History - Biddy, Edward and Rose: a formidable partnership

Rosemary Gill, Edward Barnes and Biddy Baxter

As programme editor and producer, Biddy Baxter and Edward Barnes were the formidable partnership, along with Rosemary Gill, who developed Blue Peter into the format which viewers came to know and love over the next four to five decades.

Edward Barnes became an assistant producer of Blue Peter following the illness and death of the man who started it all off, Hunter Blair. Blair's departure from the team in June 1961 was followed by the appointment of a series of short term producers including Clive Parkhurst (who dropped presenter Leila Williams) and John Furness (who appointed Anita West to replace Leila).

Barnes then worked as assistant producer to Leonard Chase prior to the appointment of Biddy Baxter. It was under the stewradship of Chase and Barnes that Valerie Singleton was appointed as co-presenter to Christopher Trace on 3rd September 1962, a position she held for the next decade until her last regular appearance on 3rd July 1972.

Barnes and Baxter had first worked together professionally in the spring of 1962, though not on Blue Peter. The making of a series of radio programmes featuring megastar singer Eartha Kitt nearly turned into a disaster with Biddy playing a certain amount of gamesmanship in the face of an Eartha Kitt tantrum. In the event the recording sessions were a great success, leaving Edward Barnes impressed by Biddy's astute handling of a difficult situation.

Later that year, as the new leadership team on Blue Peter in the early 60s and working with a budget of just £180 a week, they were to introduce many of the fundamental ideas which turned the programme into such a massive hit with the UK's children.

Barnes (actually his wife Dorothy), for instance, came up with the idea of introducing a pet onto the programme in time for Christmas 1962. Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton cutting the ribbon of a large cardboard box covered with Christmas paper to reveal a tiny eight-week-old mongrel puppy. Years later it was revealed that the pup died of distemper within days of its one and only appearance on the show to be replaced on the next show in January 1963 by a very similar looking pup who was to be named Petra after a vote by 10 thousand viewers.

Another idea from the Barnes-Baxter team was the famous Blue Peter badge, using the ship logo designed by television artist Tony Hart. 1963 also saw the introduction of the much loved Blue Peter makes - over the years some 700 of which, from outfits for Teddy to the legendary Thunderbirds' Tracy Island were the designs of 'makes genius' Margaret Parnell.

Margaret's involvement with Blue Peter started with a letter to Valerie Singleton and soon her makes became an instant hit with viewers, presneters and the production team alike. Working in a shed at the bottom of her garden Margaret became the brains behind a plethora of fantastic items made from discarded boxes, kitchen roll tubes, pieces of string, Sellotape, wire coat hangers and not forgetting ...sticky-backed plastic!