Blue Peter Special Assignment

Blue Peter Special Assignment was a factual BBC TV series broadcast in the 1970s and early 1980s, the first spin-off from the long running BBC series Blue Peter. It ran regularly from 1973 until 1981, usually at weekends on BBC1, and was heavily promoted on Blue Peter itself. The concept for the series was developed after Valerie Singleton had made a successful documentary 'special' with HRH Princess Anne when she had visited Kenya in 1971. The Special Assignment series was mainly produced by Edward Barnes and presented initially by Valerie Singleton and later by Peter Purves, Lesley Judd and reportedly Simon Groom, all of whom had been presenters on Blue Peter itself.

Series One featured Valerie Singleton looking at six European Capital Cities. These included Rome, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Brussels. The first programme to be filmed was the one featuring Rome and included a personal address to the children of Britain from Pope Paul VI in The Vatican.

Series Two continued to feature Singleton looking at European Cities and included Dublin, York and Madrid. Later series looked at Islands and included The Isle of Wight, The Isle of Man, Hong Kong, Malta and Venice, even though Venice had also featured in an earlier series as a 'city'. Later the show began to look at famous houses or famous individuals and included biographies of Vivaldi, The Brontë Sisters, The Duke of Wellington, Saint Therese of Lisieux, Marie Antoinette and Rudyard Kipling and both Lesley Judd and Peter Purves began presenting the series in place of Singleton.

The series in 1977 was presented jointly by Peter Purves and Lesley Judd, with the theme of 'twin towns'.

The final series was co-presented alternately by Singleton and Peter Purves, being broadcast in 1981. The series theme was Rivers, with Singleton examining The Yukon and Niagara, while Purves reported on The Tamar, The Tweed and The Singapore Rivers.

Spin off books were published covering the first two series.

Blue Peter Special Assignment - 1973 Season:
Presenter: Valerie Singleton
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Dorothea Brooking

• Rome (7 January 1973)
• Amsterdam (14 January 1973)
• City of London (21 January 1973)
• Paris (28 January 1973)
• Edinburgh (4 February 1973)
• Vienna (11 February 1973)

The series was repeated on BBC1 in November/December 1973 with the broadcast order changed to: Rome, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Paris, City of London, Vienna.

Blue Peter Special Assignment - 1974 Season:
Presenter: Valerie Singleton
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Dorothea Brooking

• Venice (31 March 1974)
• Brussels (7 April 1974)
• Dublin (14 April 1974)
• Madrid (21 April 1974)
• York (18 April 1974)

Blue Peter Special Assignment - Islands - 1975 Season:
Presenter: Valerie Singleton
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Dorothea Brooking, Sarah Hellings, David Brown, Harry Cowdy, Daniel Wolf,

• Hong Kong (9 March 1975)
• Isle of Skye (16 March 1975)
• Malta (23 March 1975)
• Isle of Wight (30 March 1975)
• Isle of Man (6 April 1975)
• Venice (13 April 1975)

A repeat season was broadcast in October 1975 on BBC1, featuring the following episodes:

• Hong Kong (3 October 1975)
• Brussels (10 October 1975)
• York (17 October 1975)
• Madrid (24 October 1975)
• Amsterdam (31 October 1975)

Blue Peter Special Assignment - Historic Homes - 1976 Season:
Presenters: Valerie Singleton (~) & Lesley Judd (#)
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Dorothea Brooking

• The Prince Regent at Brighton (~) (23 May 1976)
• Disraeli at Hughenden (~) (30 May 1976)
• Pavlova at Ivy House (#) (6 June 1976)
• Darwin at Down House (~) (13 June 1976)
• Keats at Wentworth Place (~) (20 June 1976)
• Raleigh at Sherborne Castle (~) (27 June 1976)

Blue Peter Special Assignment - Twin Towns - 1977 Season:
Presenters: Peter Purves & Lesley Judd
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Dorothea Brooking

• Lesley Judd in Fontainebleau & Peter Purves in Richmond (19 June 1977)
• Peter Purves in Warsaw & Lesley Judd in Coventry (26 June 1977)
• Peter Purves in Heidelberg & Lesley Judd in Cambridge (3 July 1977)
• Lesley Judd in Bordeaux & Peter Purves in Bristol (10 July 1977)
• Lesley Judd in Haifa & Peter Purves in Portsmouth (17 July 1977)

Blue Peter Special Assignment - 1979 Season:
Presenter: Peter Purves
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: Sarah Hellings, Hugh David, Dorothea Brooking

• Marie Antoinette at Versailles (7 January 1979)
• Rudyard Kipling at Bateman's (14 January 1979)
• Saint Therese of Liseux (21 January 1979)
• The Duke of Wellington at Stratfield Saye (28 January 1979)
• The Brontes at Haworth (4 February 1979)
• Antonio Vivaldi in Venice (11 February 1979)

Blue Peter Special Assignment - Rivers - 1981 Season:
Presenters: Valerie Singleton (~) and Peter Purves (+)
Producer: Edward Barnes
Directors: David Turnbull, Sarah Hellings, David Hargreaves, Alex Leger

• The Niagara River (~) (10 May 1981)
• The River Tweed (+) (17 May 1981)
• The Yukon River (~) (24 May 1981)
• The Singapore River (+) (31 May 1981)
• The River Tamar (+) (7 June 1981)