Edward Barnes, heralded as a ‘founding father’ of BBC’s Blue Peter and creator of Newsround, has died aged 92.
The news was confirmed by producer, Richard Marson, who had taken a call from former Blue Peter editor, Joan Maureen ‘Biddy’ Baxter.
The former editor-in-chief of the programme wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: ‘I’ve just taken a call from Biddy Baxter to say that Edward Barnes has died at the age of 92.
‘One of the true greats of children’s TV, founding father of Blue Peter, creator of Newsround, Swap Shop and much more but also a dear and loyal friend.’
Barnes has been heralded as one of the founders of the children’s show, first created by John Hunter Blair in 1958, and developed by a team at BBC led by Baxter, with Barnes an assistant director, before he went on to act as producer.
During his career, Barnes became Deputy Head of Children’s Television in the 70s and it was here he brought Newsround to our screens.
In response to Richard’s post, former Blue Peter presenter Peter Purves – who fronted the show from 1967 to 1978 – said: ‘What sad news. Edward made sure that, after I left Blue Peter, I had plenty of work from the BBC Children’s department.’
The Doctor Who star added: ‘I remember him best when we filmed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1989, and we worked well together. RIP Ted.’
Barnes was the brains behind Newsround – alongside John Craven – a show created to explain news stories to children, which was met with resistance from the BBC at first.
During his acceptance speech for a special Children’s Bafta award for the show in 2011, Barnes explained: ‘Even within my own department there were people who said we shouldn’t be doing this.
‘Why should we tell children about disasters and massacres and murders?’
He added: ‘They thought it was violating children’s innocence. There was a Victorian idea of childhood, that it is something to be protected and guarded – there was still a lot of that around at the time.’
Barnes was the brains behind Newsround, a show created in 1972 to explain news stories to children, which was met with resistance from the BBC at first.
During his acceptance speech for a special Children’s Bafta award for the show in 2011, Barnes explained: ‘Even within my own department there were people who said we shouldn’t be doing this.
‘Why should we tell children about disasters and massacres and murders?’
He added: ‘They thought it was violating children’s innocence. There was a Victorian idea of childhood, that it is something to be protected and guarded – there was still a lot of that around at the time.’
Barnes credited his head of department, Monica Sims, and ‘probably the best controller the BBC has ever had’ Paul Fox for the show – originally called John Craven’s Newsround – making it onto TV screens, where it remains to this day.
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