Television and radio schedulers have always given special attention to the festive period, and pull out the stops to come up with a range of programmes that will keep the family entertained when they settle down to watch the box, after the annual avalanche of turkey, sprouts, pigs in blankets, Christmas pudding and too many chocolates (not to mention more tiny oranges than you can shake a stick at).

There are a plethora of Christmas episodes to consider, from all periods of broadcasting and in all genres.  Last year we picked out the schedule of fifty years ago for special attention, but one programme which was absent from the line-up that day was the variety show Christmas Night with the Stars.  First seen in 1958, this was a successor to previous years' all-star pantomimes and Television Christmas Parties - one difference being that Christmas Night with the Stars featured pre-recorded sketches and short episodes of popular entertainment series rather than being a live, continuous show.  

By 1958 pre-recording of inserts was more easily achieved, and so the necessity of getting all the performers together at the same time was avoided - the sketches might be recorded during the studio session for a normal episode in fact.  Those appearing in Christmas Night with the Stars that first year included Tony Hancock in his Budgerigar sketch, Billy Cotton and his Band, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Ray, the George Mitchell Singers and the cast of Dixon of Dock Green - a regular presence in the show for the next few years since Dixon was made by the light entertainment department, not the drama department, at that time.  With occasional breaks, Christmas Night with the Stars continued until 1972.

However, not all programmes shown at Christmas are stand-alone specials:  sometimes the series in question was going on anyway, and there just happened to be an episode on Christmas Day or nearby, that acknowledged the event one way or another.

One example of that would be the Z Cars episode It Never Rains…, shown on Christmas Day 1963.  The main plot is about a garage robbery, and there is a thief dressed as Father Christmas, but there is also a special guest appearance by the Merseybeat group The Swinging Blue Jeans (also appearing on the Light Programme the following day).   Though Z Cars was usually live, a custom was established to prevent the cast and crew having to work through Christmas itself by pre-recording an episode about half way through the autumn on a scheduled transmission day, with that date covered by pre-recording another episode before the start of each season.

Z Cars, from its inception until the mid-1970s, was on for long periods of the year, so there were plenty of other episodes around Christmas time, although only one other on Christmas Day itself.  The same applied to many other long-running series, though with shorter and shorter episode counts for all but the soap-operatic drama, it’s no longer so common now for series to co-incide with Christmas except by appointment.

Casualty is another drama series which has tackled the perils of Christmas time on a regular basis, and now tends to go on through most of the year, so there is no escape from Christmas editions.  Since the early 90s there have been a series of notable Christmas adventures, with sister show Holby City joining in as well, sometimes even in a combined edition Casualty @ Holby City.

Another medical drama joining in the Christmas spirit was Dr Finlay’s Casebook, the 1920s set series originally adapted from the stories of A.J. Cronin.  Fifty years ago to the day came the episode The Gifts of the Magi, in which Doctors Finlay and Cameron, and housekeeper Janet, are called on to perform their party pieces for the cottage hospital Christmas party.  Other popular series however have generally eschewed the seasonal special, perhaps considering the festivities would get in the way or compromise their hard-hitting edge.

EastEnders has established a firm tradition of saving some of its more spectacular plot twists for Christmas Day, from the first event-episode in 1986 which saw Den serving Angie with divorce papers in one of the biggest rated episodes in the series’ history (anyone out there who doesn’t know who Den and Angie were, congratulations, you have now made me feel very old).  There have been a number of high profile storylines at this time of year, and presumably 2016 will go out with a similar bombshell…  But perhaps surprisingly, the first Christmas during the run of EastEnders, 1985, was comparatively low-key, and there wasn’t even an episode on 25 December itself.

For the last 11 years Doctor Who has also always had a Christmas episode, though they have not necessarily involved the series' most spectacular turning points.  That said, David Tennant had his first full episode in that first modern era Christmas episode, and bowed out in 2009 in a two part Christmas and New Year double episode story.

As I discussed this time last year, the only time, before Doctor Who was revived, that there was a Christmas Day episode was in 1965, and in other years the programme went out of its way to avoid transmitting on the big day, even if that involved a big gap in the series, as in 1976.  This year, 2016 having been without a full series, we will get in The Return of Doctor Mysterio the first new episode of the show since last Christmas Day.

Comedy too has its Christmas episodes, though given the shorter length of comedy series it is rarer for their yuletide editions to be an integral part of a series.  In fact it is not unknown for a Christmas special to be the only outing in a given year for a particular programme – as with the 1976 Porridge special, or the Dad’s Army episodes in 1971 and 1976.  As with The Good Life’s one and only Christmas special, these programmes are among those which are revived to fill out the Christmas schedules on a regular basis - which probably tells you something about how to make a comedy that stands the test of time.  

Another series which became a Christmas fixture, was the 1980s monster hit Only Fools and Horses...., though it wasn't until its third series that the Christmas episode was seen on the big day itself, and then in a somewhat dark story about Del and Rodney's father turning up (but was he really Rodney's father...?)  The 1990/1 series of Only Fools, of which the Christmas episode was an integral part, turned out to be the last full run of the show, with only Christmas episodes until 1996 when the series ended - or so it was to be at the time - with the Christmas trilogy that saw Del becoming a millionaire at last.  A further three episodes were made, but they two were spread out over Christmas Days from 2001 to 2003 (on the same day, co-incidentally, as a one-off revival of Christmas Night with the Stars).

Top of the Pops of course has now become a traditional part of the Christmas season, even though it stopped being broadcast as a weekly show ten years ago.  The Christmas special has gone out every year since 1964, the first year of the programme’s existence, though at first at least it did not always go out on the Christmas Day itself.  The Christmas edition is now the only chance for artists to say they have been on Top of the Pops. 

Of necessity, the programme was always live, or recorded very close to transmission, and though there is now a little leeway with the Christmas edition, they are still taped fairly shortly before transmission.  There was also a tradition for many years of having two editions at Christmas, so that the programme could become an in-depth look back at the whole year’s music, rather than just covering the Christmas chart and the (admittedly important) Christmas number one.

Radio is perhaps more prone to continuing existing series at Christmastime, as much of its output is generally very regular.  Radios 1 and 2 tend to continue with the same programme slots, with occasional special programmes, and sometimes there are different presenters in the normal slots. 

On Christmas Day 1967, the first under the new regime of Radio 1 and 2, when they still shared many programmes, regular shows like Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Young were interspersed with specials like Kenny and Cash with Kenny Everett and Dave Cash, and The D.J.s’ Christmas Party hosted by Pete Murray.  Radio 2, when not sharing Radio 1’s programmes, had special editions like a Christmas episode of Round the Horne and Cotton’s Christmas Knees-Up starring Billy Cotton.

Of course, the concept of special Christmas episodes only really came to fruition once the actual concept of series of programmes gradually had developed in the early decades of broadcasting.  The first Radio Times Christmas edition shows that the early programmes on offer for December 25th were modest enough.

Children’s Hour is one of the earliest regular programme strands, though there were different regional versions of it, often under different names, rather than one centralised networked edition.  The London edition on 25/12/23 was mostly concerned with a play, On Christmas Eve.  The evening schedule consisted of a programme of music played by the Wireless Orchestra (forerunner of all BBC orchestras), the News, a talk on Wit and Humour and more dance music, this time by the Savoy Orpheans direct from the Savoy Hotel itself.

Of all the myriad seasonal shows that have been created since those early days, one institution that seems never to disappear is the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, one example of which always seems to be shown on or around Christmas Day.  This has become the archetypal Christmas special, though to be fair in its day it was responsible for some of the highest ratings of any programme.

When Morecambe and Wise returned to the BBC in 1968 after many years on ITV, it was partly due to the fact that the BBC could offer them colour television, although it meant their programme would be on BBC2 at first.  Eric Morecambe was sadly victim to a heart attack after the first series aired, but had recovered enough by the end of the year that he and Ernie Wise were able to host the annual Christmas Night with the Stars.  1969 saw the series return with a new writer, Eddie Braben, and longer, 45-minute episodes which allowed them the room to expand their characterisations.  The hour-long Christmas episode gradually became a showcase for even more elaborate staging and more impressive guest stars.

Given concerns for Eric’s health, the BBC was careful not to overtax the duo by demanding too many shows, and eventually in 1977 the only programme they made was the Christmas show.  Even so, it was Eric who took on the stress load, with his perfectionism meaning he worried about whether each year’s show would be good enough - if it wasn’t, he thought it might spoil people’s Christmas.

But they didn’t.  The classic shows from 1971 (Shirley Bassey and the army boot, André Previn and 'all the wrong notes') to 1977 are full of classic moments and stand many many repeat showings.  Angela Rippon dancing, South Pacific performed by a chorus of BBC presenters and newsreaders, Glenda Jackson as Queen Victoria… and Ernie’s ‘dry’ version of Singin’ in the Rain – the list goes on…

In the field of current affairs, there was naturally less by way of Christmas editions, other than the Money Programme looking at its financial side, but the early evening magazine Nationwide contributed to the festivities from the mid-70s, until its demise in 1983, by organising a Christmas carol competition, which was carried on with afterwards by the likes of Breakfast Time and Pebble Mill at One.  Carol competitions on the BBC go back at least to one held by Children's Hour in 1936, and survived until the 1980s A Song for Christmas.  

And who could forget the Blue Peter Christmas celebrations, in the 1970s especially, with the studio full of well-behaved kids singing carols, led by the band of the Chalk Farm branch of the Salvation Army?  The run-up to the big day was also trailed with present-making ideas and the ceremonial lighting of the Advent Crown.

Other popular children's series have also done their bit for the cause of festive fun - from Jackanory to Crackerjack to the Rentaghost special Rentasanta (a programme that had the misfortune to miss its original transmission slot in 1978 due to industrial action and only turned up the following year).

So there you have it – some samples of the kind of fare available for our Christmas entertainment and edification.  All it remains to do now is go off and enjoy (hey, why are you looking at your computer anyway – go and indulge in some festive frolics…!)  A Merry Christmas from the Genome Blog - we'll be back next week (aka Next Year...)

Prunella and Peter's cupboard bore
No food or presents anywhere,
But a box, a newt and a tube of glue
Make Peter Piper's dreams come true.

No Advent Calendar can be considered complete without a mention of Blue Peter's DIY craft projects in the run-up to Christmas. Christmas cards, tree decorations, a top secret gift for grandparents using only "a soap-powder packet, wrapping paper and glue" (if anyone remembers what this was please let us know), and of course the Advent Crown, dangerously made from wire coat hangers, tinsel and real candles.

You could even use the magazine itself to build a reindeer... 

Do you remember any more of Blue Peter's Christmas DIY projects? Even better... do you have a picture? 

Easter is of course a festival of food, and television quickly cottoned onto this in the 1950s. Here, legendary television cook Marguerite Patten prepares a simnel cake for the cameras as part of Designed For Women.

Billy Smart's Circus became a regular Easter treat for viewers during the 1960s and 70s, which included some elaborate and detailed listings, including an act "who spend their family life on a slack wire". This spectacle fell out of televisual favour in later years.

A suitably seasonal Radio Times cover for Easter week in 1960, which involves a liberal splash of yellow as colour gradually made an appearance in the magazine. 

Blue Peter became more famous for its annual Christmas advent crown and a whole host of other seasonal craft ideas, but the programme often got in on the Easter act as well, as this 1976 photograph featuring Lesley Judd shows.

Easter 1987 and here's a very striking cover from the Radio Times, created by artist Ashley Potter. It encapsulates one of the iconic themes of the season. 

It comes as little surprise that sitcom The Vicar of Dibley embraced both Christmas and Easter with special episodes. Geraldine Granger (Dawn French) was shown in a series of publicity photos with a bunny, a lamb, a fluffy chick - and this mouthwatering plate of hot cross buns.

One of the most important craft skills in television is that of the designer – now usually called the production designer. 

He or she is responsible primarily for the sets of a programme (and ‘settings’ is how they are credited in many early programmes), but in a more general sense, for making the 'world' of a programme, whether fictional or factual, into something that can be realised in a studio or on location.

Television has been described - especially in its early, live, days - as a hybrid of radio, theatre and film.  Its immediacy and reach was similar to radio; it had film’s property of presenting a story in pictures with the ability to cut from one image to another.   It mirrored theatre in that only certain effects could be achieved physically because of  limited space, and because the action had to be mounted continuously in real time, even if it was discontinuous in the play.

Increasingly sophisticated visual effects  such as CGI and green-screen, have become a common element in many modern productions, enabling scenes that need impossibly large casts, sets, or fantastic landscapes to be realised.  Though technicians are a vital part of creating such effects, they would not be effective without the skills of designers.  Lighting and camerawork of course play a vital central role in realising the visuals of a programme, and cannot be ignored as part of the design equation – but that is a topic for another time...

The origins of television design

The very earliest television, low-definition broadcasts by the Baird company from 1929, had very limited design elements because of the nature of the technology.  30-line images were so poor that the constant problem was to create any kind of meaningful image, so anything other than a plain backcloth would probably have been more of a hindrance.  Early television did however use a chequerboard pattern flooring which gave a basic sense of perspective.  

A new world was opened up by high definition television in 1936.  At first artists often performed in front of curtains, behind which successive acts could be in waiting, but soon the desire for more complex scenery arose, particularly for drama.  Early scenery was crude, partly because even with a higher line standard, pictures were not very sharp, and still in black and white, they were seen at home on tiny screens.  But there were was an increasing sophistication of design, with pioneers like Peter Bax responding to the rapid rise in the ambition and complexity of productions. 

Plays like the modern dress Julius Caesar, R.U.R., gangster drama Smoky Cell, or The Fame of Grace Darling, showed the range of productions attempted.  There were also shorter productions like the romantic comedy Ann and Harold and the series of ‘whodunnits’ called Telecrimes, the design for which made the most of limited resources.  One of the more adventurous techniques was the ‘penumbrascope’, which used impressionistic shadows to create moods quickly and economically.

With the seven year hiatus caused by World War Two, television hardly developed until the 1950s, but there was a new influx of talent after the war, and increasingly sophisticated technology.  Better cameras, the spread of television beyond London, and the beginnings of recording technology all added to the excitement around the medium.  Design started to become more important, whether Hollywood-influenced variety settings, or increasingly realistic backdrops for dramas.  With more programmes, designers had to be found from a range of disciplines, rather than just theatre design or cinema art direction.

The Quatermass Experience

The existing early recordings of programmes give us a chance to see how settings worked within programmes, rather than relying on still photographs for evidence as we have to do with earlier broadcasts. 

One of the earliest existing shows is The Quatermass Experiment (designer Stewart Marshall), Nigel Kneale’s ground-breaking science fiction horror story from 1953. From the two surviving episodes it can be seen that ambitious sets like the wreckage of a house destroyed by a crashing rocket were possible.  Later episodes featured the story’s climax in Westminster Abbey, which used a mixture of studio sets and photo blow-ups.

The following year Kneale adapted George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (Barry Learoyd) in a memorable and historic version, which had highly effective design elements – from scene-setting paintings of ruined London, to the contrasting technological sheen of the Ministry of Truth and the shabby houses of the ‘proles’. 

The Quatermass series are a useful way of studying the developments of television through the 50s, with series made in 1953, 1955 and 1958 demonstrating changes in acting style, production and design.  The 1955 series Quatermass II (Stephen Taylor) already has a faster pace, and more ambitious sets, making the most of the space available at Lime Grove studios. 

While some of its more memorable sequences are achieved using the increased amount of filming available, the studio sets show how effectively a story can be told by creating a series of different places that set contrasting scenes – from an Army radar truck, to laboratories and control rooms, cafes to committee rooms in the Houses of Parliament.

The final BBC Quatermass series, Quatermass and the Pit (Clifford Hatts), showed how programmes could be opened out even more.  By this time the BBC’s own film studios at Ealing were fully functioning, and the main location, the ‘Pit’, an excavation site in London’s Knightsbridge containing a crashed Martian spaceship, was effectively realised both at Ealing and in the BBC’s Riverside Studios. 

Television Centre meanwhile, as a purpose built programme factory, did make life easier for designers in realising their visions.  With dedicated workshops for constructing and painting scenery, linked to the studios by access roads, many of the problems associated with other venues were overcome.  There is a story that the original police box prop built for Doctor Who in 1963 had to be reduced in size because it could not be fitted into the scenery lift at Lime Grove, an idiosyncratic building at best.

Outside the sphere of drama and comedy, sets are still important to create the mood and house the action of shows from variety to politics and current affairs, chat shows to children’s factual programmes.

A Whole Scene Going

In these cases the design edict that form follows function is king:  Blue Peter needed a large, empty studio to accommodate gymnastic displays, large vehicles, pop bands, and at Christmas, hordes of schoolchildren and the Chalk Farm Salvation Army band – but the presenters were usually to be found firstly on the iconic seating unit in the centre of the studio, the focal point of each episode. 

In discussion shows, the designer needs to consider where to position the chairperson and the guests, and sometimes there is an audience too, as with Question Time.  Likewise the modern proliferation of panel shows such as Have I Got News for You has seen their set designs become more inventive as while retaining a common layout of panellists and compere.  Chat shows tend to have a more relaxed version of the same layout.

Another vital aspect of design is the technical one of where the camera and sound crews can be placed so they can actually record the programme.  With audience shows, whether chat shows or sitcoms, the audience should be able to see the action going on, though inevitably some sequences will only be visible on studio monitors.

Oh in Colour

When colour made its entrance in the late 1960s, there needed to be a rethink on the part of all designers.  Although it had been in development since the 50s, the technology turned out to be over-sensitive to certain shades, and it took much trial and error before realistic-looking  colours were achieved.  The start of BBC2 in 1964 had also meant recruiting extra design staff, and new ideas were imported along with them, which saw fruition in the brave new world of colour.

As years have gone on, other technological challenges have faced designers – from better cameras, subtler lighting, to widescreen and high definition, with the latter potentially only increasing in sharpness.  The decline of film and its replacement with ‘filmised’ videotape production has no doubt also had subtle effects on design effort, although the ease with which videotaped images can be replayed makes life easier for the designer as well as the director in allowing them to quickly see how their work looks, and how it could be improved.

As long as television is made there will be a place for the designer.  While many programmes can be made now in ‘real’ locations, there is still a certain amount of artifice needed for the particular needs of productions.

Much of television is still made in studio conditions, and it’s a rare programme that needs no setting at all, or just the minimal curtain that sufficed back in the early 1930s.  Every show has its unique challenges, and in the final analysis it is the experience and skill of the designer that has to solve them.

What are your favourite iconic settings for programmes?  Share your thoughts on the importance of television design in the box below...

Blue Peter is the BBC’s flagship children’s programme which has formed an important part of its output since its launch in 1958. 

As a favourite with succeeding generations, it has received a great deal of attention. Perhaps the greatest amount has been reserved for the ‘dream team’ era from the late 1960s to early 70s, when Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Peter Purves were at the helm. Successive replacements have in many ways tried to emulate that formula, although in the changed environment of the 21stcentury the programme is a very different animal from 45 years ago.

The prominent figure behind the scenes from 1962 to 1988 was formidable editor Biddy Baxter, and her long service and strong personality have shaped the programme in no uncertain terms. 

Yet one figure who preceded her is the programme’s founder and first producer, John Hunter Blair, about whom little is known.

John Wauchope Hunter Blair was a slightly eccentric and obscure figure.  Born in 1903 to Major-General W. Hunter Blair and his wife Ethel, he went to school at the Royal Naval College in Osbourne and Dartmouth.  After studying at Edinburgh University, he did an MA in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford, before becoming a schoolmaster.  

In 1933 he took the unusual step of going to work in Latvia, at the University of Riga.  He stayed there until 1940, when the independent republic was swallowed up by the Soviet Union.  In the course of his time there he became fluent in Latvian, began working in radio for the Latvian State Broadcasting Service, and married a local woman. 

Even less is known about Hunter Blair’s wife than about him:  she was called Helene Ezergailis, but by the time he was established in the UK as a television producer they had separated.  He obviously didn’t talk about her as it was only vaguely apparent to BBC officials and colleagues that he had been married. He lived alone, and some even referred to him as a bachelor.

When he left Latvia he moved to Australia, where he worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, initially as an announcer based in Brisbane.  In 1943 he became a script writer for ABC, and then in 1944 a Presentation Officer, which also involved writing.  He continued in this job until 1947, when for some reason he decided to return to Britain. 

He got leave of absence from ABC, and applied to join the BBC.  One of the great loves of his life was music, and he at first tried to enter the music department. But he was turned down, and gained a sick relief post in Far Eastern department of the Empire Service.  Following this he moved to Schools Broadcasting, where he obviously made a good enough impression. He is credited as script writer for the series Senior English in 1949, and for the Geography series, contributing a talk about Latvia, as a ‘former British resident'. In 1951 he was able to gain promotion to Producer in Children’s Television.

It’s not clear why Hunter Blair made the move to television, but by 1951 it was starting to expand around the country, with the opening of the BBC’s third transmitter, Holme Moss, bringing the medium to the North of England.  It had also been decided to start a regular children’s television service in 1950, to replace the patchy, occasional programmes shown before.  Although characters like Muffin the Mule were already popular, the BBC decided to dedicate a slot to children’s programming, which came from the new Lime Grove studios.  

The expansion of television meant new people were taken on, though Hunter Blair seems to have replaced a producer called Alan Bromly whose contract had ended. Bromly nonetheless went on to have a successful TV career, producing thriller serials including those of Frances Durbridge. 

At this point Hunter Blair did not even have a television set, unable to obtain one of the few domestic sets owned by the BBC for staff use, although he was able to hire one from Radio Rentals and claim back the cost.

Hunter Blair began work at Lime Grove on 1 November 1951.  Although working as a producer his name did not necessarily appear in Radio Times, and when it did it was sometimes in another capacity.  He is credited for musical direction on children’s drama series The Silver Swan. 

After a year or two his credits start to appear as a producer, for Jack-in-the-Box, The Runaway Band and The House that Jack Built.  In 1954 he continued with Jack-in-the-Box but was also producer, writer and music composer for a play with music called The Smith Family which received several showings, latterly billed as a children’s opera.  It’s not always clear from listings what children’s output Hunter Blair was producing, but among the material shown were items on model railways, and appearances by young artist Tony Hart, both of which would figure in Hunter Blair’s later career.

By 1955 he was dividing his time between drama serial Bobby in France, which combined elements of language teaching with storytelling, and allowed Hunter Blair to exercise his good command of French and passion for travel. His flair for music was reflected in Television Puppet Theatre and two programmes with Eric Robinson and his Orchestra. He was also still in charge of Jack-in-the-Box, which featured Nat Temple and his Orchestra.

Birth of Blue Peter 

His credits mounted up in 1956, producing drama including more Bobby in France, Lucky Silver and The Adventures of Pierre.  His musical output also increased, with Anniversary marking 200 years since Mozart’s birth and The Fisk Jubilee Singers, a programme of Negro spirituals.

By 1957 Hunter Blair was a safe pair of hands, and was commended – and given a bonus – for his innovative work in music for children’s TV.  Annual reports paint a picture of a man who was very happy in his work, though he could be uncommunicative in formal situations.  His appearance, as described by acquaintances and confirmed by the few photographs of him, was reminiscent of Billy Bunter, with his round face and spectacles.  There seems to have been something of the schoolboy about him too in his enthusiasm for model railways. He was said to possess a first class mind, though happy in his lot as a children’s TV producer.

His 1957 productions seem to have been mostly musical, until he was appointed editor and producer of the series Studio E.  Starting in January, Hunter Blair took over with what was described as a ‘scratch team of assistants’.  This magazine programme included comedy with the likes of Clive Dunn as well as a range of factual and music items. George Cansdale talked about animals, Percy Thrower about gardening, Shirley Abicair told stories and played her zither, Johnny Morris appeared as the Hot Chestnut Man.  It was presented by the redoubtable Vera McKechnie, later Elizabeth Lanchbury. 

Hunter Blair left “Studio E” in 1958 to be replaced by Ursula Eason, but continued to produce Jack-in-the-Box, until it finished in September.  He also co-wrote another musical drama, Castle Dangerous, for which he also composed and conducted the music.  He had the odd other credit, but something new was in the air.

Owen Reed, head of Children’s Television, saw there was a gap in the provision for children too old for Watch with Mother but too young for the sophistications of Studio E.  Sensing that Hunter Blair knew what appealed to children - despite having none of his own - Reed gave him the task of producing a weekly 15-minute magazine programme for primary-age children.  

Hunter Blair found a solid male presenter in actor Christopher Trace, and to partner him the 1957 winner of Miss Great Britain, Leila Williams. Needing a title for the show, Hunter Blair chose the name of the flag flown by ships preparing to set sail:  Blue Peter.

The first episode went out live on October 16 1958. Originally the series’ title sequence used film of a sailing ship at sea, and colleagues recalled Hunter Blair’s gleeful instruction in the gallery to add the sound of sea wash to the footage. The show quickly caught the imagination of children with its fresh and enthusiastic presentation.

Christopher Trace was an avuncular figure, a former army officer with an undistinguished acting career, but he took to presenting at once. He is cited as coming up with two of the best-known phrases associated with Blue Peter – “And now for something completely different” and “Here’s one I made earlier”.  Arriving for interview with Hunter Blair, staff remembered that he immediately bonded with the producer over a shared love of model trains, which soon became a regular feature of the series, even featuring in a regular story series.  Storytelling was also a feature, predating Jackanory.

Although Blue Peter aired every week, Hunter Blair continued to contribute to other shows, including Young Musicians (a one-off that included Jacqueline du Pré) and a series with Shirley Abicair.  But Blue Peter was his main job, and one which he was commended on numerous times.  He even went as far as taking trips abroad to try to source idea for items and unusual toys to feature in the series. 

Ill health

However, all was not well.  It’s unlikely that Hunter Blair took much exercise, and the stresses of live television production were starting to tell.  He began to suffer from heart problems, and was admitted to hospital in December 1960.  He returned to work the following January but had a heart attack in June.

His last day on duty with the BBC was the 12 June 1961 – a Blue Peter transmission day. Hunter Blair apparently collapsed in the production gallery, although not during transmission as far as records show.

He was signed off from work, and various others took charge temporarily, with greater or lesser degrees of success.  At first, this was thought to be until Hunter Blair would recover sufficiently to return to work, but eventually it was realised he would never be fit enough again.  He had angina, and struggled to climb stairs at times and was also suffering from Parkinson’s disease.  He had spells in hospital and nursing homes, and gave up his flat in Maida Vale to go and live in his sister’s house in Norfolk.  At last, the BBC agreed that he would have to retire prematurely on health grounds. 

A late starter with the Corporation, he was 43 when he joined and 57 when he made his last programme.  It was agreed his last day on the staff roll would be his 59th birthday, October 4 1962.  Hunter Blair’s health never improved, and he died just over two years later, on December 31 1964.

By that time, Blue Peter had celebrated over six years on air, and was now running twice a week, presented by Trace and Valerie Singleton.  Although the Children’s Television department no longer really existed, with most output farmed to other areas, Blue Peter survived, and under its eventual permanent replacement producer/editor Biddy Baxter, it would go on to fulfil and exceed all of John Hunter Blair’s hopes in the succeeding decades.