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Shep (1 May 1971 – 17 January 1987) was a ''
Blue Peter'' dog, a
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Ang ...
. He was bought by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
to replace
Patch
Patch or Patches may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives''
* Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy
* "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962
* "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...
, one of
Petra's puppies, born in 1965. Shep became the main ''Blue Peter'' dog when Petra died in 1977.
Shep is remembered by British television viewers as inseparable from ''Blue Peter'' presenter
John Noakes
John Noakes (born John Wallace Bottomley; 6 March 1934 – 28 May 2017) was an English television presenter and former actor. He co-presented the BBC children's magazine programme ''Blue Peter'' in the 1960s and 1970s and was the show's longes ...
. Shep was excitable, and Noakes would often have to restrain him. Noakes' common refrain, "Get down, Shep!", became a
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
, and
The Barron Knights
The Barron Knights are a British humorous pop rock group, originally formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire,Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'', (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), ), p. 32 as the Knights of the Round Table.
C ...
released a song with that title. Shep left ''Blue Peter'' when Noakes departed the show in June 1978.
Shep also appeared with Noakes in six series of ''
Go With Noakes'', from 1976 to 1980. Noakes left ''Blue Peter'' on 26 June 1978, and the BBC offered to let him keep Shep, as the dog had lived with him since his TV debut. Despite Shep living with Noakes, the dog was always legally owned by the BBC and in rules that also applied to himself whilst under contract to the BBC, he could not use Shep for advertising or commercial purposes.
Noakes was paid a stipend to cover all Shep's costs from the ''Blue Peter'' budget (as was
Peter Purves
Peter John Purves (; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. He played Steven Taylor in ''Doctor Who'' under the First Doctor, a role he continued to play in audio dramas for Big Finish Productions. He later became ...
for 'Petra' and later
Simon Groom
Simon Groom (born 12 August 1950) is a British producer and director. He was a presenter of ''Blue Peter'' from 1978 to 1986.
Early life
Groom was born in Chesterfield in Derbyshire, and was brought up on a farm in Dethick, which he often vis ...
for 'Goldie') and as part of the agreement to keep Shep after leaving the show, Noakes agreed to the maintenance of the no-advertising condition.
[
However, shortly after leaving the show, Noakes was furious to discover that what he called his "dog money" ceased to be paid and he confronted the show's producer Biddy Baxter in a phone call. Baxter was adamant that the programme should no longer be responsible for any of Shep's costs after the dog had left ''Blue Peter'', although she did sympathise with some of his argument and felt that the BBC should pay Noakes for Shep to appear in ''Go With Noakes'' or for 'personal appearances' the dog made. However, according to what she later wrote, Noakes was too angry to discuss the matter, and the two rarely spoke again.][ Soon after this angry confrontation, Noakes relinquished Shep, who went to live with Edith Menzies.
Noakes subsequently appeared in a series of television advertisements for ]Spillers
Spillers Ltd was a British company that owned flour milling operations, operated bakeries and also sold pet food and equine feeds.
History
The business originated in 1829 from the establishment of a flour mill in Bridgwater, Somerset, by Joel Sp ...
"Choice Cuts" dog food, using a dog that was indistinguishable from Shep but named Skip. The clear subterfuge led to a deeper rift between him and Baxter.[Baxter, Biddy (1989), ''Blue Peter The Inside Story'', Interpet Ringpull ]BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...
; Noakes called her a "stupid woman" in a televised 2008 documentary celebrating the show's 50th anniversary. Shep died in 1987, and Noakes often became emotional when asked about him; he openly wept on an edition of ''The Weakest Link
''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...
'' when hostess Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was the host of BBC game show '' The Weakest Link'' (2000–2017). She presented the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' from June 2021 to Jul ...
asked him about the dog.
See also
* List of individual dogs
This is a list of individual famous actual dogs; for famous dogs from fiction, see List of fictional dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Axelrod, Basset Hound, appeared in commercials and print ads for Flying "A" Service Station advertisements in ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Shep
from the Blue Peter website
Blue Peter
Individual dogs
1971 animal births
1987 animal deaths
Individual animals in the United Kingdom