Blue Peter has always been boring – now it’s a living fossil ...Middle East

The announcement that the BBC is to stop broadcasting live episodes of its flagship children’s series, Blue Peter, has prompted an outcry even louder than the knitwear the show’s hosts sported during its 1970s heyday. “I feel sorry for this generation of presenters who aren’t going to feel that thrill,” said former Blue Peter star Janet Ellis.  “There will never be another era like it again,” agreed fellow Blue Peter graduate Simon Thomas (now of Sky Sports). 

But amid the outcry, it is notable that one group seems unmoved by the quasi-demise of Blue Peter (which will continue to air in pre-recorded form). And that is, of course, children – too busy bingeing on Gravity Falls on Netflix or inhaling Sabrina Carpenter-themed TikToks to care either way. 

The obvious thing to say is that kids today don’t know what they are missing. That there is no substitution for the shared TV experience offered by Blue Peter in its glory days – even when things went wrong, such as when a cheery campfire sing-along was interrupted by the cheery campfire taking on a life of its own, and a man with an extinguisher had to intervene. 

square BLUE PETER

Dead puppies, live ultrasounds and vandalism: The inside story of Blue Peter

But that would be a fib almost as egregious as the one the BBC spun in 2006 when it claimed a viewer phone-in had decreed its new studio cat should be named Socks (the public had, in fact, opted for “Cookie”). The truth is that, the occasional fire notwithstanding, Blue Peter has always been as dull as the gluey paste used during those endless craft segments where the presenter would whip up a scale-model Tardis using sticky tape and loo roll. 

What child has ever actively looked forward to Blue Peter? From the start, it was a boring adult’s idea of what children’s entertainment should look like. Contrast prime Blue Peter with the anarchy of ITV’s Rainbow, where Zippy and George were genuine agents of chaos. Or even with the good clean All-American fun of Sesame Street – which, for all its cloying qualities, gave us memorable characters such as Ernie and Bert and the Lovecraftian terror that was Mr. Snuffleupagus. 

Blue Peter, by contrast, was memorable only when things went wrong. Fortunately, that happened at a reasonably regular clip. There was the instantly legendary 1969 episode where baby elephant Lulu was hauled in from Chessington Zoo and – in a state of understandable confusion and panic – defecated on the studio floor (having already ruined the paint-work by weeing everywhere). 

Or that 1971 blaze, which got out of control as 100 girl guides sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands” – a mishap that prompted the hosts to cheerfully blurt, “We’re on fire.” It was an Alan Partridge moment that Steve Coogan would never equal (presenter John Noakes had introduced the segment by declaring, “That’s the first time I’ve sat around a campfire with 100 girl guides – I quite liked it!”). 

Minus the defecating elephants and the raging campfires, however, Blue Peter felt like an extension of the school day. For many viewers, it was the first experience of the dreaded concept of “organised fun”. Perhaps it was a cunning ploy by the BBC to encourage kids to do their homework. Many would have taken their six-times tables over yet another forced singalong hosted by presenters who, though only in their early 20s, had the weary body language of people ready for retirement. 

The eat-your-greens quality of Blue Peter seemed to have passed everyone by, apart from the actual children plonked in front of it by their parents. The BBC loved it because it encouraged the myth that children appreciated wholesome entertainment – singalongs, interviews with animal handlers from the zoo, more bloody arts and crafts. For mothers and fathers, there was no danger of exposing their children to anything untoward – the odd poo-ing pachyderm aside. 

It is true that there were occasional glitches in the matrix. John Noakes famously sidelined in daredevil stunts, including his notoriously risky scaling of Nelson’s Column. But such hi-jinks merely put into sharp relief the tedium of the rest of Blue Peter. And that was in the 1970s when there was literally nothing else for kids to do besides inhale lead petrol fumes and try not to be impaled on barbed wire while out playing with their pals. Nowadays, Blue Peter is so far off what kids expect from television as to qualify as a debilitated living fossil, like the poorly Triceratops from Jurassic Park. 

So, while the series’s demotion to a pre-recorded format will upset that minority of adults with fond memories of Blue Peter from their childhood, that disappointment will be confined to those of a certain age. Don’t expect today’s kids to be miffed about the downgrading of a show they are barely aware of in the first place. 

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Blue Peter has always been boring – now it’s a living fossil )

Also on site :

• A look at six bills in Albany awaiting Gov. Hochul’s signature
• Israel tried to break Iran – but it may have actually helped unite it
• This 'Iconic' Cereal is Finally Making a Comeback and Fans Going Wild: 'Holy Smokes'