Blue Peter: 1980-1981
Season 17 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Blue Peter Season 16.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 17 Progress Shield
Episode 1
Sep 8, 1980
Expedition Malaysia There's more than a touch of Eastern promise in this year's expedition! Simon and Sarah have explored one of the world's most exotic countries. Giant turtles,
Episode 2
Sep 11, 1980
Today, Blue Peter's new boy makes his first-ever appearance on the programme. Think you've seen him before? You probably have, if you watched the "King Cinder" series, where Peter
Episode 3
Sep 15, 1980
Six-and-a-half thousand miles from Lord's and The Oval, Simon and Sarah watch the cricket at Kuala Lumpur's Selangor Club, explore the Sunday market on Saturday night and hold thei
Episode 4
Sep 18, 1980
The next time you have baked beans on toast, spare a thought for the rabblers who produced the tin. They are the men who stir the molten metal in temperatures of 200°F. Sarah sizz
Episode 6
Sep 25, 1980
'Allemande Left, Buckle Up Two, Dish Rag Turn and Do-Si-Do' Join the Hoe-Down in the Blue Peter studio as Simon, Sarah and Peter master the steps of the latest craze - Square Danc
Episode 7
Sep 29, 1980
Introducing 'Muhammad Ali', Malaysia's coconut-collecting baboon!
Episode 15
Oct 27, 1980
Meet the only rabbit in Britain brought up by a goat. Two months ago an orange rex doe died before giving birth to 12 babies. The only survivor was fostered by the family's British
Episode 16
Oct 30, 1980
Star Gazey Pie, with its seven sorts of fish, is a recipe that dates back 200 years when Skipper Tom Bawcock was the only fisherman in Mousehole to put to sea in a fierce storm. Tr
Episode 17
Nov 3, 1980
If you have ever resorted to counting sheep to send you off to sleep, try visiting Biggin-by-Hartington the next time you can't nod off. It's the scene of Derbyshire's biggest shee
Episode 18
Nov 6, 1980
David Attenborough and Sir Hugh Casson have been hard at work helping to judge the Blue Peter/ Natural History Museum Centenary Poster Competition. Today is results day and even if
Episode 21
Nov 17, 1980
Simon reports from Loch Ryan, where 50,000 tons of the Royal Navy's best-loved aircraft carrier are being turned into scrap metal.
Episode 22
Nov 20, 1980
An estimated 20 million trees have been killed by the dreaded Dutch Elm disease and unless 50 million saplings are planted during the next three years, Britain's landscape could lo
Episode 24
Nov 27, 1980
Today Simon, Sarah and Peter make Blue Peter's most important announcement of the year - so have a paper and pencil handy for details of the 1980 Appeal.
Episode 25
Dec 1, 1980
Last year nine million Blue Peter viewers raised nearly £4 million to help the starving people of Cambodia. Today you can discover more details about the 1980 Appeal. Your help is
Episode 26
Dec 4, 1980
Peter joins a team of men with one of the most dangerous jobs in Britain - the crew of the fishing boat Fruitful Harvest. Seventy miles off the coast of north-east Scotland, skippe
Episode 27
Dec 8, 1980
Top Cats! Last Saturday 2,450 cats and kittens took part in the National Cat Club's 84th annual show - the largest in the world. Sarah was there judging the Blue Peter classes for
Episode 28
Dec 11, 1980
Christmas is Coming! Lighting the first candle on the Advent Crown means there are only four Blue Peters to go before the Great Day! There's an idea for a present to make for Dads
Episode 29
Dec 15, 1980
'Merry Christmas' in Cornish, and today four brothers from Bodmin, Merv, Andy, Chris and Neil, otherwise known as Bucca, make their very first appearance on TV. They'll be singing
Episode 30
Dec 18, 1980
This time next week, Christmas Day will be nearly over. If your cards are arriving thick and fast and there's nowhere left to put them, you might like to make a Christmas card hang
Episode 31
Dec 22, 1980
On the last Blue Peter before Christmas there's news of the help you're giving, that will change the lives of disabled people all over Britain. Join in with carols round the tree
Episode 32
Dec 29, 1980
1980 was an eventful year for "Blue Peter"! Tina had her baby, Jill had kittens, Simon got married and Sarah and Peter joined the team. If you missed any of these milestones, join
Episode 33
Jan 1, 1981
Ring in the New! On the very first day of the International Year of Disabled People, Blue Peter leaps into 1981 with the latest news of the Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale Appe
Episode 34
Jan 5, 1981
Who Stole the Stone? Thirty years ago this year, the Coronation Stone, one of Westminster Abbey's most precious treasures, was stolen from beneath the Coronation Chair on which al
Episode 35
Jan 8, 1981
High Diver! Peter joins British diving champions LINDSEY FRASER and ANDREW JEFFS at Crystal Palace pool and picks up a few tips on perfecting Olympic dives like the double somersa
Episode 39
Jan 22, 1981
Including rare archive film of the funeral procession of Queen Victoria who died 80 years ago.
Episode 41
Jan 29, 1981
Happy Birthday! Jack and Jill, Britain's favourite Silver Tabbies, celebrate their fifth birthday today. But will Jill do her famous disappearing act on this important day? All wil
Episode 42
Feb 2, 1981
Will You be Mine? A preview of the 1981 St Valentine's Bay stamp and an unusual way of sending a message to your true love. Have a paper and pencil handy to take down details of a
Episode 43
Feb 5, 1981
Peter helps build the course for canoeing's most hazardous race - the White Water World Championships and tests the run.
Episode 44
Feb 9, 1981
Mucking out and milking were the main jobs Simon was asked to tackled when he took charge of his Dad's farm for a day. But the unexpected happened in the shape of 11 new-born lambs
Episode 45
Feb 12, 1981
Simon reports from Germany where children of the British Forces are helping the Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale Appeal.
Episode 54
Mar 16, 1981
In two weeks' time, 7,500 athletes will be running in the London Marathon. At 26 miles, 385 yards, it's the longest race in the world. Sarah tells the story of how this greatest te
Episode 55
Mar 19, 1981
Make sure mums and aunties are not around for this edition of the programme, as Sarah shows how to make a special card for Mothering Sunday.
Episode 57
Mar 26, 1981
Next weekend Peter joins the runners taking part in the first-ever London Marathon. Today he travels the route the easy way-on a bike - and points out some of the historic landmark
Episode 63
Apr 16, 1981
Grange Hill Competition Results Will your storyline be chosen for Tucker and Trish's Grange Hill Christmas Special? Guest judge Phil Redmond explains how he picked the overall wi
Episode 64
Apr 23, 1981
Top Ten Birds: Will the starling stay at the top? Britain's second garden bird survey is launched on Saturday and your help is vital! Have a pencil and paper handy for the details.
Episode 65
Apr 27, 1981
Goldie's Return! Britain's most popular Golden Retriever returns to the studio with her five 6-week-old puppies. They're in good company too, with guests Kevin Keegan, Rags, the p
Episode 66
Apr 30, 1981
Will Goldie's puppies qualify as trainee guide-dogs for the blind? Today's the day they take their all-important tests when Puppy Walking Manager Derek Freeman puts them through th
Episode 67
May 7, 1981
Appeal Auction: Last Tuesday all the collectors' items donated to the Bring and Buy Sale for Disabled People were auctioned at Phillips. Find out whether the proceeds have raised t
Episode 68
May 11, 1981
Top Ten Birds: Aided by a computer, scrutineers at the RSPB's headquarters have analysed the thousands of surveys sent in by Blue Peter viewers after the one-hour birdwatch on 25 A
Episode 70
May 18, 1981
Royal Wedding Stand by for details of a competition that could win you a unique souvenir of the Wedding of the Year.
Episode 71
May 21, 1981
Gaping Gill Every year high in the Pennines local cavers build a dam to divert a stream and Britain's largest subterranean cave reveals its secret for just three weeks. Peter repo
Episode 72
May 28, 1981
Prince's First Walk Teaching a trainee guide dog puppy to walk is quite different from training a family pet. Prince must never walk to heel, but just a little bit ahead of Peter
Episode 73
Jun 1, 1981
Feeling hot and bothered? Cool down with a mouth-watering pudding that needs absolutely no cooking. Have a paper and pencil handy for the recipe.
Episode 74
Jun 4, 1981
Pot Black! Sarah tries her hand at being a chimney sweep's assistant when she joins Dodd Diggins of Framlingham in Suffolk. Dodd has been cleaning chimneys with brushes for 50 yea
Episode 75
Jun 8, 1981
Full Steam Ahead! This week marks the bicentenary of one of the most famous engineers ever - George Stephenson. To celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the father of the rail
Episode 76
Jun 11, 1981
Royal Wedding Postmen have been delivering paper plates by the sackful, as thousands of entries for the Royal Wedding Plate Competition have poured into Television Centre. Find o
Episode 77
Jun 15, 1981
Peter joins the legendary White Helmets at their base at Catterick in Yorkshire for some expert tips on motorbike display riding. Led by Sergeant Fred Alexander , the 30-man team t
Episode 78
Jun 18, 1981
Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick, Quicker Maggie and Jim go to university. On a VIP visit to Oxford, they join the other contestants at Corpus Christi for the Great Tortoise Race And Jul
Episode 79
Jun 22, 1981
Paper Doll: see a pile of newspapers and chicken wire transformed into a lifesized Sarah. Artist Terry Wall specialises in papier mache sculptures and you can watch him today.
Episode 80
Jun 25, 1981
Twin Mounts This summer an estimated 170,000 visitors will explore the spot where Jack the Giant Killer is supposed to have killed the giant. St Michael's Mount is a top attractio
Episode 82
Jul 20, 1981
St Christopher Special with Simon Groom and Tina Heath More than 20,000 viewers entered the competition to design a mural for the new cross-channel ferry, the St Christopher. Blue