Tim Lovejoy fulfils Blue Peter dream

Tim Lovejoy fulfils Blue Peter dream
Tim Lovejoy fulfils Blue Peter dream (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Tim Lovejoy will finally fulfil his dream of fronting an episode of Blue Peter - 12 years after being turned down for a presenting job on the show. The children's programme is introducing guest presenters for the first time in its 52-year history to help Sport Relief. They will step into Helen Skelton's shoes as she continues her epic 2,010 mile kayak down the Amazon River in aid of the charity. Lovejoy auditioned to be a Blue Peter presenter in 1998 - but Simon Thomas eventually landed the job - filling the vacancy left by Richard Bacon, who was sacked after it emerged he had taken cocaine. Tim went on to become a hit with footy fans everywhere as the host of Sky's Soccer AM, alongside Helen Chamberlain, staying with the show for over a decade. Something For The Weekend host Lovejoy will present CBBC's Blue Peter on Tuesday next week, along with another guest presenter, Angelica Bell. Lovejoy said: "Despite being turned down back in 1998, I am delighted that Blue Peter has asked me to stand in for Helen Skelton while she kayaks down the Amazon. I auditioned for Blue Peter years ago when I first started presenting, but I don't think my 'make' skills were quite up to scratch! "I'm not doing anything quite as courageous as Helen for Sport Relief but I will be running the Sport Relief Mile on Sunday March 21." Last week, Skelton reached the half-way point in her epic 2,010 mile kayak down the Amazon River, tripling the Guinness World Record for the longest solo journey by kayak. A full round up of Skelton's challenge will be shown in two Blue Peter episodes on March 16 and 17, in the lead up to the Sport Relief Weekend, which takes place from March 19 to 21.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.