Happy birthday Blue Peter – 60 years old and as full of life as ever
Blue Peter hosts Radzi Chinyanganya and Lindsey Russell talk to Georgia Humphreys about the iconic show
When Blue Peter first aired for 15 minutes in 1958, no one could have predicted it would still be going 60 years later.
But it is, making it the world’s longest running children’s show.
To celebrate, there will be a one-hour special on CBBC tomorrow.
Starring some of our favourite Blue Peter presenters, it will also feature music from the likes of The Vamps and Sophie Ellisbextor – all accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra – while the Diamond Time Capsule will be sealed in the National Archives.
In the meantime, here’s a look at how Blue Peter has transcended the decades, with the help of current presenting duo Radzi Chinyanganya and Lindsey Russell.
The famous faces
There have been 37 Blue Peter presenters over the years, with John Noakes, who presented the series for 12 and a half years, the longest serving.
In the anniversary special, we will see the return of Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves, Anthea Turner, Tim Vincent and Konnie Huq – the longest-serving female presenter.
For both Russell, 27, and Chinyanganya, 31, who also started five years ago, how special the show is never escapes them.
“It’s surreal to be a part of an institution,” says Wolverhampton-born Chinyanganya.
“In Britain there aren’t that many institutions that you can say to a grandmother, a mother and a kid ‘do you know about something?’ and they all know it.”
The sought-after badges
There are eight types of badges – blue, silver, green, sport, purple, orange, gold and diamond.
In case you’re not in the know, viewers earn a blue badge by sending in an interesting letter, poem, picture or story – Blue Peter reads and responds to every single letter it receives. It’s estimated the show has awarded more than one million badges in 55 years.
It’s hugely inspiring for kids
The Blue Peter Appeal started in 1962, when viewers were asked to collect postage stamps to raise money for homes for homeless people.
It’s estimated that, across the 49 appeals since, children have raised the equivalent of more than £100 million in today’s money.
When Chinyanganya gets approached by fans, he realises the amazing impact he is having with his job.
He says: “I do something called the happy dance [on the show] and when kids do the happy dance, I always think, ‘Yes’.”
Asked about being a role model, he adds: “There’s an obligation I feel I have to any child that meets me or sees me on the TV screen to conduct myself in a certain way and hopefully the way that I’d do that would be something that bears fruit.
“Even if it’s the fact that I get my hair wet because I’ve got afro hair and not many black people like to get their hair wet – I’m trying to send a subliminal message that actually, it’s all right for you to swim.”
It’s always filmed live
Filming Blue Peter is no mean feat, especially as the presenters don’t have an autocue. The pair do, understandably, have nerves ahead of the birthday bash.
“The pressure is definitely on,” admits Russell.
“From a presenting point of view – and number 36 point of view – there’s all the presenters before me watching.” The Blue Peter pets
Nine dogs, nine cats, five tortoises and two parrots have been a part of the show over the decades.
George the tortoise, who died in 2004, takes the crown as the longest-serving pet.
Russell’s most emotional moment from the programme actually involves a Blue Peter pet – a guide dog that was trained up from birth and given to a young man called Callum on his 18th birthday.
“Seeing that process and being a part of that process, I was really proud, and just seeing how she was going to, quite literally, change his life,” she recalls.
The shows are constantly exciting
A big part of Blue Peter is the presenters getting properly stuck in.
That, of course, includes the “makes”, the most popular being Tracy Island, which led to 100,000 requests from viewers for the factsheet in 1993. Anthea Turner still has the one she made on the show.
Then there are the challenges the presenters take on – for the 60th, Russell has learned to fly a hot air balloon solo.
For Chinyanganya, the most memorable moment over the last five years was walking between the cities of Selma and Montgomery in the US.
“It was the march that Martin Luther King went on, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that,” he says.
Well, there’s only one thing left to say – bring on the next 60 years of Blue Peter.
● Blue Peter celebrates its 60th anniversary with a live one-hour special programme on CBBC tomorrow then continues every Thursday on CBBC.