Blue Peter (series)

Blue Peter is a long-running, generally non-fiction children's television series which often features competitions, interviews with celebrities, and, on various occasions, has played clips from other series, with these clips sometimes becoming the only surviving parts of particularly old or long-running series.

The series has had several presenters over the years, beginning with Christopher Trace and Leila Williams, and later including the likes of Matt Baker and Liz Barker.

Overview
The actor Sophie Aldred, had won two Blue Peter badges in her youth and was entitled to wear them on-screen, according to the BBC's strict regulations regarding the use of Blue Peter badges. (BBC DVD: The Horns of Nimon)

For many years, the series also had another connection to the franchise in the form of co-host Peter Purves, who appeared on Blue Peter for many years after his tenure playing Steven Taylor in Seasons 2 and 3.

Doctor Who Magazine explored the programme and its vast connections to Doctor Who in its 334th issue.

Clips from missing episodes
A 1973 instalment of Blue Peter marking the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who included many excerpts from the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras; due to the BBC's then-ongoing practice of junking old episodes, these clips are in many cases the last surviving remnants of these episodes. These include such significant moments as the death of Katarina in The Daleks' Master Plan (which was aired on Blue Peter primarily because it featured then-co-host Peter Purves during his tenure as companion), and the regeneration of the First Doctor into the Second from The Tenth Planet.

These clips survived beyond their initial Blue Peter broadcast thanks to long-time showrunner Biddy Baxter's staunch policy of archiving every episode of Blue Peter.

Design a monster competitions
Blue Peter has run contests over the years involving Doctor Who.

A design-a-monster competition was held on Blue Peter in 1967. Among some 250,000 entries, three winners were selected: the Hypnotron (by Paul Worrall), the Steel Octopus (by Karen Dag), the Aqua Man (by Stephen Thompson). While they did not appear on Doctor Who, prop versions of the three monsters were constructed. Contrary to rumour, the Krotons did not originate in this competition. (REF: The Doctors: The Archive)

The design for the Abzorbaloff from 2006's Love & Monsters originated in a Blue Peter "design your own monster" competition, won by nine-year-old William Grantham. Among the runner-ups was Sad Tony, eventually featured in 2020's The Genuine Article.

TARDIS design competition
In late 2009-early 2010, a Blue Peter contest invited viewers to submit designs for a new TARDIS control console to be featured in an upcoming episode. On 17th February 2010, Matt Smith chose twelve-year-old Susannah Leah's design as the winner; it was announced that Neil Gaiman's episode in Series 5 would feature this design in some way. However, the episode's funding ran out of money and it was pushed back to Series 6, when it appeared as The Doctor's Wife and featured Leah's design as the Junk TARDIS console. 

Impact on casting
Blue Peter directly influenced the casting of one character on Doctor Who. In 2006, a viewer contest was held for under-14s, with the prize being a chance to appear in an upcoming episode. The winner, John Bell, not only appeared in TV: Utopia, but in a significant role as Creet, a young boy Martha Jones befriends who later is transformed into a Toclafane.

Other information and trivia
When two Dalek props were stolen, Blue Peter ran an appeal to bring them back. They were returned within twenty-four hours.

Blue Peter presenters in Doctor Who

 * Peter Purves, prior to his presenting stint on Blue Peter, was an actor. He was cast as Morton Dill and then as companion Steven Taylor opposite William Hartnell's First Doctor in The Chase. Purves's presence on Blue Peter is directly credited with the fact that some footage from his era on Doctor Who survives due to being used in the show.
 * Janet Ellis played Teka in The Horns of Nimon.
 * Christopher Wenner had a walk-on part as a Roundhead soldier in The Awakening.
 * Sarah Greene was unrecognisable as Varne in Attack of the Cybermen.
 * Gethin Jones played a Cyberman and Dalek in Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel and The Stolen Earth / Journey's End respectively.