Pioneering Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter dies at 92

Biddy Baxter, the pioneering television producer who transformed Blue Peter into a national institution, has died at 92, according to the BBC.

Born Joan Maureen Baxter in Leicester, she studied at St Mary’s College, Durham University, where she saw recruitment flyers for the BBC.

She joined the public broadcaster as a radio studio manager in 1955, and was promoted to producing Schools Junior English programmes and Listen With Mother before making the transition to television.

Baxter reading letters from fans, while a lion cub lies on a sofa, in September 1968. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images

Baxter took over as editor of Blue Peter in 1965, several years after the programme’s launch. She introduced viewer engagement segments including the national appeals and the Blue Peter badge, encouraging children to send letters, pictures and programme ideas.

Baxter served as editor for more than two decades, winning two Bafta awards and receiving 12 nominations. On her departure from the show in 1988, she was awarded the programme’s highest honour, a gold Blue Peter Badge.

Baxter at the Baftas in November 2013. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA

“I didn’t want to do anything other than Blue Peter,” she told the Guardian in 2013. “I certainly never wanted to be an administrator or in charge of anything. It was an absolute dream and I never wanted to do anything else. It was a terrific time to be in television.”

Baxter continued to act as a consultant to the BBC directors general John Birt and Michael Checkland after her departure, and received the special award at the Bafta children’s awards in 2013.