The curse of Blue Peter

It seems that no amount of stickyback plastic and cardboard toilet-roll holders can help former Blue Peter presenter John Leslie mend his shattered career. If it's any consolation (and it probably won't be), the TV star can take some solace from the fact that he's far from alone.

Over the years, an alarming number of former Blue Peter presenters have found themselves immersed in scandals more usually associated with rock stars and Tory MPs. The show's once squeaky-clean image has been tarnished with tales of drugtaking, infidelity, sexual scandal and bankruptcy. During the golden years of John Noakes, Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton the show became synonymous with childhood innocence, but embarrassing revelations about the private lives of presenters are now as memorable as the animals who regularly misbehaved on camera.

The show's name was given a whole new meaning when it emerged that presenter Peter Duncan had once appeared in a pornographic film. We look back at some of the presenters and the scandals which meant they probably had to give back those coveted badges.

Christopher Trace

The first presenter of Blue Peter, from 1958 to 1967, was criticised for giving children a recipe for alcoholic ginger beer. He left the programme under a cloud after his wife filed for divorce, citing a Norwegian girl called Tuna whom he had met while filming the programme. He was declared bankrupt in 1973 and died in 1992.

Peter Duncan

Duncan was the only person to do two stints on the show - 1980 to 1984, and 1985 to 1986 - and the first to appear in a sex film. An actor, Duncan was hired to take over John Noakes's action-man role, but parents objected to his scruffy jeans and sweaters. He played Charlie Chaplin in a musical and was also in Barnum. Now 38, he has a wife, Annie, and three daughters, and still does the odd spot of TV.

Janet Ellis

The actress left Blue Peter in 1987 after four years when it was revealed she had separated from her husband and was pregnant by another man. She later married TV producer John Leach, the father of her child, and went on to campaign on behalf of CND and asthma research, and to host Top Gear. She is now most famous for being the mother of 23-yearold pop star Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Sarah Greene

At 22, Sarah Greene was the youngest presenter when she joined the show in 1980. She left in 1983 to go back to acting and has presented several TV shows, including Going Live. In 1988, she narrowly escaped death when the helicopter being flown by her fiancè, now husband, Mike Smith crashed. She now appears in adverts for financial companies on cable TV.

Michael Sundin

His tenure at the show was brief, from September 1984 to June 1985. He died from liver cancer, aged 27, in 1989. An ex-world trampoline champion, he is said to have left after a personality clash. There was controversy after he was filmed naked in a sex show at the Hippodrome and his gay past revealed. When it emerged that he was dying, he returned to his native Newcastle.

Anthea Turner

Turner presented from 1992 to 1994. She went on to host the Lottery, marry her manager, and have an affair with married businessman Grant Bovey. They later wed but their big day was tarnished by claims that wedding photographs were issued as part of a sponsorship deal with a chocolate maker. Now 42, she recently appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. She enjoys housework.

Richard Bacon

Bacon was sacked just before the show's 40th birthday in 1998, after admitting in a Sunday newspaper that he took cocaine. The newspaper had tracked Bacon, who had been on the show for two years, to a drug dealers' home before confronting him. The scandal severely embarrassed the BBC. Bacon, now 27, became a presenter on the Big Breakfast, and is still much in demand.