The 'world's P.E. teacher' keeping millions of kids and families active during the coronavirus lockdown

VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR JOE WICKS ABOUT HIS ONLINE, LIVE PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PE) CLASS / FOOTAGE OF WICKS' ONLINE CLASS / FOOTAGE OF FAMILIES TAKING PART IN ONLINE PE CLASS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SHOTLIST AND SCRIPT

SHOWS:

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 23, 2020) (JOE WICKS - MUST COURTESY JOE WICKS/THE BODY COACH TV)

1. BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR BEGINNING DAY ONE OF "PE WITH JOE"

2. WHITE FLASH

3. WICKS DOING ONE OF HIS EXERCISES

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 23, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

4. VARIOUS OF BRITISH SCHOOLCHILDREN, ALICE AND JOSEPH WILKINSON WORKING OUT TO 'THE BODY COACH', TRAINER JOE WICKS WHILE WATCHING HIM ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT HOME DURING CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 23, 2020) (JOE WICKS - MUST COURTESY JOE WICKS/THE BODY COACH TV)

5. WICKS DOING ONE OF HIS EXERCISES

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 23, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

6. VARIOUS OF BRITISH SCHOOLCHILDREN, ALICE AND JOSEPH WILKINSON WORKING OUT TO 'THE BODY COACH', TRAINER JOE WICKS WHILE WATCHING HIM ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT HOME DURING CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 26, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"It's phenomenal and I'm committed to doing it. This isn't just a Monday to Friday flash in the pan thing. My subscribers have gone up. They've doubled. I've got nearly 2 million subscribers, so I want to keep generating content that's free, that's accessible. And the schools thing, I'm gonna keep doing it. While the schools are out and there's not P.E. (physical education) being delivered at school, I will be the P.E. teacher for the world."

8. WHITE FLASH

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"The uncertainty of not knowing how long we're going to be at home for, you know, the disruption to people's work, income, it's stressful, its concerning. And people are going to deal with that in different ways. Some people are going to be emotionally eating. Some will be stressed out. Some, there mental health is going to be suffering. So, I'm trying to disrupt the day, giving you half an hour of activity to get a bit of clarity and know that everyone's in the same position, the world effectively paused, but we're going to resume and we're all going to be fine and we're going to move forward and we're going to be reconnected. But people who live on their own, the elderly and seniors that are on their own, this is a tough time for them. So, I designed two workouts the other day, two workouts for the elderly and seniors. Ten minutes long, very basic things like arm circles, you know, stretching up, stretching forward. They've got 150,000 views in three days and a care home today just sent me a lovely message, I've to put it on my Instagram, of five or six people sitting in a chair doing the exercises as a group. So, it's wonderful, it's really helping a lot of people."

10. WHITE FLASH

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"Well, what I really liked, is when I put it out there, obviously it's aimed at children, but if you are an unfit parent or adult and you're not really active, they're actually really great exercises for you because you start moving. You know, basic marching on the spot or star jumps. You know, things that are quite comfortable for you. They're not really extreme or you don't need any equipment. It's been a parent and a child thing. It's been a kind of a way of the family coming together for those 30 minutes and just feeling calm and safe and forgetting about all the other stuff that's going on. Because when you exercise all your brain's thinking about is that movement and what's next and breathing and you just sort of get lost in that moment. So, that has a massive affect on people's mindset. It lifts their mood and it makes them feel happier, it really does. Exercise makes you feel happy and that's why I'm doing this."

12. WHITE FLASH

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"So yeah, I've been doing a lot of work with schools over the past three or four years, doing U.K. tours, visiting schools, speaking to parents, and when I saw that my tour this week was going to be cancelled, I was really upset, really disappointed. I was lying in bed Wednesday night I texted my brother Nicky at 12:15 a.m. - I looked at my what's up thread, and I said, 'Nicky, I've got an idea. P.E. with Joe. Monday to Friday, we'll do a livestream on my YouTube channel.' I put it out there in the world Thursday morning not really knowing what was going to happen and it's just been mind-blowingly, overwhelmingly received and it's just been amazing. I've had children all over the world, millions of views - I've had I think 11 million views on the videos in three days. Now, that's views, that's not individual people, so you've got to imagine three, four, five kids in some households. It's millions of people and it's gone global. This is in New York, Australia, India, South America, and you know, China, Hong Kong, it really has gone global. So, I want to thank everyone who's shared it.

14. WHITE FLASH

15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"More importantly than that, is the families and the parents and the teachers who are thanking me for giving them this outlet. You know, 30 minutes a day, take the kids off their hands, get them moving, energize for the day. It's a nice time of day, 9:00 a.m. (09:00 GMT), it starts the routine off well. It gives them a good - it lifts their mood. And this is all about me trying to energize the kids, get them feeling positive and optimistic so that when the parents go to sit down and try and do some educational and academic stuff, they've got the mindset to go. And, it's been fantastic, the messages I've been receiving - I'm getting videos from children with disabilities and autistic children. Parents with learning difficulties who are all still getting involved. Still just trying and having fun with it. It's powerful stuff and I'm super proud and excited to keep going with it."

16. WHITE FLASH

17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"I'm staying positive. I'm doing my work in the morning. I'm cooking some healthy food. I'm sitting and enjoying the time with my family and in the afternoon, we go for a walk. We get out for half an hour. We go for a little walk to Richmond Park where there's a little bit of forest up there that we walk to. But yeah, I just want to get through it. I need to stay positive and be a positive voice on social media. Because there's just so much negative stuff on the media that I just want to break away from that. I don't want to talk about the coronavirus or quarantine. I just want to talk about making you feel good and how we can talk about staying positive."

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, JOE WICKS, SAYING:

"So, a great exercise, one that really a lot of people have been enjoying is just nice and simple cardio punches. So, you could be really out of shape, really fit, depending on how fast you want to go. And obviously, the faster you go, the more intense it is. And it's a great little cardio move. That's a perfectly good one. The second one is a squat. Just standing up nice and tall, sit down into the chair, stand up tall and the stronger you are, the lower you can get. If you haven't got great mobility, just little pulsing squats, like shallow ones. So again, that's gonna fire up your legs, get your heart pumping and get you feeling some strength through the legs. Another one, nice and simple - you've got two options, you can march on the spot. So, if you are a beginner, lifting those knees up, marching on the spot, lifting your hips up. So, obviously that is very easy. If you want to make it harder, you sprint as fast as you can on the spot, lifting those knees up. Three moves, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest; five, ten, 15 minutes and you'll feel fantastic."

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 26, 2020) (JOE WICKS - MUST COURTESY JOE WICKS/THE BODY COACH TV)

19. BRITISH FITNESS INSTRUCTOR BEGINNING DAY ONE OF "PE WITH JOE"

20. WHITE FLASH

21. WICKS DOING ONE OF HIS EXERCISES

STORY: Hundreds of thousands of British children are joining in an online, live physical education (P.E.) classes after the government ordered the closure of the nation's schools to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The lessons streamed live on YouTube, hosted by well-known British fitness instructor Joe Wicks and plugged by schools and the media, are attracting viewers from across the world. Since beginning the daily show on Monday (March 23) his programmes have had over 12.6 million views.

Wicks was due to begin a tour of UK schools this week and when it was cancelled he had the idea of beginning this daily show to help children keep fit and it's now proven to be hit with people of all ages.

Wicks told Reuters in an interview on Thursday (March 26) that he will continue to be 'the P.E. teacher for the world" for as long as schools are closed.

With the exception of children of key workers such as medical staff, schools shut their doors for the foreseeable future at the end of last week, leaving parents to look after their children and oversee their education.

More than 9,500 people have tested positive for the virus in Britain and 477 have died.

(Production: Kurt Michael Hall, Tim Hart)