Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a British children's television show created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world,^[4] having been broadcast since October 1958.^[5] It was originally shown live on BBC One until 2012 and then it would move full-time to the CBBC television channel, since March 2025, all editions are now pre-recorded.

Blue Peter
Genre	Entertainment
Created by	John Hunter Blair
Presented by	(See full list)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	50
No. of episodes	533 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locations	BBC Lime Grove Studios (1958–1960) BBC Television Centre (1960–2011) dock10 studios (2011–2025)[1]
Running time	15 minutes (1958–1967) 25 minutes (1967-2008) 35 minutes (2005–2006; CBBC Channel Extension) 24 minutes (2008–2011) 28 minutes (2007,2012–Present) 60 minutes (birthday specials and documentaries)
Production companies	BBC Children's Productions (2018–2022)[2] BBC Studios Kids & Family (2022–present)[3]
Original release
Network	BBC1 (1958–2012) BBC2 (1980–present) CBBC (2012–present)
Release	16 October 1958 (1958-10-16) – present

Creator

• Director: Tim Fransham (Series 49-50), Ally Beasant (Series 49: Who Peter Special)
• Producer: Leo Sen (Series 49), Dan Tucker (Series 50)
• Executive Producer: Kez Margrie (CBBC), Audrey Neil (Series 49-52)
• Assistant Producer: Lucie Abson (Series 48-49), Susan Wills (Series 49: Who Peter Special), Becky Asprey (Series 49-51) Andy Clarke (Series 50-51)
• Production Executive: Jamie Mcleish (Series 49),Beckie Cooper (Series 50-51)
• Stage Manager: Julian Steel (Series 49: Who Peter Special)

Full Episodes

Series 49

Episodenumber	Episodenumber2	Title	Original Air Date	Running Time
500	111	30:5:2007	30 May 2007	24:36
503	114	Who Peter: A Blue Peter Special	13 June 2007	27:53
504	115	13:6:2007		24:36
505	116	14:6:2007	14 June 2007	24:34
509	120	Series 50 Finale	28 June 2007	24:29

Series 50

Episodenumber	Episodenumber2	Title	Original Air Date	Running Time
510	1	5:9:2007	5 September 2007	24:30
511	2	6:9:2007	6 September 2007	24:32
512	3	Episode 3	12 September 2007	24:30
513	4	13:9:2007	13 September 2007	24:29
514	5	Episode 5	19 September 2007	24:34
515	6	20:9:2007	20 September 2007	24:32
516	7	26:9:2007	26 September 2007	24:34
517	8	Episode 8	27 September 2007	24:30
518	9	Episode 9	3 October 2007	24:32
519	10	4:10:2007	4 October 2007	24:36
520	11	10:10:2007	10 October 2007	24:31
521	12	11:10:2007	11 October 2007	24:29
522	13	17:10:2007	17 October 2007	24:31
523	14	18:10:2007	18 October 2007	24:34
526	17	Halloween Special 2007	31 October 2007	24:31
527	18	7:11:2007	7 November 2007	24:29
529	20	8:11:2007	8 November 2007	24:33
531	21	Episode 21	14 November 2007

Background

Blue Peter uses a magazine format which includes viewer and presenter challenges, competitions, interviews, and an arts and crafts making feature, which has the famous catchphrase "Here's one I made earlier".^[6]

The show has had 43 presenters in its history, some of the best known ones include Valerie Singleton, John Noakes, Peter Purves, Janet Ellis, Caron Keating, Anthea Turner, Konnie Huq, Matt Baker, Helen Skelton, and Adam Beales. The current presenters are Joel Mawhinney, Abby Cook, and Shini Muthukrishnan.^[7]

Another well known feature is the resident pets, of which there have been many over the years, the first was a dog named Petra who was introduced in 1962, as well as another dog named Shep, who was known for being excitable and presenter John Noakes often said "Get down, Shep!", which also became a catchphrase. There were also cats, tortoises, and parrots as well, the current pet is a dog named Henry who has been on the show since 2019.

A popular feature on the show is the iconic Blue Peter badges, which are awarded to viewers and celebrities, there are different types of badges depending on what they have achieved, from the standard blue and white badge to the gold badge for exceptional achievements. Badge holders get free entry to various attractions across the United Kingdom.^[8]