As child growing up I got to enjoy the details of Blue Peter. After a hard day at school and I’d enjoyed myself watching Thundercats and the Mysterious Cities of Gold I was ready for an informative magazine show that was basically more school. It was none for its cheery presenters and their jumpers. The female presenters were always a bit Mumsy until the late 80’s when the producers began to liven it up a bit and they became more action. Without a company that installs TV Aerials Swansea such as https://www.onevisionltd.co.uk/tv-aerial-installation-swansea I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the delights of this program.
Blue Peter represents all that the BBC’s children’s television production wanted to be. It lives the values of educate entertain and inform. It started in 1958 and is still running to this day. Though it has undergone many make overs its sense of focus as an informative but fun show that attempts to introduce children to new experiences in history, science, cooking and culture mean it is still true to its original roots. The format focusses on typically 3 presenters. Each one has a project that they bring to the show and then relay this back to the audience and each other. The show’s presenters have become household names and even enjoyed spinoff shows due to there popularity. Without doubt the best example of this is John Noakes. He played the figure of fun to the statelier Peter Purves. When he left the show, he went on to make his own show Go with Noakes which simple had him travelling around the country visiting points of interest. Noakes had Shep his faithful Dog. This was one of the main features of the show, it had pets. The pets became as famous as the presenters. Jack the cat proved to be the most camera shy of the lot fleeing the moment the camera came on him. Goldie, the Labrador of Simon Groom used to try and catch the gold fish in the Italian sunken garden that served as the Blue Peter garden where projects were carried out by the also famous Percy Thrower. When the garden was vandalised, twice, it was seen as a national disgrace and was thought to be an indication of a decline of moral values.
By the time the line up above of Mark Curry, Yvette Fieldling and Caron Keating joined the show was being to move away from the moralising it was know for. Keating was the action girl and also seen as being a big move away from the mumsy types like Valerie Singleton and Janet Ellis. It was a smart move as it meant that the show’s focus was set ready for the future and has contributed to the shows incredible longevity. Long may this great show continue as it is truly a national institution.