BBC’s Blue Peter ends live episodes after 67 years

Blue Peter, the longest-running youngsters’s present on the earth, has recorded its last dwell episode because the present strikes to a pre-recorded format, the BBC has confirmed.

The company mentioned the journal present, which first aired in 1958, had been a mixture of dwell and pre-recorded reveals for many years.

It has determined to place an finish to its dwell episodes “as viewing habits change”.

Former presenters Simon Thomas and Richard Bacon expressed their disappointment on the information over the weekend, with the latter saying “being dwell is what made it alive”.

Thomas, now a Sky Sports activities presenter, posted on Instagram: “We most likely did not realise it on the time, however we had been working within the final years of the golden age of youngsters’s TV, a time when youngsters’s programmes crammed the afternoons and Saturday mornings on BBC1 and ITV.

“An period when audiences had been measured within the thousands and thousands relatively than the 1000’s.

“I do not say golden in boastful approach; however every thing has fragmented now and the best way youngsters eat leisure has modified eternally. There’ll by no means be one other period prefer it once more.”

Bacon responded saying he “beloved” the long-running sequence and described it as “an enormous, well-made, lovingly made, very well resourced dwell children TV present. That had been dwell in that constructing for many years”.

“It was a magical expertise (for, you recognize, all of 20 months).”

The presenter was sacked from the present within the Nineteen Nineties after admitting drug taking however returned for its sixtieth anniversary, receiving a well-known Blue Peter badge.

Blue Peter, which options viewer and presenter challenges, interviews, pets and backyard motion, will proceed to be filmed in Salford and broadcast on CBBC and BBC Two in addition to on the iPlayer.

“The programme has been a mixture of dwell and pre-recorded reveals for many years and has transitioned to a pre-record mannequin as viewing habits change,” mentioned a spokesperson.

“Blue Peter continues to be beloved by generations throughout the UK.

“As we proceed to navigate a difficult market and younger viewers viewing habits evolve, it’s essential to make some modifications to make sure that BBC Studios Youngsters and Household Productions delivers a dynamic, digital-first model that can future-proof the present and maintain its legacy for years to come back.”

The present presenting line-up consists of Shini Muthukrishnan, Joel Mawhinney and Abby Prepare dinner.