One man and his dog

Old brands die hard. As the BBC is discovering. But when the audience is gone, it’s time to move on. Even if you have to take your criticism for doing so. Even if you are partly responsible for creating the situation yourselves. And, after 50 years, that looks like being the case with Blue Peter. When I was a kid, I watched it because it was on, when nothing else was. It was a wholesome way of passing the time before The Magic Roundabout. Now, Blue Peter is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Last year, the BBC moved it from its slot to accommodate The Weakest Link, a programme with built-in obsolescence if ever I saw one. Cruelly, there was even a Weakest Link Blue Peter special. Now, the BBC Children’s Controller wants to re-model what remains of Blue Peter into a show with the buzz of Top Gear. While it doesn’t surprise me at all that Top Gear is seen as a children’s programme, the thought of Jeremy Clarkson saying ‘And here’s one I made earlier’ is enough to make me join Al Qaeda. All this comes to mind on the day that John Noakes is 75. Blue Peter’s longest serving presenter, he unknowingly did all of his famous death-defying stunts uninsured. He was voted off 2nd on the Weakest Link special. When host Anne Robinson mentioned Shep, John’s famous Blue Peter dog, who died in 1987, she brought the man to tears. I liked John Noakes. When I was a child, he seemed like an intrepid iron man with a heart. A bit like my friend, Dean. He is an example of the kind of British spirit I’ve been writing about. Much braver than the BBC. And now for something completely different! Today, comedian Alan Davies is 43. You know, I think he’d have made a very good Blue Peter presenter.

Mark Griffiths www.idealconsulting.co.uk