There’s only one thing more surreal than making a Blue Peter “Here’s one I made earlier” creation and that is doing one with the help of CBBC’s star puppet Hacker T Dog.
On the new set of the world’s longest-running children’s TV show, its first non-human presenter is helping me craft an insect hotel using a tin can, glue and some “chenille stems”. The latter is the rebranded name for pipe cleaners, although that might have passed you by.
“It’s not catching on like ‘innocent men’ did,” quips Hacker, referring to the hilarious fourth wall-breaking viral clip of him and his former CBBC continuity co-star Lauren Layfield corpsing.
My bug hotel efforts may be at the Premier Inn end of the insect accommodation market but Hacker is encouraging. He’s surprisingly useful for someone lacking opposable thumbs – and whose paws his puppet master Phil Fletcher (who also does Hacker’s voice) has to operate using sticks, while watching the action on a monitor below the desk.
In a genius move, Fletcher’s quick-witted canine has been hired as Blue Peter’s new presenter to bring his comedic chaos and legions of fans to the show as part of an attempt to update it to appeal to a new generation of kids.
Hacker says he’s “proud” to join Blue Peter, pointing out he’s the first presenter who “can’t blink”. In addition to assisting the other presenters with the makes and delivering his trademark one-liners, he says he will be doing some red carpet “showbusiness junkets … I’m dead good at them”. But unlike his intrepid co-hosts, “I’m not climbing Nelson’s Column, cocker”.
His arrival is part of a revamp of Blue Peter that sees it move to a new central Manchester location with a cosy, “apartment style” set. It now lives in an airy, refurbished Victorian market hall that Hacker reckons has an “Ikea showroom” vibe – appropriate from a presenter who can be packed flat.
The changes are a strategy to target the TikTok generation and signal a more relaxed era for the 67-year-old show. The large studio fostered by the show’s late legendary editor Biddy Baxter is replaced with smaller, zoned filming areas and a social media filming backdrop. With its bright colours, exposed brick walls, upcycled furniture and industrial-style shelving and greenery, Blue Peter’s new set is Mancunian-loft-development-meets-Monica’s-apartment-in-Friends.
Presenter Shini Muthukrishnan thinks it, “feels so homely.”
Co-host Joel Mawhinney says it “feels a lot more like an apartment where we’re all just having fun”. Which is a lot better than the old studio: “It was actually quite jarring for some kids, because if they’re online and watching other shows, they don’t really see that any more.”
Another part of the revamp is a lot more controversial – Blue Peter living up to its catchphrase “Here’s one I made earlier” and no longer being filmed live. There was an outcry when that was announced, with some saying viral moments such as the infamous 1969 episode involving Lulu the pooing elephant would be lost.
But, speaking to some ex-Blue Peter hosts who have been assembled for my behind-the-scenes tour of the new set (Blue Peter’s like a wholesome Hotel California; you never really leave), Konnie Huq points out Lulu’s scene was actually pre-recorded: “The majority of the shows were live, but … ‘as live’ is the same thing. You’ll still get all of that, because it’s not ever going to be a show that isn’t ‘as live’.”
In fact, Mawhinney reckons, “we might get actually more viral moments” because the presenters will be more “relaxed” and “some of the best stuff” happens in rehearsals, which will now be filmed.
It might not be live any more but episodes can be updated close to transmission to reflect topical events, which can also be covered in films for the programme’s YouTube channel, explains show editor Ellen Evans, adding: “We’ve noticed a real shift. More and more kids are watching stuff on demand.”
On average, 1.8 million under-16s watched Blue Peter each week last year, up 13%, with almost half of them watching on iPlayer. Its YouTube channel hit 40m views, up 400% year-on-year.
Although viewers can still watch it on CBBC at 5pm on Fridays, the vibe now is “digital first” and individual elements, such as the “makes”, will also become box sets on iPlayer and YouTube. Current presenter Abby Cook reckons the changes are “positive, because it’s meeting kids where they are … instead of making them be there at five o’clock on a Friday, it’s going: ‘You can have Blue Peter whenever, whatever.’”
Other changes include filming out and about more across the UK and making the speed of the show “more dynamic … much more in tune with what else kids are consuming elsewhere”, says Evans.
The former presenters back the moves: Anthea Turner argues Blue Peter has “always grown with its audience” and “the genie’s out of the bottle and we have to go with it”.
Radzi Chinyanganya thinks TV is at an “inflection point” and “if you don’t adapt you die”, but wonders what the loss of a training ground for live presenting skills might mean for the future of the industry.
Part of Blue Peter’s success is down to the fact it has “kept evolving” and been “ahead of the times”, with its appeals, inclusivity and environmentalism, argues Diane-Louise Jordan.
Some viewers just dislike change she explains: when she joined the show in 1990 as the first black presenter from a working-class background, there were, appallingly, “sackloads of awful mail … saying I was going to bring the programme down – it was going to never be the same.
“People don’t think they like change when they see something that’s a bit different. Within a few weeks, everything had settled down.”
For those wondering if the clock is TikToking for the beloved BBC brand, Evans is already planning events for its 70th birthday in 2028 and says, reassuringly, the new elements will “future-proof” Blue Peter for generations to come.
The new series of Blue Peter airs at 5pm, Friday 5 September on CBBC and BBC iPlayer
