How to research stories with Dermot O’Leary

In this writing unit, based around a virtual author visit, pupils tune into the Author in Your Classroom podcast featuring Dermot O’Leary and dive into how real writers use research to spark brilliant stories.

At the heart of the episode is Dermot’s much-loved Toto the Ninja Cat series, including Toto the Ninja Cat and the Mystery Jewel Thief.

Children discover how the author researched London to build an animal-populated world full of detail and humour. They see how facts fuel imagination. And they learn that ‘write what you know’ often starts with finding things out.

Teaching overview

The unit unfolds across four engaging sessions.

First, children explore what research really means and why it matters. They listen to key podcast clips and gather ideas using structured planning sheets. Next, they add a creative twist to their findings, transforming real-world facts into imaginative possibilities.

In Session Three, pupils shape their research into story plans. They build settings, invent characters and weave in playful details.

Finally, they listen to Dermot O’Leary read aloud and analyse how sentence length, layout and tiny descriptive touches create energy on the page. Then they write.

Throughout the sequence, a Writing Research Working Wall captures ideas and inspiration. By the end, every child has crafted a story rooted in research but powered by imagination.