Biddy Baxter MBE 1933-2025
On behalf of the Children’s Media Foundation, Joe Godwin pays tribute to one of the all time greats of children’s television, Biddy Baxter who sadly passed away in August.
My relationship with Biddy had two phases, many decades apart. As a child, I knew her because twice a week this unusual name appeared at the end of my favourite television programme. In the sixties and early seventies, hers was one of a mere handful of television producers who became household names, such was the size of the audience for BBC Children’s programmes. I’ve always thought those huge viewing figures were in part due to lack of alternatives: my Monday and Thursday media options were Blue Peter or the testcard! Nevertheless, that captive audience meant Blue Peter and its single-minded editor were extremely influential in shaping British childhood. I guess that’s why people have been talking about Biddy Baxter, her style and her personality ever since.
More than enough has been written about what would now be called her leadership style. Women who worked closely with her have said that what some saw as domineering and dictatorial behaviour, was in reality a milder version of how many men in TV behaved at the time. Whatever the truth, Biddy ensured that Blue Peter and the children who loved it got the resources and profile she believed it deserved. 
I’d known Biddy since the sixties, but she didn’t know me until I became Director of BBC Children’s in 2009. Biddy had long-finished assisting various Directors General, and in retirement seemed to be on speed dial for newspapers who wanted someone to bemoan the current state of children’s television in general and Blue Peter in particular. I decided I wanted to bring this woman I’d admired for so long back into the BBC Children’s family, and Biddy seemed pleased to be asked. Despite her initial cynicism about moving Blue Peter and its garden to Salford, she eventually agreed to attend the reopening of the garden by Princess Anne, which I took as the ultimate blessing of our new chapter in the north.
When I retired in 2021, Biddy was unable to attend my leaving drinks due to poor health and the lingering shadow of the pandemic. However, from her flat just around the corner from Brodcasting House, she sent a trusted emissary with a special memento for me – an inscribed vintage Bleep and Booster annual. The little boy who saw her name on the end of Blue Peter would not have believed such a thing could happen!
Biddy’s contribution to children’s television and childhood, and the manner in which she did it, has been dissected elsewhere by people better qualified than me. But I’m clear that Biddy Baxter was an incomparable force for good in shaping the worlds of many millions of children.
Joe Godwin
CMF Lifetime Patron and Board member
Director BBC Children’s 2009-2014
Biddy Baxter MBE