Richard Marson (born July 1966) is an English writer, television producer and director, best known as a former editor-in-chief of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's children's television programme '' Blue Peter''. In September 2007, Marson was sacked from his post for making an editorial decision on the naming of the new ''Blue Peter'' cat, thus overriding the results of online vote on the programme in January 2006. Despite this, he remains the programme's "unofficial historian". Marson has directed and produced a number of documentaries, including ''Children's TV on Trial'', '' Upstairs Downstairs Remembered'', and ''Tales of Television Centre'' (2012).

Early life and career

Marson was educated at Felsted School followed by

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, where he read for a degree in English, graduating in 1987. As a student he contributed to ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In ...

'' and put on plays as a member of Durham University Sensible Thespians (DUST), which would later evolve into the Durham Revue sketch group. Marson won his first Blue Peter badge in 1972, which influenced him to pursue a career with the BBC in 1988. He worked on many TV programmes, including '' Going Live!'', ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', and eventually ''Blue Peter''. Between 1983 and 1988, he wrote for ''

''. Following five years as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

worker as a producer and director for such companies as

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, Planet 24, and

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

, Marson returned to the BBC to direct '' Record Breakers'' and '' Tomorrow's World'', eventually joining ''Blue Peter'' as a producer in 1998. Marson became first the series producer and then the editor of the show, before being sacked in September 2007.

Competition controversies

In October 2006, ''Blue Peter'' ran a competition called "Whose Shoes?". More than 13,800 people entered, with calls costing 10p each, including 3.25p for a

Unicef UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

charity. Because of technical difficulties, the researcher was unable to access callers' details, and subsequently selected the winner from a guest in the studio without referring the decision to the editor, deputy editor, or producer. Along with this, ''Blue Peter'' staff ignored the result of the online poll to name a new kitten, ignoring the winning name – "Cookie" – and calling the pet "Socks" instead. According to former editor Biddy Baxter's book ''Dear Blue Peter'' (see page 283), Marson "had been so concerned about the accuracy of the online votes he made an editorial decision that the kitten (with its four white paws) should be named 'Socks' rather than 'Cookie'. Richard was an inspired editor. His dismissal was a great blow to the programme." Because of Marson's handling of and failure to report the incident he was sacked from CBBC. He had already left ''Blue Peter'' in July 2007. ''Blue Peter'' was fined £50,000 by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

. The BBC subsequently apologised for the error of judgement.

Later career

He has produced and directed a 90-minute documentary about BBC Television Centre, called ''Tales of Television Centre'', which was first shown on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on 17 May 2012. The programme had a preview screening at

BFI Southbank BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Inst ...

two days before its first transmission. The documentary was commissioned to commemorate the ending of the Centre's role in the Corporation's activities and the site's likely sale. His biography of the last 'classic' ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' producer ''JNT: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner'' was published in 2013 by Miwk Publishing. This work details Nathan-Turner's career, his difficulties with BBC superiors and alleges inappropriate behaviour by the producer. This was followed in 2015 by a biography of ''Doctor Who''s first producer, Verity Lambert.

Son's death

Richard Marson's son Rupert Marson, 14, died at their

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

home in 2008. Police were called to the house on the morning of 8 June, whereupon Rupert Marson was pronounced dead at the scene. At the inquest a verdict of "accidental death" was declared.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marson, Richard 1960s births Living people English television producers People from St Albans People educated at Felsted School Alumni of St Chad's College, Durham British television editors Year of birth missing (living people)