Blue Peter was such a facet of BBC television for so many years. Although still on CBBC, the good ol’ days come from when it was on BBC1. We wanted to celebrate the golden era of Blue Peter and talk to some folks involved with the programme!

Peter Purves was a presenter Blue Peter from 1967-1978. His love and knowledge of the program is immense. We decided not to talk about Doctor Who but focus on his time on Blue Peter, talk about the good times and also the times that were frustrating. In another interview with speak with Gethin Jones. Gethin had been a Blue Peter presenter from 2005-2007. These two gentlemen did the same role at very different times. Peter was a presenter during the glorious 70’s while Gethin was a presenter just as the series made a very serious change that would forever change the lineage of the program!

What holds these two interviews together is Richard Marson. Richard had been working on the show for years with finally taking over the show in 2003. He knows Peter very well as well as Gethin, being that he hired Gethin! Richard is the one who interviews these brilliant men but also parts of Richard’s story is weaved into the narrative too. Listening to Gethin’s loves and respect to the legacy of Blue Peter is incredible just as it is heartbreaking to hear what happened to the show once Richard left.

This episode has some downs but a lot of ups as we celebrate on of the greatest series the BBC ever made!

If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

Are You Being Served? is one of those great series and I wanted to have at least one episode that featured it. I interview Mike Berry, who played Mr. Spooner. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more in depth interview with him as we talk about all things from his early career starting out as a musician in the 1960s, modeling, Worzel Gummidge and of course Are You Being Served? I think it is a real fascinating look at the music business in the 1960s with how hits were made and hits were not made. He talks about knowing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during those early days too.

2021 is the 100th anniversary of Frank Thornton’s birth. I had the great opportunity to interview Frank’s daughter, Jane. Jane has been working with her son to catalogue and preserve Frank’s scrapbooks, notes and general archive he had kept from the time of his very first acting job until much later. You will hear some of the private comments he has written over the years about different things and it is really fun to see how Frank loved to use words. This is a very unique perspective on a much loved actor.