Former Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding has criticised the BBC’s decision to axe the long-running children’s show from BBC1.
Blue Peter, which Fielding hosted from 1987 until 1992, moved to the CBBC channel two years ago as part of the switch of the BBC’s children’s programmes to its two dedicated children’s channels.
Fielding told the new issue of Radio Times: “I don’t have the time [to watch it], but I am angry that it has been moved from BBC1 to CBBC.
“It deserves to be on mainstream television – not on the digital channel.
“People seem to forget that it’s not just a kids’ show, it’s a family show, and a generation of children and their parents are missing out because it’s less accessible.
“It should be on BBC1, just before [quiz show] Pointless.”
Last Thursday’s edition of the show, going behind the scenes at the FA Cup final, had 101,000 viewers, a 1.1% share of the audience at 5pm.
It was less than a tenth of the 1.1 million viewers watching bargain hunt show Flog It! at the same time on BBC1, and a fraction of the 2.4 million who watched Pointless.
When the BBC announced plans to move the show in 2012, an episode of Blue Peter the previous week had 300,000 viewers, a 3% share.
But former Blue Peter editor Richard Marson, now an independent producer, said many younger viewers no longer paid attention to linear TV.
“The idea that kids are waiting for anything to be scheduled on a channel is increasingly a piece of history,” said Marson.
He said he worried that modern TV shows in the age of on-demand viewing no longer reflected children’s lives.
“If you can get into the hearts and minds of children, then they become your loyal customers for life, whether you’re the BBC or Amazon,” he said.
“What’s most under threat are the grassroots shows that reflect the contemporary lives of children in this country and are not designed to be recycled for 10 years.”
