BOLTON DJ Sara Cox turned back the clock during a visit to her old school.

Sara went to Masefield Primary School in Little Lever to film for a forthcoming television show.

Youngsters at the school were delighted to see the 40-year-old star, who has recently been announced as the host of new show The Great British Pottery Throw Down, billed as the next The Great British Bake Off but for pottery.

Footage filmed at the Masefield Road school will be used in an hour long documentary to be shown on Watch, in which Sara looks at how social media such as Twitter and Facebook has changed friendship in the 21st century.

Miss Gemma Yapp, headteacher of the school, said: "Sara Cox, an ex pupil of Masefield, came into school. She was filming an interview for a documentary about friendships and social media. Masefield children were playing outside on the playground as the interview took place.

"It was a very exciting morning and the children thoroughly enjoyed meeting Sara and watching the film crew in action. She was extremely grateful and appreciative. She later tweeted that she had a lovely time and how happy the children were."

In the show, Sara aims to explore what it is like to be part of the social media generation by signing up to Facebook for the first time.

She says she believes that friendships conducted via social media are less meaningful than those in the real world, and that she fears that it may deprive her children of the quality of friendships that she enjoys with her own friends.

Sara said: "Meeting up with my friends always guarantees belly laughs and hugs — it feels nourishing for the soul.

"But thanks to social media, friendships are changing.

"By the time my daughter is an adult maybe face-to-face time with pals will just be reduced to FaceTime.

"And if more and more friendships are going to be conducted via technology, can that technology ever substitute for what we get from actually being in the presence of friends?"

The channel has also commissioned journalist Grace Dent to investigate romance in the modern world, and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor who will explore the changing shape of celebrity in an instant-access and technology-driven world.

The shows will be broadcast early next year.