Sex, lies and sticky tape: Blue Peter faces the axe

Iconic children's programme Blue Peter, famed for its creations made with sticky-backed plastic and washing-up liquid bottles, could disappear from its BBC1 home after more than 50 years, under cost-cutting proposals being discussed by the corporation.

The show, first broadcast in 1958, became a "must see" for generations of children rushing home from school to watch its versatile presenters mix taking part in daring stunts with making Christmas advent candle holders from wire coat hangers and tinsel.

However, it has also seen its fair share of scandals. These included rigged phone-ins, a presenter found to have appeared in a porn movie, another admitting to taking drugs, and then the coveted Blue Peter badges being devalued by appearing for sale on eBay.

More fondly remembered highlights include baby elephant Lulu relieving herself on the studio floor before stamping on presenter John Noakes's foot and dragging her keeper across the floor.

But now senior BBC staff have talked about moving the show from the flagship channel to digital station CBBC.

The idea is said to have been floated as part of the "Delivering Quality First" initiative, which is looking at efficiency savings to cut budget costs.

However, a BBC source said it would not save money to have Blue Peter on CBBC but that "re-shuffling the pieces" would allow the corporation to cut costs elsewhere.

In particular, it is understood a favoured option is to replace some BBC2 daytime programmes with rolling news, which would reduce the corporation's financial outlay.

Some of the more popular BBC2 daytime shows would then be moved to a BBC1 daytime slot, including that currently occupied by Blue Peter.

The programme became the longest-running children's show in the world, with viewing figures in its early 1970s hey-day of more than eight million. Nowadays, with increasing competition from a range of digital channels and other forms of entertainment, such as PlayStations and Xboxs, its viewing figures have dipped to about 408,000 viewers per episode.

Blue Peter has had a strong presence on CBBC for many years, airing repeats and spin-off shows. But it has continued to have its main home on BBC1, where it is broadcast twice a week at 4:30pm, although the audience is higher for its digital screenings, as youngsters increasingly turn to dedicated channels.

Station bosses cut the number of editions of Blue Peter from three to two a week in 2007.

Television industry magazine Broadcast has reported that the idea has been raised to end the "children's block" of afternoon programmes on BBC1 and instead show them exclusively on the digital channels CBBC and Cbeebies.

It is one of a number of radical ideas that have been floated to reorganise viewing under the Delivering Quality First (DQF) initiative. They include dropping overnight programmes on BBC1 and scrapping daytime shows on BBC2 in favour of rolling news.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "It is important to stress that this is only one of many DQF proposals and that there are no immediate plans to remove children's content from the BBC's terrestrial channels."

BBC research has shown that the number of youngsters in the CBBC target 6-12 age range who watch the channel's content only on BBC1 is declining.

Andrew Jones, a former BBC senior manager and head of journalism at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said that moving an iconic programme such as Blue Peter would alarm those who grew up watching it, but today's children, growing up with access to a huge range of digital channels, would be unmoved by the debate.

Mr Jones said: "There is huge pressure on reducing costs at the BBC at the moment.

"If BBC2 daytime programmes are to be replaced with rolling news, then that involves zero costs, which must be a very attractive proposition. Blue Peter is an iconic brand, and adults of a certain age associate it with their upbringing.

"But this sort of brand doesn't have the same sort of power with young people who are sophisticated consumers and see digital television channels and, indeed, Blue Peter as just one sub-set of the wide range of entertainment which is available to them. In fact, such brand loyalty doesn't account for much with them."

Mr Jones added: "There is a big divide between how those over the age of 30 and those in the younger age range regard a programme like Blue Peter.

"To adults, it is a wholesome brand, something they want their children to watch, but there is a difference between being forced to watch something 'good' for you and choosing to watch it out of choice. So, the current discussion revolves round a situation which is part tactics, part technology and part the viewing and entertainment choices of young people."

Over the years, thousands of Blue Peter badges have been given away - with coveted gold badges awarded to people in recognition of special achievements or bravery.

Recipients of the latter include author JK Rowling, footballer David Beckham and the Queen. Adam Bojelian, ten, a pupil at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, who is blind and writes poetry by blinking to choose words, was awarded a gold badge last December.

Here are a few we made earlier

16 October, 1958 - First show, hosted by Christopher Trace and Leila Williams.

1962 - Blue Peter appeal launched. Since then, the appeals have raised more than 100 million.

1963 - Blue Peter badge introduced.

1969 - Young elephant Lulu relieved herself on the floor, trod on presenter John Noakes's foot and then tried to leave the studio, dragging her keeper, Alec, along the floor.

1974 - Blue Peter garden officially opened.

1980 - It emerged that presenter Peter Duncan had once featured in a porn film.

1985 - Footage emerged of another presenter, the (now late) Michael Sundin, in his underpants with a male stripper in a nightclub.

1992 - 100,000 children contacted the programme asking for instructions for a home-made version of the Thunderbirds' Tracy Island.

1998 - Host Richard Bacon sacked for taking drugs.

March 2006 - Blue Peter badges temporarily suspended after a number were found for sale on eBay.

November 2006 - A young studio guest posed as a competition winner after a technical hitch with the telephone system. BBC was fined 50,000 by Ofcom.

January 2007 - It emerged that in an online vote to pick the name of a kitten, staff overruled the viewers' choice of Cookie in favour of Socks.

August 2007 - Accused by Tories of political bias after presenter Konnie Huq took part in a press conference to promote cycling with London mayor Ken Livingstone.

November 2007 - Viewers chosen to meet comic Jon Culshaw in a competition revealed to be child actors.