Blue Peter
1958–BBC OneDocumentary
The world's longest-running children's programme, opening on a ship in full sail and a hornpipe.
Blue Peter rebuilt its titles: two distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 45 and 64, running between 23 and 40 seconds.
It arrived on BBC One in 1958, when Grandstand, This Is Your Life and The Sooty Show were also on the network.
Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; Blue Peter did so once.
All 2 opening title sequences
Season 45
40sFan upload of the 2002 titles; counting a season per year from the October 1958 launch, that is the forty-fifth.
Season 64
23sPosted by Liquid TV, the studio that designed it, dated 2021 — the sixty-fourth season counted from the October 1958 launch.
More documentary opening titles from the 1950s
1 sequenceThe Lawrence Welk Show
Champagne music, bubbles in the titles, and thirty-one years of the same band leader counting in.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTo Tell the Truth
Three people claiming to be the same person, and the line that ends it — will the real one please stand up.
- Season 1
1 sequencePanorama
The longest-running current affairs programme in the world, and a theme borrowed from Rachmaninoff.
- Season 30
1 sequenceTruth or Consequences
A radio stunt show that reached television in 1950 and persuaded a New Mexico town to rename itself after it.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Sky at Night
The longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history, opening on Sibelius' At the Castle Gate.
- Season 1
2 sequencesGrandstand
Five hours of live sport on a Saturday afternoon, held together by a man at a desk and the teleprinter behind him.
- Season 23
- Season 33
