A very special dog and magic combine to put table tennis in the spotlight in a hit TV show for children.

The latest episode of Waffle’s After School Club, Ping Pong Waffle, is out now on iPlayer and will be shown on CBeebies today at 5.20pm and repeated on Sunday 27 September at 2.40pm.

Table tennis magician Leon Thomson features, along with young player Nathan Bloom from Barnet Table Tennis Centre – the duo were filmed playing table tennis with a dog ball and Leon then performs his blindfold table tennis trick.

Their involvement came about after Leon was contacted by the show’s producers, who had seen one of his magic shows at a local theatre last year and wanted to commission a table tennis-themed episode.

Leon said: “I was a consultant on day 1 of filming at the Langdon Down Centre in London and did some rallying and hitting of balls on camera. Then on 11 April 11 we filmed the table tennis and blindfold table tennis trick on stage. 

“I had an amazing time filming and doing what I love best – and producers thought Nathan was perfect.

“He was 10 at the time of filming, plays for Urban TTC in Cadet BCL and I regularly coach him one-to-one at Barnet Table Tennis Centre – I had to practice with him using a dog ball which features in the show.

“The whole episode is fantastic and will hopefully get more kids into table tennis, and it’s also very educational about dogs and balls – it’s worth a watch!”

Waffle’s After School Club is a spin-off from the original Waffle the Wonder Dog series featuring Waffle to talking poodle – voiced, appropriately, by Rufus Hound.

It is aimed at four-to-seven-year-old children and features a series of activities and escapades with children at an after-school club.