TV's Darkest Hour (or however long it took)

There can be few more shocking and upsetting incidents in Blue Peter's long history than the destructive vandalisation of the Blue Peter Garden in 1983. For years, the culprits of this terrible crime have gone unpunished. Now, for the first time, we can take an in-depth look at the hooligan behaviour of the criminals, and point a finger at the guilty parties....

Background

Peter Duncan, presenter of the programme at the time, remembers how he found out the heartbreaking news about the Garden:

"We were in the BBC canteen on Monday morning ordering some food, and one of the old ladies behind the counter said, 'Your garden's a dreadful mess'. I remember Simon trying to make a joke about Percy Thrower being lazy, but she when she continued, 'I looked out of the window and I couldn't believe my eyes', we knew something terrible had happened. We went outside, and my stomach lurched. I had to dash inside to reach a toilet before I retched up my breakfast. When I went back, Janet was crying, and Simon was pacing up and down. None of us could truly believe what we saw."

What they saw was described later by Simon Groom as "...like someone hitting you in the stomach - hard." The whole garden and pond was covered in thick black fuel oil, and a half-empty can lay on the lawn. All the urns and pots had been up-turned, smashed and thrown into the oil-drenched pond. The sundial had been broken in half, and all the flowerbeds had been mercilessly trampled, killing all the little flowers that were growing there. The team held little hope for the lives of the poor goldfish, who were in the pond - somewhere. Edward Barnes remembers the beginning of the clean-up operation:

"The pond was drained, and the bodies of the goldfish were taken out. Simon tried to lighten the atmosphere with a joke about 'burial at sea', but it didn't have any effect, and Peter Duncan actually took a swing at him. There was a lot of jostling, but it was just the tension between them now this terrible thing had happened. They hugged and made up, of course, particularly when it transpired that the majority of the fish had somehow survived the terrible attack."

When the team announced the tragedy on the afternoon's edition, offers of help came flooding in from viewers who wanted to help, from donations of pocket money to gifts of plants and fish from sympathetic children. In fact, the viewers gave more help that they ought to have done as several celebrities had been asked to contribute, and had not done so. Peter Duncan recalls:

"We rang up people like Tony Blackburn, Bob Carolgees, Peter Davison and other celebs, but they just refused, like callous bastards. I couldn't believe people could be so cruel. Bob Carolgees was the worst. He said he hoped they'd pissed in the pond, and started laughing. I think he was drunk, so I hung up. I was shocked and stunned at the brutal, uncaring nature of some of the stars of the Eighties."

Eventually, the garden was restored to its former glory, with a new statue of Petra the dog and a tree, planted for the year 2000. Security for the Blue Peter Garden was trebled, with new video surveillance cameras and floodlights, and it was thought that such an incident could never happen again.

The Suspects

Over the years, there have been many theories as to who actually trashed the Garden. The most common explanation has been that it was just a bunch of drunken hooligans, who thought it would be 'a laugh'. However, there have been other suggestions, with many famous names, and incredibly, ex-Blue Peter presenters being suggested. Peter Duncan has no doubts about who did it: "It was Chris Wenner" he alleges. "He was so angry about being sacked, he came down one night with a few of his mates and did it over. I know it was him."

However, this theory falls down, when it becomes clear that Wenner resigned from Blue Peter, rather than being made redundant, and further research reveals that he was not even in the country when the incident occurred. Other BBC television personalities of the time such as Noel Edmonds and Gary Wilmot were also accused, but this was more a hysterical reaction from fans of the programme with no solid factual basis.

Another former Blue Peter presenter, Mark Curry, has an even more bizarre theory:

"It was all actually a cover-up for a government search for the Blue Peter box for the year 20001.

They reckon there is some highly political stuff in it, perhaps relating to aliens and UFOs, so they tried to find it and covered their tracks by trashing the garden. God knows, they'd do anything to keep the truth from us."

Although there is no doubting Curry's own belief in this interpretation, we must pass over it with the indulgent smile we use regularly when dealing with his eccentric ideas, which come from too many years presenting Treasure Houses.

Conclusion

So, who really did commit such a senseless, horrific, act of mindless violence?

Do we follow Peter Duncan, with his suggestion of Christopher Wenner, or Mark Curry's flight of fantasy about a government cover-up? Perhaps it is most sensible to go for the most commonly held belief that it was just a gang of drunken thugs, who thought it would be fun to ruin the fantasy garden of a lot of children, and kill some poor, helpless fish. Sadly, their escape from justice means they will never be punished for what they did, but thankfully in the Nineties and beyond, the Blue Peter garden is forever safe from harm.

 

1A box buried by Peter Purves, John Noakes, Valerie Singleton and Lesley Judd on June 7th, 1971. Not to be opened until the year 2000, its original  contents were: A copy of the 1970 Blue Peter book; A set of eight Blue Peter mini-books; Photo of John, Val and Peter; Photos of Petra the dog, Jason the cat, and Patch the dog, who had sadly died a few weeks prior to the burial, as it were; A copy of the BBC listings magazine Radio Times from the week of the burial; A piece of film from the day's programme; A spool of tape featuring the team saying 'Hello', with Petra barking and Jason miaowing; a set of decimal coins, and a letter saying who the team were, and a list of all the items from that day's programme. The box's original location was a closely guarded secret for many years, although readers of the 1972 Blue Peter book were given a map, and a tree was planted right next to it, so the BBC obviously have a different meaning of the word 'secrecy' to everyone else. After the vandalisation of the Garden, a decision was taken to move the box to the Garden, where it supposedly remains to this day.

However, a recent report in the tabloid press alleged that the details of the box’s location had gone missing, and that it might be necessary to dig up the whole of the Blue Peter garden to find it. Certainly, when asked, none of the current Blue Peter presenters have any idea of its whereabout, while Simon Thomas was not even aware of its existence. The BBC has strenuously denied not knowing where the box is, and has reiterated their pledge to have the box dug up on the first episode of Blue Peter in the year 2000.

A shocking spoof was performed on the 1996 comedy show, Saturday Night Armistice, when the presenters, led by Armando Innuci, pretended to break into the Blue Peter Garden, dig up the box, rip out its contents and replace them with some pornography and hard drugs.