2 weeks Ago By Alexandra-pollard
If you were the sort of child who couldn’t wait to stick their hand up to let everyone know that they knew what a cosine was, then you were probably a fan of Blue Peter . Borrowing its name from the flag flown to indicate a ship is about to set sail, Blue Peter was launched by producer John Hunter Blair on 16 October 1958. Billed by Radio Times as “a weekly programme for younger viewers” featuring “toys, model railways, games, stories and cartoons”, the show was initially presented by actor Christopher Trace and 1957’s Miss Great Britain Leila Williams, initially doing little more than demonstrating what were very much presented as separate hobbies for boys and girls.
As the weeks went by, however, the likeable pair, and their enthusiastic if only just slightly less than formal presentational style, caught on with viewers, and the show – broadcast weekly on Thursdays – expanded its remit to take advantage of this, bringing in competitions, short documentaries and the very first stirrings of what would become a much-loved institution: the Blue Peter “make”. By 1960, Blue Peter was so popular that it was moved to a longer slot on Mondays, but behind the scenes all was not well. A succession of unsuitable replacement producers saw Williams leave after creative clashes, and her replacement Anita West only lasted eight weeks before she opted to leave, in light of an impending divorce.
By the end of 1962, however, arguably the two most significant figures in Blue Peter’s history were on board: the formidable no-nonsense producer and editor Biddy Baxter, who fought tirelessly to get the show as much recognition and resources as any adult programme and invariably won, took over as producer, and Valerie Singleton – of whom, Baxter observed, if the studio had collapsed in the middle of a broadcast, she would have stepped out from under the rubble and continued word perfect with the scheduled item – joined as co-presenter. One of Baxter’s first innovations was to replace the previously standard Blue Peter presentation area with a huge open set and a few items of furniture in front of a white backdrop, with guests and featured items simply ushered on and off as required. It made absolutely no attempt to disguise the fact that it was a live broadcast from a television studio, and Blue Peter as it is still known and loved today was born.
Baxter was never one to stand still, however, and kept on introducing new innovations that just seemed to make Blue Peter more vibrant and more popular. The first Blue Peter Appeal, famously raising funds for charity by asking viewers to send in easily collectable recyclable items like silver paper, used stamps and broken watch straps rather than money, took place in December 1962, followed in the new year by the introduction of the much-coveted Blue Peter Badge , awarded to competition winners and other exceptional achievers, and which granted them free entry to museums and National Trust properties. The “makes” became ever more ingenious yet straightforward to achieve, as the presenters showed viewers how to make everything from budget-conscious improvised pet beds and Christmas decorations to a tobogganing outfit for a teddy bear, famously using everyday unwanted implements like used washing-up-liquid bottles and “sticky-backed plastic”, with the time-saving conveyor belt of examples of “here’s one I made earlier” quickly becoming national shorthand.
Mindful that a large percentage of the viewing audience might live in circumstances where they were unable to have a pet of their own, Baxter also introduced the idea of the show having resident animals, and the tradition of their names being chosen from viewers’ suggestions. Mongrel Petra – a secret last-minute replacement for another puppy who had been introduced on screen but died of distemper shortly before the following edition – joined in December 1962 as Blue Peter ’s very first pet. Irritable and prone to on-set stroppiness, Petra nonetheless became beloved of the viewers and presenters alike.
Petra was joined by Fred the tortoise – who later revealed himself to be a Freda – in 1963, Jason the cat in 1964 and her own puppy Patch in 1965. Perhaps the most important addition arrived late in 1965. John Noakes , a fresh-faced chipper Northerner, joined as a presenter.
Trace himself left during the summer of 1967, replaced by former Doctor Who assistant Peter Purves, and the first truly iconic Blue Peter team was complete. Not just the most famous faces on children’s television but some of the most famous faces on television full stop, Pete, John and Val presided over an eccentric and eclectic variety of features ranging from trying their hands at riding both Penny Farthings and the newly launched Space Hopper to nervously assisting defected Soviet strongman Walter Cornelius with some jaw-dropping feats of physical endurance. In many ways, Blue Peter was the quintessential BBC show – good, clean fun that challenged without being challenging, and encouraged viewers to aspire towards their own sense of achievement and fulfilment.
In 1971, the presenters won headlines by burying a “time capsule” at Television Centre containing Blue Pete r-related memorabilia and a set of newly minted decimal coins – and it won headlines again when it was excavated in 2000, and revealed live on air to be primarily full of rancid water. Designed by renowned horticulturalist Percy Thrower, the meticulously tended Blue Peter Garden – which played host to many a firework display – was unveiled in 1974. Even the filmed reports could become national talking points, most infamously John Noakes’ staggering ascent of Nelson’s Column with a basic standard of equipment that nowadays would provoke a health-and-safety nightmare before anyone had even finished suggesting it.
An incident in which a troop of Girl Guides stoically singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands” were momentarily menaced by an out-of-control campfire live in the studio, however, was slightly less planned for. There was, however, just one name during this time that anyone and everyone would associate with Blue Peter . Shep, a Border collie with vastly more energy than sense, made his first appearance in September 1971, and within minutes had tried to bolt off to have a nose at the cameramen and nibble the presenters’ faces off.
Whether attempting to “help” Roy Castle play the drums or challenging Doctor Who ’s resident robot dog K9 to a scrap, Shep could be relied on to bring a note of unpredictable and scarcely controllable anarchy to proceedings, and formed an immediate bond with John Noakes, whose vain exhortations to “get down, Shep!” quickly became a national catchphrase. Noakes later broke down in tears when informing viewers of Shep’s recent death on the early evening BBC magazine show Fax . In the 80s, Blue Peter went from strength to strength, just as many of its old contemporaries were being quietly retired on account of seeming a little past their time.
A lot of this was down to the ever-judicious selection of presenters, who could always be relied on to set a fresh-faced good example without ever coming across as too square. John and Pete were replaced in 1978 by Christopher Wenner and Simon Groom, who won infamy for their somewhat nuanced delivery of a scripted item about Durham Cathedral’s antique door knockers. Children’s BBC veteran Tina Heath joined in 1979 – replacing Lesley Judd – only to leave a year later to have her daughter.
In a fairly radical move at the time, her pregnancy followed in a series of features on the show, including a live ultrasound scan. Tina’s replacement, Sarah Greene, set many an adolescent heart a-flutter with her dressed-down studenty image; as did that year’s fellow new recruit – despite being landed with a green-and-white suit designed by a viewer – Christopher’s replacement, Peter Duncan. Jigsaw ’s Janet Ellis took over from a Saturday Superstore -bound Greene in 1983, bringing along the wry raised-eyebrow smirk that had characterised her work, but also capable of taking matters seriously, notoriously when she had to break the news that the Blue Peter Garden had been vandalised in 1983.
Read Next Armando Iannucci: 'Scandals at the BBC happen because of the command structure' It has become a punchline since, but the live footage of her surveying the pointless damage – and the harm done to the fish – scarcely supports the idea that Blue Peter was all forced grins and jolly pursuits. It wasn’t all bad news, though; redevelopment work at Television Centre meant that the original time capsule had to be excavated, and it was relocated – with a new one created by Groom, Ellis and Duncan – in the newly restored garden. By 1988 they had their youngest and most with-it presentation team yet – Caron Keating, Mark Curry and Yvette Fielding – and they were still capable of making headlines, such as Mark accidentally knocking the head off a Lego statue live on air, and a summer expedition to the Soviet Union which took in a mud bath where Curry revealed more of himself than might have been expected from the venerable institution.
You could like it, you could pretend to hate it, but you just couldn’t escape it – Blue Peter was always there and always trying to find something either interesting or charitable for you to do. Plus, if we’re all being honest about it, everybody probably secretly wished that school could have been a bit more like Blue Peter too. ‘The Golden Age of Children’s TV’ is out now (£22, Black & White Publishing).
