Discussion Series / BluePeter

Christ, this page has been butchered since I last visited....

Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages. Hide / Show Replies

Any discussion of Blue Peter should dedicate time and space to the phenomenon of BIDDY BAXTER, the feared producer who ran BP with an iron fist for over 30 years, and who did more than most to create the show's identity while keeping errant presenters in line. Prior to Baxter, the show featured pop groups of the late 1950's and early 1960's. She insisted there be NONE of this mind-rotting nonsense on HER improving and educational show for young people, and red-pencilled scheduled appearances by two bands just bubbling under the cusp of fame - the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She sacked presenters who slipped from grace; she set the tone of the show; she made the Annual a worthy book for kids.

And after she left, Steps and Sclub 7 became the first pop groups in thirty-odd years....

There must be a trope for producer/directors like Biddy?

Edited by AgProv Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages. Hide / Show Replies

I remember Zoe Salmon, the Barbie-blonde presenter from northern Ireland, once reacted angrily, live on air, to a graphic of the British Isles that suggested the island of Ireland was one whole seperate country. (the usual visual convention is to colour Northern Ireland seperately from the republic and take good care to include the border. For some reason this graphic omitted the border and coloured all of Ireland green.

Zoe took offence at this, in such a way that her own ethnic and political/religious allegiances became very obvious - she came out as Ulster Protestant Loyalist live on air, thus becoming the first sectarian Irish presenter of Blue Peter. ("Orange Peter"?)

This was perhaps not a wise thing to do, as her punishment was to go out and learn the art of Irish traditional dancing a la Riverdance, a cultural and ethnic thing that from Zoe's point of view belongs to the Fenians and Taigs on the other side of the ethnic divide. Quite possibly to reassure viewers savvy enough to have noticed her Paisely-lite outburst that Blue Peter is a non-discriminatory and non-sectarian show?

Edited by AgProv Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages.