Perhaps sacking the person who decided to use a fake caller is in order.
"Serious error of judgement" indeed.
At the very least!
All the other phone scandals have been bad enough but when a flagship like Blue Peter is involved this leaves a nasty taste of betrayal in the mouth. I hope Biddy Baxter is correct in her assertion that premium rate phone lines will no longer be used in the show - they should be banned in all CBBC output at the very least.
Oh i do love the bullshi7 they come out with! What aload of old tosh! This scandal is better than when the BP gardens got trashed.
What scandal, they just came on air and said t hat it had been vandalised and then got a few episodes out of the clean up. There wasn't a scandal as such, unless you count the original vandalism which wasn't the beeb's fault
Way back when. In my day it was a scandal! I remember it fairly well i was shocked that someone could vandalise the BP gardens. It was the talking point at school/college for weeks. It wasn't the beebs fault agreed but at the time it was a scandal. It was Scandalous that someone could do such a thing.
Well you know what they say, all publicity is good publicity.
All the other phone scandals have been bad enough but when a flagship like Blue Peter is involved this leaves a nasty taste of betrayal in the mouth. I hope Biddy Baxter is correct in her assertion that premium rate phone lines will no longer be used in the show - they should be banned in all CBBC output at the very least.
I doubt Biddy Baxter has much say in the day to day running of Blue Peter now anyhow.
It's more than a junior member of staff at fault though - according to the BBC that competition was planned to run weekly for six weeks but due to the problems with this one the following five were axed - so senior members of the production team must have known about it.
As for banning all premium phone-lines in children's programming - I know where you're coming from, but it's quite short sighted and would be another blow for children's TV. Competitions have run for years in children's programming - certainly as far back as Going Live - and generally run at minimum profit margins.
The amounts involved seem insignificant - just watch that Blue Peter clip. Something like 14,000 calls at 10p each is only £1400, with around £450 going to the charity and around £350 to the phone operator, who have now donated it to the charity.
As long as it went to charity and the BBC makes sure this never happens again then there shouldn't be any problem.
Another question could be raised here, seeing as alot of these seem to have been exposed recently whats to say that this hasn't been happening for years prior to these incidences and that it's just a coincidence that all of these have come out at once
The amounts involved seem insignificant - just watch that Blue Peter clip. Something like 14,000 calls at 10p each is only £1400, with around £450 going to the charity and around £350 to the phone operator, who have now donated it to the charity.
Strangely enough, this Blue Peter saga was only discovered when somebody scribbled something on the Have Your Say board on the BBC site. Therefore none of this would have come to light if the contributor hadn't posted. Apparently she thinks this current Blue Peter saga has been blown out of all proportion.
As for banning all premium phone-lines in children's programming - I know where you're coming from, but it's quite short sighted and would be another blow for children's TV. Competitions have run for years in children's programming - certainly as far back as Going Live - and generally run at minimum profit margins.
Then at the very least, we need to have maximum call charges - 25p tops isn't unreasonable. Indeed, phone-ins might well go back to the days of Going Live, but back then our parents didn't let us ring in and they meant it too.
Today's events could easily have been a lot nastier for Blue Peter. All the "competition winner" or her parents had to do was go to the press and Blue Peter could have faced its most damaging crisis to date. Doesn't that tell you how lightly they've escaped?
As for banning all premium phone-lines in children's programming - I know where you're coming from, but it's quite short sighted and would be another blow for children's TV. Competitions have run for years in children's programming - certainly as far back as Going Live - and generally run at minimum profit margins.
Then at the very least, we need to have maximum call charges - 25p tops isn't unreasonable. Indeed, phone-ins might well go back to the days of Going Live, but back then our parents didn't let us ring in and they meant it too.
Today's events could easily have been a lot nastier for Blue Peter. All the "competition winner" or her parents had to do was go to the press and Blue Peter could have faced its most damaging crisis to date. Doesn't that tell you how lightly they've escaped?
Roight i know you've all been dying to know if soxs is male or female. Mouse has emailed Soxs via BP and he is male. Mouse is not happy and has asked for a forwarding addy for Soxs' sister/aunty cousin or even MILF. I'll keep you updated on the cataffair.
Theyre slightly different breeds but apparently Mouse isn't too fussy. He wants to get his rocks off.