168 Val Meets The VIPs

First  watched  : Uncertain

The  lack  of  any  stills  knocking  about  and  a  very  terse  summary  on  TV  Cream  would  suggest  that  my  own  reaction  to  this   Blue  Peter  spin-off   was  widely  shared. I  thought  it  was  an  unwarranted  intrusion  into  the  children's  TV   schedules  of  adult  material. Blue  Peter's   most   boring  presenter  doing  po-faced  interviews  with  mostly  boring  people  in  front  of  a  bunch  of  swotty-looking  kids  was  an  immediate  invitation  to  change  channels.  Singleton  was  probably  the  first  TV  face  I  actively  hated  and   I  wouldn't  have  included  this  here  except  I'm  pretty  sure  I  would  have  watched  the  Les  Gray ( of  Mud )  edition  broadcast  on  7th  May  1974  even  if  I  can't  remember  anything  about  it.

The  show  ran  for  three  series  of  six  programmes  each  between  1973  and  1974* . It  was  probably  the  high  water  mark  of  Singleton's  career  though  she  was  pretty  active  on  radio  and  TV  for  the  next  two  decades  and  has  always  participated  in  the  various  Blue  Peter  anniversary  programmes. She's  now  78  and  lives  in  Dorset.

* In  1980   her  successor  on  Blue  Peter ,  Lesley  Judd,  hosted  the  very  similar  In  The  Limelight  With  Lesley  but  only  five  programmes  were  made.