Cast adrift... can Blue Peter survive without live broadcasts?

T WAS, quite simply, the best children's TV programme ever... famed for its characterful pets, impressive makes, coveted badges and charity appeals, not to mention its hilarious unscripted mistakes that were always a particular delight of its live format.

- By Jane Warren

So the announcement by the BBC that it is axing live episodes of the world's longest-running kids' TV show Blue Peter - just 13 years after it was controversially moved from its original teatime slot on BBC One to the CBBC channel feels like nothing less than the end of childhood.

The much-loved and iconic 66-year-old show a huge piece of national heritage that unites generations of Britons - will be available to watch as pre-recorded episodes on CBBC, Sign Zone, BBC Two and iPlayer in future.

"This is the demise of television for me," says former presenter Yvette Fielding, 56, who worked on the show for two years in the late 1980s after becoming its youngest ever presenter at the age of 18.

Speaking exclusively to the Express, she adds: "I've always spoken quite openly about how sad it made me when the programme was taken off mainstream TV and relegated to a smaller channel specifically for children, which a lot of people would think would be the right thing.

"But I've always believed that Blue Peter was a family programme, and I think that they should put it back on BBC One. More than ever, we need to be together as families; we're so separated now with children on their iPads.

"For me, my memory is of this lovely family experience where you would collect bottle tops with your granny and the whole family got involved.

"I believe very strongly that this is a family show and children need this sense of community watching together and being involved together."

For many, including Yvette, the show is the live elements.

"Those wonderful unscripted moments were some of the best bits of the show, including my failed attempts to flip pancakes," laughs Yvette. "There are so many iconic moments that all Blue Peter presenters had on live TV that people remember, and it is such a shame to take all that away."