Blue Peter

The Saturday morning kids slot, like The Saturday Show or Live & Kicking, will NEVER return on BBC 1. That's it. No messing around, no debate. It won't.

In fact, CBBC will disappear from BBC 1 and 2 sooner than we all think, probably to make way for the Olympics, and never return.

I know it's sad, but imagine it the other way, on a TV Forum in 1993, imagining what a WHOLE CHANNEL of kids programming would be like, instead of CBBC and CITV slots. It would be pretty hard to believe.

For the record, I can't believe they are still doing live presentation on the CBBC Channel, I would have thought that would have gone with DQF, but you may find features Blue Peter do now are absorbed into that, in time.

Presentation is very important in making the brand seem more human - rather than just a machine spitting out programmes on a loop like CITV. It's not as good as it used to be back in Studio 9, but there you go.

Cutting Blue Peter to once a week also frees up studio time. Given that there isn't the flexibility that could be had when they were in TVC. I suspect there will be a lot more twiddling & tweeking with several programmes over the next few months. Salford has plenty of office space but pre booked studio time is tight.

TCC already existed by then, and Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's UK channels launched that year. Wayback Machine to the rescue!

http://web.archive.org/web/20090422230115/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/framework/bbc_service_licences/childrens.html

I bet though now the new content each day from CBBC, CITV and CBeebies is probably the same or less than what was on offer in the traditional programming blocks.

Indeed what with separate studios for the BBC One links and those on the CBBC Channel. XChange everyday broadcasting live, a nice Newsround studio and live Saturday morning shows.

Oh wait, its 2011 and not 2003.

Don't forget, Blue Peter with a strong established long-running team and a great modernised look with possibly the best rendition of the theme tune since the 1970s.

Actually, the studios are empty 90% of the time. Blue Peter's set is up 24/7 unlike TV Centre where it would get taken down after the show and stored away for a week.



Blue Peter is not the cream of CBBC's output. It may be established, but it's not popular, and there are no merchandising opportunities because nobody wants to buy a Blue Peter product. The annual was discontinued for that reason! Nor is it cheap to make; sending Helen Skelton to the North Pole isn't cheap, plus there's a massive team working on the show like in the olden days which is completely disproportional to the ratings it achieves.

The fact of the matter is, Blue Peter is dull to children. Everything the show does is done elsewhere on CBBC and better, whether it's pop stars, challenges, makes, cooking... Ask a child "What is Blue Peter?" and they couldn't answer you. Even the opening titles are confused.

And the one thing that makes it 'Blue Peter' - the name - blights the show. As a brand, it turns kids away. It means nothing to kids. It's outdated in a way 'Watch with Mother' would be inappropriate. They'd be better renaming the show 'Helen and Barney Discover...' and kids would be more willing to give it a go.

The only way I can see the 'Blue Peter' brand surviving at all, is in a guise where Helen and Barney travel the UK/World on a ship called 'Blue Peter' and it drops them off at various locations and they do their activities. Take the Christmas special, "Blue Peter Christmas" means nothing. "Helen and Barney Discover... the meaning of Christmas" on the other hand is clear.

You can't say people don't watch because they find the brand dated and then say they don't watch because the brand makes no sense. Indeed, that's always been the case - the name never made much sense, the show has always been something your parents watched. Ultimately kids today are a product of kids from yesterday - and Blue Peter is a show those parents know. It's whether they can control the remote which is the question.

In it's current state it couldn't sustain airing three days a week - but I definitely think it could sustain an hour long slot a week. It just needs to be enabled to catch kids imagination once again - the traditional makes aren't going to do that, but plenty other aspects of the show can.

My parents didn't watch it, Blue Peter was for geeks. My Dad watched 'Magpie' which was seen as cooler.



Getting a decent audience because they are held captive and forced to watch isn't something you should aim for. The BBC should be making programmes that captivate the audience and programmes they will watch by choice.



I don't even see why it should be one hour a week, all year round. The future for Blue Peter surely lies in having 13 week runs a year with a very clear focus - like their new venture, Live and Deadly. If Blue Peter ran for just 13 weeks a year as a charity appeal show with associated make ideas, challenges, celebrity guests and fundraising VTs, it would have a much stronger focus.

Having watched the show recently, it seems a lot better than in previous years. They are getting really good guests, getting much more interactive and doing some more relevant topics for the age range. I would be interested to see how it has been doing since moving to Manchester and after the move to CBBC Channel. At the moment, it is a mix of the usual suspects that get the top ratings on the channel - Tracy Beaker and Dani's House, Sarah Jane Adventures, Horrible Histories, Deadly, Driving Academy, Scooby Doo and Young Dracula, which is doing very well for a show that has been off air for a few years!

There is still a place for a magazine show on CBBC, so I think there is a future for the show. However, a bit of a evolution on the frequency and length over the next year will probably be required to decide how best to run it.

Salford actually.