SCHOOL pupils have been busy learning difficult spellings to try to win fame on national television.

Three students from Allertonshire School, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, won through to the regional heats of Hard Spell, a BBC Television show which is searching for the best young speller in Britain.

Competing in the regional heats, which took place at the Baltic Centre, in Newcastle, were Harriet Henderson, Kirsty Spink and Robert Knox.

They took on 120 young spellers from all over the North of England, and were filmed and interviewed for the programme while trying to spell words including accommodation, jacuzzi and lacquer.

Robert succeeded in getting through to the afternoon rounds and took a place in the last 30, but just missed out on a place in the finals in London.

Karen Smith, executive producer of Hard Spell, said: "The programme will be a bit like Pop Idol, in the sense that we will explore the background of the participants and go behind the scenes to show the last-minute nerves. We will show the parents in the audience and capture the drama of it all."

The programme is scheduled to be broadcast at the end of November.