Legendary BBC teatime show Blue Peter is leaving TV and going online only, it has been revealed – as memories are shared of its most notable moments.
The children’s television programme which first hit British screens almost 67 years ago has found itself at times dogged by controversy – including, well, dogs.
The series has notched up as many as 5,294 episodes, involving 42 official presenters – the latest being Joel Mawhinney, Abby Cook and Shini Muthukrishnan.
Yet various generations will have their favourites among previous iconic hosts – such as Janet Ellis, John Noakes, Valerie Singleton and Peter Duncan – as well as the incidents which bear plenty of TV repeating.
The programme began in October 1958 and in its heyday was screened three times a week on BBC1 – but now, after 66 years, Blue Peter is to be taken off our television screens and moved online.
The show’s current director confirmed the show’s fate as well as the announcement it would no longer be transmitted live – describing the move as ‘the end of an era’.
Insiders have told the Mail on Sunday how the decision to take it off air was kept a secret by bosses, with even the presenters unaware of the extent of the changes.
As fans as well as ex-hosts now react to the show’s shock shift, MailOnline looks back at some of Blue Peter’s most amusing as well as controversial episodes…
Blue Peter presenters Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Peter Purves are pictured here in 1971 with show pets Jason the cat and dogs Shep (left) and Petra (right)
Lulu the elephant caused havoc on the show when appearing in the studio in July 1969
Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon was fired in 1998 after being pictured taking cocaine
Konnie Huq apologised on air in 2007 over a quiz question phone-in controversy
Lulu the elephant
John Noakes was the longest-serving member of the Blue Peter presenting team, clocking up just over 12 years on the show between 1965 and 1978.
He was known for his daredevil antics including scaling Nelson’s Column in central London’s Trafalgar Square in May 1977.
And he was also part of the line-up when Lulu the baby elephant made her famous appearance on July 3 1969, alongside co-hosts Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton.
The elephant was brought into the studio from Chessington Zoo with her keeper ahead of the presenters’ trip to what was then Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.
Yet farce swiftly ensued when Lulu stood on Noakes’s foot, prompting the presenter to stand in the pile of dung she had left on the floor – while Lulu’s keeper tumbled to the ground.
Blue Peter’s longtime presiding editor Biddy Baxter recalled in 1994: ‘Lulu was a baby elephant of enormous strength and Smithy, her keeper, was a tiny, rotund gentleman.
‘He came with this horrendous stick with a sharp metal spike like a spear and I said, “I am terribly sorry, Mr. Smith, but you can’t have that, you will have to put it away”.
‘It all went pear-shaped because they gave her water. First of all, she urinated, which melted the floor paint and made it like an ice rink, and on top of that she defecated, and Smithy was so upset.’
Lulu the elephant was visiting the studios from Chessington Zoo in Surrey in July 1969
John Noakes, Blue Peter’s longest serving presenter, scaled Nelson’s Column in 1977
Noakes is seen here in 1978 with one of the programme’s most cherished pets, Shep
Dead dog switches
Among Blue Peter’s many cherished pets, Petra the dog was among the favourites – with many fans visiting for years her statue in the programme’s garden at BBC Television Centre in west London.
Yet it only emerged years after her death how a deception had been perpetrated on viewers, revealed in 2008 by the show’s former editor Biddy Baxter – who told how Petra was actually an emergency replacement found when an original choice of dog had died two days after her debut.
Baxter recalled how on the last episode before Christmas 1962, the BBC’s head of children’s television Owen Reed appeared on the screen with a large cardboard box covered with festive paper and ribbons.
He presented it to Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton, who cut the ribbon, opened the box and showed off a tiny eight-week-old black-and-brown puppy.
Baxter, editor from 1962 to 1988, said: ‘It was the dog’s first and last TV appearance. Two days later she died of distemper.
‘It was unthinkable to traumatise our youngest viewers by giving them the sad news, so the producer Edward Barnes and I set off in his Mini to trawl London for the dead pup’s lookalike.
‘It wasn’t until we reached Lewisham that we struck lucky. In a dingy shop window there was one small browny-black puppy, shivering in the corner of a pen. Not a single viewer spotted the swap.’
The replacement dog, named Petra in a viewers’ vote, appeared until 1977.
Blue Peter pets pictured here in 1973, left to right, are Petra, Jason and SHep
The Blue Peter line-up in 1972: Peter Purves, Lesley Judd, Valerie Singleton and John Noakes with his dog Shep
Future host Helen Skelton is seen here with another Blue Peter pet, former stray Barney in 2009
Cocaine disgrace
Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon was fired from his dream job in 1998 after admitting he took cocaine in a London nightclub, following newspaper reports and photographs.
The BBC responded to the scandal by broadcast a statement from Lorraine Heggessey, head of children’s programmes, who said: ‘It is sad that such a talented presenter as Richard Bacon has not only let himself and his colleagues down but, most important of all, he has let down the millions of children who watch Blue Peter.’
A producer told Bacon him he would never work in television again – although he has gone on to present shows for the corporation, including on BBC Radio 5, as well as on Channel 4 and ITV.
Bacon, now 49, has been among the former Blue Peter presenters responding online to the latest news about the show – posting on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Blue Peter’s last ever live show was Today. Apparently, it will carry on online pre-recorded. I love and loved that show. Even if caused it some bother.
‘Being live is what made it alive. The elephant, the studio catching fire. The mistakes, the movement, the energy.
‘At 21, hosting live in TV Centre’s vast studios was wonderful. 1st day rehearsing, I remember walking from one side of the studio to the other – doing a piece to camera – and seeing the whole crew, five cameras, and another on a crane, track with me.
‘I know that doesn’t sound like much – but the first time it happened it was mind blowing
‘It was just a big, well-made, lovingly made, really well resourced Live kids TV show. That had been live in that building for decades. It was a magical experience (for, you know, all of 20 months).’
Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon was 23 when sacked from the show in 1998
Lorraine Heggessey, the BBC’s head of children’s programmes, issued an on-air statement following Bacon’s dismissal
Phone-in apology
In 2006 the BBC was fined £50,000 by regulator Ofcom when a child visiting the Blue Peter studio was asked to pose as a phone-in competition winner.
The competition was aimed at raising money for the Blue Peter Appeal in aid of children’s charity Unicef, offering viewers the chance to win a toy.
Almost 14,000 calls were made to answer a quiz question but a ‘technical failure’ meant that the producers couldn’t access the callers’ details.
A member of staff on the programme asked a child visiting the studio to phone the programme and give her answer on air.
When the truth emerged, then-Blue Peter host Konnie Huq issued an on-air apology.
Huq told viewers: ‘We would like to say sorry to you. Because when this mistake happened we let you down.’
The BBC said at the time it did not make a profit from any 10p calls, with 3.25p from each one allocated as going to UNICEF.
Then-BBC Children’s controller Richard Deverell described the mistake at the time as an ‘exceptional incident’, with the person responsible acting ‘in a panic’.
Konnie Huq, pictured with pet dogs Mabel and Bonnie, was a Blue Peter presenter between December 1997 and January 2008
Her time on the show included this co-hosting team in October 1998 of, pictured left to right, Konnie Huq, Richard Bacon, Katy Hill and Stuart Miles
Cat calling vote
Another move to interact with viewers caused controversy in 2007 when it emerged an online poll to name the programme’s new cat had been rigged.
New kitten Socks was named after the results of the poll were changed, with viewers originally wanting to call the animal Cookie – prompting a BBC apology.
Presenter Zoe Salmon held up the Blue Peter cat that viewers were asked to name in the poll in January 2006.
The viewers had voted for the name Cookie in the website poll but Blue Peter staff secretly rejected that name and chose Socks instead.
The BBC subsequently announced that Socks would now be joined by a second kitten to be called Cookie, the original name viewers wanted.
Cookie was then displayed in front of the cameras by Konnie Huq, who told viewers it was ‘a brand new kitten, only 13 weeks old, and we’re all in love with him’.
Her co-presenter Zoe added: ‘You may have already seen or read in the news that Cookie was the name that actually should have been given.
‘So today we had to say sorry, and what better way to say sorry than with this cute thing.’
New Blue Peter cats Cookie (left) and Socks (right) were presented on air in September 2007
Among the hosts at the time was Zoe Salmon (pictured), who had joined the show in 2004
Garden vandalism
Blue Peter’s in-house gardener Percy Thrower was visibly distraught on the show after the programme’s garden at White City in west London was vandalised in 1983.
Overnight intruders trampled on the grass and poured fuel in the fish pond at the open space at the BBC’s Television Centre.
It was later reported that future England international footballers Les Ferdinand and Dennis Wise had been involved in the crime.
Ferdinand, whose clubs included Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur, was subsequently quoted as saying he ‘helped a few people over the wall’ but did not take part in the vandalism himself.
However, in 2018 he insisted that he had been making a joke when he made the comments.
Ferdinand said: ‘It was the worst joke I had ever made in my life, but I can assure you myself and Dennis Wise had nothing to do with the BBC garden.
‘I have actually spoken to the people from the BBC and Blue Peter and they said, “We know you had nothing to do with it”.
‘They actually know who did it but it never came out.’
Blue Peter presenter Simon Groom is seen here in the damaged garden in 1983
BBC gardener Percy Thrower spoke of his sadness at the time following the vandalism
The Blue Peter garden at BBC Television Centre in west London was a familiar sight for viewers
Unmarried mother pregnancy
Trained actress Janet Ellis, 66, was scouted by Blue Peter executives while hosting children’s puzzle programme Jigsaw, joining the team in 1983.
During her four-year stint, she co-presented with Simon Groom, Sarah Greene, Peter Duncan, Michael Sundin, Mark Curry and Caron Keating.
At the time she had already welcomed Sophie Ellis-Bextor – now a popstar and radio presenter – with her first husband Robin Bextor.
Janet left Blue Peter in 1987, while pregnant with her son Jackson – and there were reports show producers fretted about potential bad publicity since she was unwed at the time, having split from Robin, but she has since insisted the decision to leave the show was hers alone.
Janet went on to present for the BBC and working as a voiceover artist while also writing a book called How to Get Married Without Divorcing Your Family.
The mother-of-three became a more regular fixture on TV in the 2000s, appearing on The Wright Stuff and Housebusters on Channel 5.
Janet has said of the BBC’s latest decision to take Blue Peter online only and not transmitted live: ‘I’m sad that the current presenters and any that follow won’t experience the thrill (and it is a thrill) of doing the programme live. There’s a fantastic sense of teamwork in the studio on a live TX.
‘Yes things can and do “go wrong” but that’s in inverted commas because the viewer is in on that moment, which is a shared privilege. Mostly, things go right but with added immediacy and spark.’
Ex-Blue Peter Presenter Janet Ellis is seen here with her daughter Sophie Ellis-Bextor in 1989
Ms Ellis, mother of Murder on the Dancefloor singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor (pictured together in November 2016), has spoken of her sadness about the latest Blue Peter developments
Blue Peter first launched in 1958 and is the world’s longest-running children’s TV series (pictured here are Simon Groom, Sarah Greene and Peter Duncan in 1981)
Speaking about the new developments for the programme, a show source told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Of course this has been in the works for months.
#The big bosses all knew what was happening and those they did tell were all told to keep it quiet. It’s a huge shock and a number of the crew still have no idea what’s going on.
‘Goodness knows what it means for the presenters and those working on the show but the view is that it has all been handled very badly.’
The BBC declined to comment when approached by the Mail, however sources did confirm Blue Peter would no longer be shown in its Friday 5pm slot but would be on CBBC which is moving online.
It will also be available on BBC2 on iPlayer and the Beeb’s Sign Zone platform.
