Edward Barnes (television executive)

Barnes was a co-creator of Blue Peter in 1958, and the programme's assistant director. Later, he was a producer of the series. It was Barnes, with colleague Biddy Baxter, who in late 1962 toured London pet shops after the show's mongrel puppy died and a clandestine substitute (soon known as Petra) was needed so as not to needlessly upset young viewers.[1] Barnes was the originator of the longstanding children's television news programme Newsround, in April 1972; originally, it was known as John Craven's Newsround. At the time, he was Deputy Head of Children's Television at the BBC.[2] Newsround was created to explain horrifying stories to children that would not be comprehended equally well on the main news. It was met with resistance when he formulated it, and was a controversial idea for some of his colleagues.[2] Newsround was the first to bring the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster to British television on 28 January 1986. Barnes' wife was the writer Dorothy Smith, who was a contributor to Blue Peter. The couple, who had three children, were married from 1950 to 1992, when Smith died.[3]

• Interview in January 2015
• BBC Archive
• Edward Barnes at IMDb