky, this uncontrollable, guttural scream came from me that I didn’t know even existed. I was in tears afterwards."
David Ginola
A footballing icon, David delivered pitch-perfect performances at Paris Saint-Germain, Toulon and RC Paris. The Frenchman, now 56, then scored a special place in the hearts of British fans at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.
David says, "It takes years for people to be able to walk on the wire properly so we have been working hard, understanding the meaning of getting your balance right and being able to walk a fair distance high in the sky. The whole thing is really challenging and demanding on your core. You need to be really centred and focused, so every day I’m working on that and my abs."
Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes first made a splash as a contestant on the third season of Love Island, reaching the final with Olivia Attwood. The 30-year-old TV favourite is now a sports presenter covering cricket and horse racing.
Chris says, "My brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018 after I'd gone on air on This Morning to do a live testicular examination to raise awareness. He says to this day, he never would have checked himself if I hadn't done that. Then with the documentary [2020’s Me, My Brother and Our Balls] we wanted to break down that stigma around, especially, male health.
"Having people close to you and seeing what they go through, it’s a blessing for us to be able to come in on this show and put ourselves in these positions and help raise money for cancer."
GK Barry
TikTok star Grace Keeling, aka GK Barry, has clocked up over three million followers on the social media platform. The 24-year-old from Cambridge also hosts her own podcast called Saving Grace.
Grace says, " I actually didn’t want to do it because I’m afraid of heights. I’ve got emetophobia as well, a fear of sick. If I’m scared and I feel sick, I’m out, I’m fully out. My friends and family all thought I was absolutely mad because they knew how scared I was. They thought I’d be getting a plane home on day two – and I did consider that, I’ll be honest."
Charley Boorman
Charley Boorman is an adventurer and motorcycle enthusiast who loves to hit the road with his pal Ewan McGregor – most notably in the Long Way Round and Long Way Down series.
Charley says, "My twin sister had breast cancer, I had testicular cancer in 2010 and my older sister died of ovarian cancer and left behind a six-year-old child. There is stuff that we all had to take on. I have also lost friends to cancer and I’ve seen, like all of us, the devastation that it leaves behind which is why raising money for it is so important."
Fats Timbo
Fats, 26, is a creator, comedian, author and educator with more than two million followers online. She pulls no punches as she gives fans an insight into her life as a woman with achondroplasia.
Fats says, "I signed up because it's for such an amazing cause – cancer affects so many people. I’ve gone through it with my uncle, my aunties and recently, my partner’s niece. She’s only five, and she was diagnosed with cancer at two.
"For me, personally, with a disability, I didn’t know how the challenges would be adapted for me or even if I could even do it. I wanted to prove to myself and prove that to the world as well that it was possible and inspire other people with disabilities."
Victoria Pendleton
Former cyclist Victoria is one of Britain’s most successful female Olympians – she has won two Olympic gold medals, alongside a silver. After hopping off her bike, the 42-year-old has since saddled up as a jockey instead.
Victoria says, "I lost my twin brother Alex to cancer nine weeks before the start of the show. He had a brain tumour and so I am very much still in my early grieving process. That was my main motivation for taking part and doing something positive for such a great cause."
"I’m not particularly scared of heights, but my balance isn’t great. It’s good on two wheels but bad on my actual trotters. I’m quite clumsy and the kind of person who trips over a step, bumps into a doorframe, stubs my toe regularly. I thought this could be good for me to learn something about balance."
Don't Look Down will air from Tuesday, October 10 2023 at 9.15pm on Channel 4.
