Dan Sabbagh and Adam Sherwin, writing in The Times, Socks the Blue Peter cat who could cost BBC staff their jobs, reveal that the real name, or at least the name that topped the viewer poll, of Socks the Blue Peter cat is… a variant of Puss Cookie (see update below).
No wonder it was deemed inappropriate – even Mrs. Slocombe would have spotted such an obvious opportunity for double-entendre!
One has to wonder at the stupidity of a poll that produces such a result – it would have been far better to avoid the situation arising by offering a selection of safe names for viewers to choose from. I have some sympathy for the producer having found himself in this situation, however, it’s not a first offence, nor is it something that should have been fixed, in whatever way, without involving more senior management.
The Times reminds us that this isn’t the first time Blue Peter pets have been the subject of deception:
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.
Getting back to the here and now, The Times also reports:
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.
The Times also reports today’s other fakery stories – worth a read.
P.S. Jeremy Paxman, bemoaning the lack of a Newsnight cat or dog, has asked viewers to help with ideas for naming a Newsnight dog. I have two suggestions:
Paxo: a powerful attack dog, whose bite and target selection is improving with age; or,
Peter: a put upon hang-dog hound, who not only has to share a kennel with Paxo but also has to put up with having his tail tweaked by all and sundry.
Update (3pm): According to Nick Higham on BBC News 24, the winning name for the cat was ‘Cookie’ – not the potentially rude name reported earlier. Even more bizarre then as to why they should deem Cookie inappropriate. The BBC has also announced that Blue Peter will be getting a new kitten that will be named Cookie.
I have offered Newsnight the following:
I suggest Pisa (a slight variant on the Polish for dog, ‘pies’). Appropriate because it leans to the left.
I`d call the Newsnight dog “Kirsty”.
I would have thought “Porky” would be appropriate, given the circumstances.
(John Gibson mentions ‘pies’ two posts above, which led me in the obvious direction.)
I think that cat looks like a Gabor sister. Zsa Zsa is such a lovely name, dahling.
Isn’t this one of those diversion stories? Does anyone really think Blue Peter was in the wrong changing the cat’s name after, Can you imagine the flap caused by Blue Peter calling a cat ‘Pussy’ anyway? (I’m making an assumption here as no-one seems adult enough to say the real name selected) Surely they were right here?
This instance is miles from fleecing the public on phone-ins and any fuss over this story will be used by the BBC to say that people are just being ridiculous and picking on fakery that is necessary/advisable for a kids show?
Hey the BBC really knows how to weed out corruption with no fear or favour … rather like the way they’ve banned giving away a Daily Politics mug as a prize. The threat that Jenny Scott might be rigging the prize ballot has been averted – BBC vigilence knows no bounds.
Fat Controller: “.. any fuss over this story will be used by the BBC to say that people are just being ridiculous and picking on fakery that is necessary/advisable for a kids show?”
Yes, it’s best to shelter the kids isn’t it – remember all those complaints when we cut that goat’s throat on Blue Peter
Well, well seems like early reports were wrong and the cat was not to be called ‘Pussy’. No more jokes about the male presenters sat on the set stroking pussy then. Connie Huq must be disappointed… 😉
The little fur ball was to be known as ‘Cookie’. So I retract my earlier dispensation. It seems they can’t even be straight with kids. Why do they do these things? What’s wrong with cookie or is there a PC connotation I’m unaware of. Oooh, could it be anti-Americanism perchance?
You couldn’t make this stuff up could you?
The problem for the Beeb now that some people may now start thinking about the most innocent of things ‘is this true or faked again’. Trust lost easily is very hard to regain. Ask CBS after the Rather affair!
Let us take a far fetched example – Scorpion Island on CBBC takes 10 kids to a tropical island to play team games a la “It’s a Knockout”. Can the BBC please confirm that none of the kids are related to anyone working at the BBC or the TV company that filmed it? How big was the TV crew? How did they select the kids? One of them Lianna Hoppe appears to be a World Champion Skipper from Studley which means she has a public profile anyway. So was there a competition or were they selected?
Since it is filmed by RDF Media aka the firm that tried to show HM The Queen in a bad light (even though we all know it was the BBC that really did it and blamed them…) do I have a case? If so I expect my nephews to be selected next time for a free holiday in Brazil or I’ll burst into the Blue Peter studio with a protest banner!
BBC – trust us. British Public – aye right! 😎
PS The post by Bliss about calling the Newsnight dog Kirsty is still making me chortle ages later… cruel I know but funny!
It’s a bit ruff, but it made me chortle too. I was in half-a-mind to moderate that one, this being a family blog, but then I saw that the Newsnight comments include Emily as a suggestion and figured we’d get way with it after all… 🙂
The Pussygate Affair?
AKA The Catflap?
Mohammed?
And apparently, according to Sky News, “Cookie” was rejected as the Blue Peter’s cat’s name because it may have been “sexually offensive”
How PC do you have to be to come to that conclusion? The BBC have lost the plot at all levels.
OK, so I was a bit surprised when it was announced that the allegedly offensive word was “cookie”. But then I don’t make an effort to keep up with the vagueries of slang. That what the Urban Dictionary is for. And it seems that “cookie”, among its various meanings, can be a euphemism for, “pussy” in its sexual sense. See here for the Urban Dictionary entry.
But all this raises the question, if “Cookie” was originally thought offensive, why is it no longer?
RobtE,
Maybe somebody at BH realized that the general public don’t have their minds in the same gutter as the Blue Peter producers.
Kind of says something about what goes on in some BBC minds, doesn’t it?
Chocolate chip?
Final word has to go to the daily mash:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-%26-entertainment/blue-peter-viewers-wanted-to-name-cat-'pisswizard'-20070921414/
this is for those who DO have their minds in the same gutter as the BBC.
Two possible reasons ‘Cookie’ is no longer deemed offensive:
1. The fact that the winning entry was a dirty word implied persons outside of the typical BP viewer age-range had been voting as a joke, and they pulled it not because it was offensive but because it didn’t reflect the viewers’ vote. They reconsidered because of pressure.
2. It is still deemed offensive, but they thought “Fuck it. If these whining Tory teacup-stormers want a kids show with a cat named after a lady’s mingepiece, then they can have one.”
Pejsek,
Surely #2 can’t be true. Otherwise, Cookie Monster from Sesame Street would have to be banned. Actually, they think the name might not be appropriate in Northern Ireland, but for different reasons. “Cookie” seems to be the NI way of spelling “kooky”:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6598935.stm
Actually, I think the “naughty euphemism” explanation is bogus. Something else happened, and the dopes behind it are lying. Option #1 can’t be true either. If “cookie” is such a well-known naughty euphemism, common enough that so many adolescents (or overgrown adolescents) were able to skew the voting results, I don’t believe the BBC would have allowed this headline:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/healthyminds/everyone/work/cookie.shtml
I say no way. The Blue Peter producers got busted, pure and simple, because they wanted Socks to win, and made up a bogus excuse that they hoped sounded PC enough to keep them out of trouble. I can’t really think of why they would want that name in particular over Cookie. But I sure hope it doesn’t have anything to do with Bill Clinton’s pussy.
It’s just a kiddie show, but the incident still speaks volumes about what goes on in the minds of BBC producers, and the BBC hiring and promotion standards that put the producers there in the first place.
Just caught the apology about the Cookie screw-up from Zoe and Konnie. I’m not really sure what to make of it. They said sorry, so that’s something. Although the boss really should be the one apologizing, he’s apparently been handed his cards already, and the kiddies wouldn’t even know who he was.
I wonder what any young one watching this would make of it. Are children confused by this? Does it even register with them? I doubt it. The girls didn’t give any explanation of what happened, just “That was wrong and we’re sorry.” I understand that it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them the “real” reason, but it just seemed a bit vague.
The online article did have something I found troubling, though. Apparently Tim Levell has taken over the show now. Wasn’t he the head of CBBC Newsround ultimately responsible for the now infamous series of articles on 9/11 and Al Qaeda?
I hope I’m wrong, or that he’s at least learned a few lessons about responsibility along the way.