It was a cunning plan which they thought would never work.

A group of junior children from St Nicholas Priory CE VA Primary School wrote letters and tweeted TV presenter and actor Sir Tony Robinson, in an ambitious attempt to get him to come and watch their own documentaries about the industrial revolution.

And to their surprise, the star, famed for his role as Baldrick in Blackadder, accepted their invitation.

The actor sat down to watch documentaries by four groups of year-six children today, in which he gave feedback to the youngsters, and gave them the chance to ask him questions about his career.

Sir Tony said: 'I was bombarded with at least 30 letters through the post and tweets to get me here. I have never had that amount of emotional blackmail before, so I just had to come down.

'I loved the documentaries and the amount of enthusiasm in history the pupils had. They were a great way to engage them with the industrial revolution topic.

'If they show the same ambition and tenacity they had to get me here as they do for the rest of their lives, their futures are well set.'

The documentaries were part of the year-group's industrial revolution module, and saw pupils play the personas of people that lived in the era.

Stories were told about the tough working life, the benefits of the age, and the dangers people faced working with new manufacturing processes.

James Wright, who is chair of governors at the school, said: 'It was a massive surprise to hear back from Tony. We received two letters from him, one of which said to stop bothering him -which was tongue in cheek - and the second said that he would be delighted to come. It says a lot about him to come all this way to Great Yarmouth and watch their work.'

The actor has worked on a number of documentaries looking back at the industrial revolution including Channel 4's Walking Through History and The Worst Jobs in History.