The television programme Blue Peter was accused yesterday of deceiving children for the second time in a year as the BBC removed staff blamed for a series of phone-in scandals that have damaged its credibility with the public.

A former producer on the children’s show, Britain’s longest-running, has been suspended after it emerged that production staff had ignored the result of a viewer poll to choose a name for the Blue Peter cat last year.

The suspension was disclosed a day after the BBC dismissed Leona McCambridge, a producer on Liz Kershaw’s 6 Music programme, for gross misconduct. One of her bosses, Ric Blaxill, 6 Music head of programmes, is also believed to be under threat.

In July, the BBC admitted that Liz Kershaw’s show ran a fake phone-in using production staff posing as members of the public in a recorded programme that pretended to be live. The fake phone-ins, supposedly featuring listeners competing for prizes, ran from 2005 until December 2006.

Blue Peter faces new scandal

It has emerged that production staff ignored the result of a viewer poll to choose a name for the Blue Peter cat last year

BACKGROUND

• BBC fined £50,000 for Blue Peter scandal

• BBC boss and the Queen’s ‘huff’

• Time to hang up on TV phone-ins

• GMTV cheated 25m of its phone-in callers

Socks was the name chosen for the Blue Peter cat by the programme’s producers, although insiders said that the decision was taken because the most common name selected – a variant on Puss – was deemed to be inappropriate.

Earlier this year, Blue Peter was dragged into controversy when it was found that production staff had faked the result of a phone-in competition, picking a child from the audience to answer the question live on air because the phone lines had failed. That prompted an on-air apology by presenters, as the BBC became engulfed in the phone-in scandals that have hit all the major broadcasters.

Nor is it the first time that viewers have been deceived when it comes to Blue Peter pets. The original Petra, the programme’s dog, died of distemper shortly after first appearing on screen in 1962. At that time, in the belief that children would be unecessarily upset, a similar dog was found as a replacement. What had really happened remained a secret for three decades.

Other staff are expected to be suspended in the next few days, with suggestions that as many as 25 could eventually face action, after about five were told not to report for work when the first set of scandals broke in July.

A statement is not expected from the BBC until the end of the week, although the BBC Trust was briefed by Mark Thompson, the Director-General, about new and existing revelations at its monthly meeting yesterday. That meeting also saw the trust order Mr Thompson to make savings of 3 per cent a year every year for five years from 2008, without closing any television channel or radio station.

However, Mr Thompson’s action against middle-level and junior executives has become highly unpopular, as it has so far left senior managers untouched.

Luke Crawley, an offical with the broadcasting union Bectu, said: “Why is it that junior staff are being target-ed? It is very peculiar that senior executives are not in the frame – these after all are the people whose demand for ratings puts others under intense pressure.”

Mr Blaxill, a former Top of the Pops executive producer and creative director of Capital Radio, is one of the most experienced figures in music broadcasting. If he departs he would be the most senior casualty at the BBC so far. He has been on leave for two weeks while the BBC investigates his conduct.

Leona McCambridge, a Sony Award-winning producer who was dismissed by Lesley Douglas, the BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 Controller, is appealing against her dismissal and is being supported by Bectu. Ms McCambridge is expected to claim that she was following procedures established by more senior BBC Radio figures.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010