Relic: Guardians of the Museum - Agatha interview

We're so excited here at Show Me cos we've got an exclusive interview with Agatha from Relic: Guardians of the Museum.

If you haven't seen this amazing CBBC show yet it's where kids get to time travel back in time to ancient civilisations with the help of ghostly tour guide Agatha (left).


Photo © BBC

They have to solve challenges about relics - or treasures - that are in the British Museum. If they fail then the Dark Lord (an evil spectre) locks them in the Museum for all eternity. Yikes!

Photo © BBC

Show Me: What do you do on CBBC's Relic: Guardians of the Museum?

Agatha: I'm a tour guide at the British Museum - or at least I was. You see I died in 1928. So ever since then I've done the night shift and my job is to keep the children who take part in Relic: Guardians of the Museum out of harm's way. But there is a lot of harm out there not least from the Dark Lord.

Show Me: Tell us about your uniform?

Agatha: Well it's my tour guide uniform and used to be brighter when I was alive but is grey now I'm a ghost. It's made of tweed, like Doctor Who's jacket. It gets very hot when I'm running around the Museum and away from the Dark Lord. At least I've got my trusty magic torch that can open secret doors and keep the dark forces at bay!

Show Me: What are the best bits about the show?

Agatha: I love going back in time to Aztec temples, Egyptian pyramids and Indian palaces but the part I love most is when a team wins and they become Guardians of the Museum. You'll see me jump about a foot in the air for joy then. Winners get a golden scarab beetle but they always have to ready to be called on again one day in the future.

Show Me: What are the scariest bits about the show?

Agatha: The Dark Lord! The scorpions and asps that we meet in ancient Assyria (modern day Iraq) and Egypt are pretty scary too. Because I have my young teams with me, I have to put on a brave face and not show I'm frightened. But I do get a wobble in my knees sometimes - especially when he screams my name! And of course it's crushing if a team is locked up forever.

Show Me: Do you have a favourite relic?

Agatha: There were 13 relic objects in the show altogether. My favourite is the Rosetta Stone.


Photo © British Museum

Agatha: The Rosetta Stone is famous because it was from this stone that Jean-François Champollion was able to work out what hieroglyphs mean. It's behind glass in the British Museum but there's an exact copy you can touch and it's got chalk on it so you can read the hieroglyphs.

Show Me: Where else would you like to travel back in time to and who would you like to meet?

Agatha: I really admire great women from history, you know. I'd like to go back to the Victorian period and meet Florence Nightingale when she was looking after wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. She is credited with having made the first pie chart… what a marvellous thing to have invented.

A huge thank you to Agatha for talking to us.

Relic: Guardians of the Museum will be broadcast on CBBC during May & June 2010.

Why not go on the CBBC website and play
Relic: Guardians of the Museum for yourself? It's brilliant.

Would you like to take part in shows like Relic: Guardians of the Museum? Click on the link to be in a show on CBBC.

Screenshot courtesy BBC

We met up with Agatha for the Museums at Night launch party at the
Florence Nightingale Museum in London.

Here's Agatha with an actress playing Florence Nightingale. Agatha told Florence she wished she'd invented something like pie charts as Florence had.

Photo © Charlotte Mcpherson

Museums at Night is from May 14-16, 2010. It's when museums round the UK stay open late and have exciting stuff going on like bat walks and sleepovers. Click on the link to find out more.