Trivia / Blue Peter

• Contractual Purity: Very much the case here, at least while you're actually on the show. Presenters are required to present a "clean and wholesome" image at all times. This means no smoking, no drugs and certainly no being a Page Three Stunna.
  • Richard Bacon's drug-related fall is well documented.
  • Lesley Judd left the series shortly before it was revealed her lover had left his wife for her.
  • Zoe Salmon's innappropriate on-air diversion into her Northern Irish political affiliations nearly got her sacked (see main).
  • Current presenter Richie Driss has admitted to publicly partying and drinking a lot, in one instance injuring himself when falling off a tree while completely drunk to the brim, showing his scars off on Instagram (before the images were deleted). It didn’t stop him from getting a role as a presenter in the series though.
• Executive Meddling: Biddy Baxter, who saw The BBC's role (and by extension Blue Peter) as an organization appointed to inform and to educate, at the expense of entertainment (see Executive Veto) Baxter's essentially benign, but still authoritarian, management of BP is said to be the biggest single reason why BP has lasted so long - it is viewed as an old-time quality product. It has been frequently commented on as to how "standards appear to have slipped" since Baxter gave up the reins.
• Executive Veto: Prior to producer Biddy Baxter, the show had featured up-and-coming musical groups in music slots. However, Baxter was against having musical acts on an educational programme and cancelled scheduled appearances by two quite popular new bands of the time - The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. No musical group ever again appeared on BP until the very late 1990's and Baxter's retirement, when Steps became the house-band for Blue Peter.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Lulu the elephant incident is particularly infamous.
• Referenced by...:
  • Mike Oldfield released a Cover Version of the show's theme as a single in 1979.
  • In I Think I Love You, Petra's classmates make barking noises every morning during roll call because she shares a name with one of the show's dogs.
  • In RuPaul's Drag Race UK, a British Reality Show within the wider Drag Race franchise, contestants are awarded "Ru Peter badges" when they win the show's weekly challenges.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: In 1998, Richard Bacon became the first host to be fired from the show after he confessed to taking cocaine after a tabloid expose. He had been on for only 18 months and had to give his Blue Peter badge in. Luckily, he would prove himself to be no Pete Best as he would clean up and has since been a successful presenter for other grown-up based shows.

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