Here's One I Made Earlier

We all remember Blue Peter from our childhoods – it’s the longest-running children’s TV programme in the world. Whether it’s the trademark hairstyles of John Leslie and Yvette Fielding in the 1980s, or millennials’ favourites Matt Baker and Konnie Huq, Blue Peter has cemented its legacy as a pivotal part of growing up in the UK. So, it comes as no surprise that to mark the 60th anniversary of the show, some of the programme's past presenters are coming together for Once Seen on Blue Peter, an homage to the “careers that were made earlier”.

The show has been devised by former presenter Tim Vincent (1993-97) but he's keeping tight-lipped about it, unwilling to talk to me for this story because I'm also covering the other BP show this Fringe. Very Blue Peter is an immersive, late-night nostalgia-fest that promises to treat the programme a tad less reverently than Vincent's family-friendly show.

It’s not just me that Vincent's avoiding. "He won't reply to my Instagram messages or anything," claims theatremaker Toby Boutall, part of the team behind Very Blue Peter. Perhaps that's not surprising: "the audience of Very Blue Peter will think what's going on is very random and they'll be correct," says Boutall. "When we get them up on stage a bit pissed at half eleven, anything can happen."

In an anniversary-filled festival, there are numerous productions based around children’s TV throwbacks. Lead Pencil, a sketch show inspired by children's TV presenters, is coming back after a four-year hiatus. "You've no idea how chuffed we were!" says performer Louise Beresford.

She's delighted by the volume of work of this type up at the Fringe. "Our most popular characters are a combination of Art Attack, SMart and Blue Peter. We thought we'd do a reunion show, then suddenly what we're doing a parody of is actually happening!"

Why does this type of show do so well at the Fringe, I ask Beresford. "Everyone loves nostalgia, looking back at a rose-tinted view of the past," she suggests. "There's a comedy in taking that and removing the shine, finding a way of exposing it for what it was. Because everyone knew the truth really."

Consider the memorable Blue Peter moment that Boutall endearingly terms "elephant shitgate", a sequence from the 1960s in which Lulu the baby elephant ran rampant across the set and defecated on camera.

"That's literally what you remember – their mad adventures and time capsules. There was one episode where they got four young lads from Liverpool and were having to interview them while they were playing badminton. It was so pointless but so brilliant."

'Pointless but brilliant' is how Boutall hopes Very Blue Peter will be remembered too. "We want it to be utterly crazy, bizarre, random and stupid. I'd say there was some social commentary but we want to forget about pointing fingers and have the best possible night we can."

In many ways that was the best kind of children’s TV. Just think of all the inane things that we used to dream up in order to try and get one of those coveted Blue Peter badges, a piece of plastic with the signature blue ship stamped on the front.

"My brother got one – I was massively annoyed," admits Boutall. "It was to celebrate stage schools that do musical theatre. We've still got it in my mum's room."

Perhaps like the badge, Blue Peter is one of those artefacts of a time long-since passed. It may be turning 60 this year but, given that it was dumped from BBC One and relegated to the CBBC channel in 2012, you have to wonder about the future of this sort of programme. Maybe, like the parody shows, we should look back on it with humorous nostalgia, then return it to the box of memories from whence it came.

Live shows from TV greats

Jason Donovan and His Amazing Midlife Crisis

He closed his eyes, drew back the curtains, and found himself on stage at Assembly George Square for a Fringe run of five nights. Enough time for good neighbours to become good...enough.

Esther Rantzen: That’s Life!

For three nights only, TV legend Esther Rantzen spills secrets from 50 years in broadcasting. Who better to quiz her on her career than her daughter, journalist Rebecca Wilcox?

Nina’s Got News by Frank Skinner

The standup comic and broadcaster tries his hand as a playwright, penning a story about unbelievable news that Nina has to share, even if no one will believe her.