Lulu the elephant, Tracy Island build & Richard Bacon’s sacking… Blue Peter’s most famous moments as live episodes end
IT’S the longest-running kids’ TV show in the world, but BBC bosses have now axed the live version of Blue Peter.
In a sign of the times, it is being moved online, ditching the weekly TV episodes that kept generations of fans captivated over 66 years.
The programme’s wholesome stunts — and hilarious mishaps — have struggled to compete with content now drawing kids to the internet.
In its heyday, Blue Peter pulled in more than 8million viewers.
But now it only attracts around 37,000 as youngsters instead tune in to YouTubers such as DanTDM, who has 29million subscribers, and Miss Katy, who has almost 26million.
Peppa Pig is the UK’s highest rated YouTube show, with almost 29million people signed up.
Back in the day, Blue Peter became famous for its handmade creations, including a Thunderbirds Tracy Island and a hazardous Christmas decoration made from coat hangers and candles.
Sticky-back plastic, empty boxes, washing-up liquid bottles, pipe cleaners and paper mache were its go-to art supplies.
Host John Noakes’ command, “Get down, Shep” to his sheepdog even became a national catchphrase.
Insiders say the decision to remove the show from TV schedules was kept from current hosts Shini Muthukrishnan, Joel Mawhinney and Abby Cook until a meeting at the Beeb’s Salford HQ.
Some 43 stars have presented it over the years, including Peter Purves, Janet Ellis, Valerie Singleton and Peter Duncan.
Janet, who was on air from 1983 to 1987, said: “I’m sad the current presenters and any that follow won’t experience the thrill — and it is a thrill — of doing the programme live.
“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.”
Yvette Fielding, who became the show’s youngest presenter in 1987, aged 18, said: “How sad is this?
“Blue Peter wasn’t just for children, it was made for the whole family to enjoy.
“The late Princess Diana commented to me that she loved to curl up on the sofa with Harry and Wills and watch the show together.
“This is true of so many British families.
“Shame on the people who have made this terrible decision.”
Former Blue Peter star Simon Thomas posted on Instagram: “We probably didn’t realise it at the time, but we were working in the last years of the golden age of children’s TV, a time when kids’ programmes filled the afternoons and Saturday mornings on BBC1 and ITV.”
Ex-host Katy Hill described the live shows as “magical”, adding: “That social connection and shared experience is missing now.”
The loss of the telly format is also a huge blow for Blue Peter fans, as the nature of its live broadcasts meant anything could happen — and frequently did.
Here, we take a fond look at the show’s most memorable moments.
BIG DEPOSIT: Lulu the baby elephant famously ran about in the studio in 1969, depositing a poo on the floor and pulling her keeper off his feet.
John Noakes was also left screaming, “Me foot!” after she accidentally stamped on it.
DOG-GONE IT: Robot technology was still in its infancy in 1981 when a remote control dog made an appearance.
But the show’s real pooch Goldie seemed convinced when she took a sniff at its bum.
ROAR-SOME: Animal welfare wasn’t much of a thing in 1969, when Valerie Singleton took Valentine the lion out for a walk to the shops.
She struggled to control the beast as it took a nibble out of a customer’s trousers before being placated with a tin of golden syrup.
COLUMN FLINCHES: It was a move that would have health and safety chiefs clutching their hard hats in despair.
In 1977, the show’s adventurous Yorkshireman Mr Noakes climbed 170ft up Nelson’s Column on wobbly ladders to clean pigeon poo — with no harness and wearing a pair of flares.
LOST TIME: Hosts buried a Millennium time capsule under the O2 Arena in 1998, to be dug up in 2050.
But it all went wrong when the capsule, containing pictures of Alton Towers’ Oblivion ride and Princess Diana, an asthma inhaler, Spice Girls CD, Tellytubby toy and insulin pen, was accidentally unearthed in 2017 by construction workers.
FISHY GOINGS ON: Peter Purves terrified kids with a warning of how lethal piranha fish were in a classic 1972 episode.
“If I was to put my finger inside the tank, they’d bite it off,” he said.
Disappointingly when he fed them meat, they meekly swam right past.
FIRED UP: Around 100 Girl Guides and Brownies looked petrified as they sang If You’re Happy And You Know It as smoke billowed from an out-of-control studio campfire.
Someone finally rushed in with a fire extinguisher in the 1971 shocker.
CAT CALLING: When kids voted for a new Blue Peter cat to be called Cookie, the moniker was secretly rejected and it was instead named Socks — prompting a BBC apology.
DAD DANCING: In terms of embarrassing dad moments, this one’s an absolute classic.
A viewer’s dad wrote a cringey song about Jack the studio cat running away from the cameras in 1986 — and sang it live.
PANNED: Presenters Stuart Miles and Katy Hill hosted a segment about designer loo seats — which they showcased by sticking their heads through them in 1996.
BARKING MAD: When the late Roy Castle showed off his musical prowess on the spoons, Blue Peter dog Shep nipped him on the hand.
CRAFTY CHRISTMAS: Thunderbirds’ Tracy Island was the coveted Christmas toy of 1992, but Anthea Turner showed kids who missed out how to create their own.
It became Blue Peter’s most popular “make” ever.
HARE TODAY: Kids were left in tears when Huff the rabbit was sacked by his magician master for failing to perform in 1970.
He refused to get out the black hat, so his owner fired him live on air.
THYME OUT: Blue Peter’s inhouse gardener, Percy Thrower, was distraught when the show’s pond was vandalised in 1983.
Footballers Les Ferdinand and Dennis Wise were implicated after Ferdinand was quoted as saying he “helped a few people over the wall”.
He later insisted he’d been joking.
GRIN ‘N’ BEAR IT: Presenter Peter Purves looked chuffed to show viewers the biggest teddy in the world in 1971 — measuring 10ft.
He disappeared underneath it moments later when it fell on top of him.
COKE SCANDAL: Host Richard Bacon was sacked from the show in 1998 after admitting snorting coke in a London nightclub.
The BBC’s head of children’s programmes Lorraine Heggessey made an extraordinary apology on TV, saying Bacon had not just let himself and colleagues down, but “millions of children”, too.
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