Blue Peter icon Biddy Baxter has died at the age of 92.
A statement was released on Monday that read: ‘We are sad to report that longtime Blue Peter Editor Biddy Baxter has died at the age of 92.
‘We salute a true pioneer, who navigated changing times in the television industry with instinct, tenacity and style,’ they wrote.
No cause of death has been given.
Biddy was described as a ‘dedicated, passionate and pioneering children’s producer’ having worked on the iconic BBC show Blue Peter for 26 years.
The media professional is said to have ‘wielded extraordinary power and control’ when other women in her profession had less of a sway in their roles.
Blue Peter icon Biddy Baxter has died at the age of 92 (pictured in 1997)
Biddy once hit the headlines after former Blue Peter host Yvette Fielding said she was left ‘a shaking, jibbering wreck’ after being ‘berated’ by the boss.
For 26 years, from 1962 until her retirement in 1988, Biddy edited Blue Peter, the twice-weekly magazine show which has been ‘enjoyed, imitated, talked about, mocked, criticised, revered’, in the words of Richard Marson who wrote the book Biddy Baxter: The Woman Who Made Blue Peter.
Blue Peter, the world’s longest-running children’s television programme, remains a mix of animal and pet items, competitions, charity appeals, global exploration, cookery demonstrations, gymnastic displays and history lessons.
Biddy was the big boss, and ‘her perspective and emphasis prevailed. She wielded extraordinary power and control’, which was unique at a time when women in public life were seldom influential.
Her attitude was, ‘I didn’t see why girls shouldn’t do everything’, and Biddy’s approach to life has always been splendidly brisk and matter-of-fact: ‘Get on and do what you can do, don’t dwell on what you can’t.’
Colleagues found her like a headmistress, ‘scarier than the Daleks’, ‘the witch in Snow White’, or ‘Miss Marple on acid’.
Biddy had an instinct for finding good, clear ideas which worked for the pre-pubescent audience.
She had no hesitation, for example, in turning down an appearance by Paul McCartney.
Biddy was born in Leicester in 1933, the only child of a deaf mother and a father who was the director of a textile company.
She went to grammar school, performed in amateur dramatics with Joe Orton, and graduated from Durham University with a Third.
Intending to be a probation officer or psychiatric social worker, in 1955 Biddy instead joined the BBC as a trainee studio manager, creating sound-effects, such as coconut shells for horses’ hooves.
Children’s television programmes weren’t highly regarded in those days, but Biddy quickly climbed the ranks, making puppet films, learning about storyboards, and it was her idea to set up the Correspondence Unit, replying to the children who wrote in, and distributing the Blue Peter badges.
