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Comment by robin_reala | Hacker News Reader

For people who weren’t kids in the UK, Blue Peter is a very long running weekly BBC TV programme aimed at kids. Common tropes include the studio pet(s) and garden, charity events, and the Blue Peter badge that you got for sending in a letter with a tip or other challenges (and which qualified you for various discounts at venues around the UK).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peter

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> very long running

Since 1958 and over 5,000 episodes!

(so much of classic UK TV is either "has been broadcasting since the dawn of television in a largely unchanged format" or the other extreme of "we only ever made six episodes back in the 1970s and they are etched across everyone's childhood")

> "we only ever made six episodes back in the 1970s and they are etched across everyone's childhood"

Or alternatively sometimes scarred for life :)

And if taking a trip back through 1970's UK TV is something anyone's interested in then this is a fun book:

https://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-brotherstone-dave-lawrence...

It blew my mind when, as an adult, I learned that there were only 15 episodes of Mr Bean (with one of those being a "Best Bits of Mr Bean" episode!).

To be honest I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing. I like a lot of Rowan Atkinson's work but I absolutely hated Mr Bean. Something about watching someone be inept in every possible way causes me a huge amount of stress and isn't something I'm able to derive any sense of enjoyment or fun from. If there were more episodes it might have become more of a cultural meme (like, say, The Simpsons), which I'd find really hard to deal with.

(This doesn't always follow, of course. The UK version of The Office is only 12 regular episodes plus a couple of specials, yet it's impact is still very much felt - at least in the UK - so I don't necessarily see there being a simple correlation between quantity of material and cultural significance. As much as the US series is also excellent I don't think it carries quite the same iconic status or cultural weight here even though there are a lot more episodes - obviously it might do in the US.)

See also: there are only 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers.

WAT

W and I cannot stress this enough AT?!!!!!!

We had multiple re-runs of it in the 90s in various post-Soviet countries.

A Brit who when demonstrating some sort of art or craft says "Here's one I prepared earlier" is often referencing the Blue Peter art segments where they would start to assemble (say) a model of Tracy Island from 'sticky back plastic' and toilet rolls and then cut to a superbly finished creation.

It's the artistic equivalent of Step 1: take these household materials, Step 2: ???, Step 3: Profit!

I feel its spiritual meme-cousin is this one: https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-to-draw-an-owl

So you're saying the gnomes have already invaded Airstrip One?

British people of a certain age can be defined by their Blue Peter credentials and activities, rather like a geek-code. Mine FWIW; Lesley Judd, Peter Purves, John Noakes, Shep the Dog, Collecting milk bottle tops to buy a donkey (for some reason).

Yes! One of my prized possessions is that badge and letter from Biddy Baxter.

I’ve got my badge somewhere, but no idea what happened to the reply. Guess it would have been Yvette Fielding era? (I sent in a way to recycle used christmas cards into decorative balls for the next year’s celebrations, which in retrospect seems almost tailored for the acquisition of a badge.)

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