Blue Peter: tribute to Michael Sundin
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- From the 11th September 1989 edition, Yvette Fielding presents a tribute to former presenter Michael Sundin who had recently died at the yound age of 28. Also presented by John Leslie and Caron Keating.
I had the pleasure of spending the night with Michael in the early eighties. He was such a warm and passionate man. I'll never forget the night we shared together.
......and the band played believe me if u will
It's just really sad the way Michael was treated by 'Blue Peter', and then horrible that he died at such a young age. Thankfully, people still remember him - he seemed like such a lively, friendly person.
I think you need to read the 50th anniversary book by Richard Marson and you'll find out the truth. He wasn't treated badly by the show.
@@neilogden I haven't a clue who Richard Marson is, but are you commenting with the same message to everyone on this thread?
@@withinthesewalls Richard Marson was the producer, director and later editor of the show throughout the 80s 90s and 2000s. He tells the comprehensive story of the show for it's 50th anniversary including the truth about various things that had lots of untruths circulating at the time.
@@neilogden With all due respect, it's one person's account of events. And an interested party at that (given his longstanding association with the show). I'm not saying that what Marson may state about this in his book isn't worth hearing (there are always different sides to any story), but you can't possibly claim that you know the absolute truth about how Blue Peter treated Michael on the basis of that alone.
@@withinthesewalls More accurate than the hearsay in the papers though
I remember quite liking him and wondering where he’d gone. The idea that the kids complained about his effeminacy is nonsense. You didn’t think of that as a young kid. He was forced out because of his sexuality, no doubt about it.
He was a terrible presenter.
I agree!! Kids wouldn't say that. Most male children's bbc presenters were effeminate in some ways
Therein lies the reason Schofield said nothing.
@@MarkHarrison733He may have been to many, but his dismissal and the revelations about his antics in a gay club were curiously contemporaneous.
Truth is, it was a mistake by the production team. Biddy Baxter admitted as much in Blue Peter The Inside Story. Michael was excellent at some parts of the job but not so good at others. Broadly speaking, he was great in film reports and made a very good film with Elton John. The two got on really well but he had little rapport with the children when presenting in the studio. As this was the real crux of the job, he was let go after just a year on the show and Peter Duncan returned for a year to restore some stability.
It was a real tragedy, one of many at that time. I can recall his stint on Blue Peter in the mid-80s when I watched as a young kid. He was only on the show 9 months. The way the press treated him afterwards was shamefull, but very much a sign of those times. I wonder the real reason Biddy fired him?
The viewers didn't like him.
I think Blue Peter said the viewers didn't like him to justify their reasons for firing him.
Being gay was enough to damn Michael in homophobic Britain in the 1980s
Watching clips of Michael back it is clear to see how camp he was which as a young teenager I didn't pick up on back in 1984/85. Other Blue Peter presenters like Christopher Wenner didn't have their contracts renewed but were given a send off. Michael was there at the end of one series and not at the beginning of the next. I'm pretty certain he didn't get a send off.
There were a number of openly gay actors appearing in Children's BBC programmes at the time and if any of the Blue Peter hierarchy didn't realise that Michael was gay they must have lived very sheltered lives.
Michael wan't the best presenter and no doubt his camp persona was much more lively off screen than having to recite lines to a camera as he was an actor/dancer and not a trained presenter.
Peter Duncan returned to the show and we just assumed he'd been away doing Duncan Dares and had now returned and Michael had merely been a stand in. Michael had been outed in the press whilst on BP I think as I know there were sketches on comedy shows at the time with a very camp children's presenter making things and doing double entendres.
But Simon Groom always did the double entrendres and they called the presenter Simon so it was clearly a mixture of both Michael and him.
It was very sad Michael died at such a young age but it was only well into the 2000's that I found out the very talented Michael Staniforth had also been a high profile early aids casualty dying a couple of years before Michael Sundin.
Yvette is such a sweetheart
Especially in that body paint 😍
1:42 sad that Caron herself only died young at 41
It's funny.
The idea that "children... had complained about his effeminacy" doesn't seem quite right to me...
I dont think they did to be honest. It is more likey to have been parents and the press at the time.
@@Sean360Video I don't trust anyone who says that kids, particularly young kids, object to anything of this sort. The only reason kids object is because they've been taught to.
Pure bigotry and homophobia
Yes, doesn't ring true to me but that's what they said. It was likely because of his sexuality, which is a shame.
I thought Blue Peter had airbrushed him from history sacked by the BBC and hounded by the gutter press Its a Sin peace be with you Michael
Then apparently you were wrong, weren't you.
@@scottishwildcat,@john ungi
Don’t be so judgmental - many (most?), you included, get their information from the interweb and when this information is on a popular website like tvtropes is it surprising that it is accepted as true?
But maybe you are the exception, refusing to believe anything on any site until you have personally interviewed all relevant witnesses?
@john ungi
Don’t be so judgmental @scottishwildcat. Many (most?), you included, get their information from the interweb and when this information is on a popular website like tvtropes is it surprising that it is accepted as true?
But maybe you are the exception, refusing to believe anything on any site until you have personally interviewed all relevant witnesses?
Thanks for this
He was very badly treated by the BBC and the press invasion of his private life only made things worse. I never believed the stories about complaints over his accent or his mannerisms, that was a made-up excuse and Biddy Baxter obviously did nothing to help, which is not surprising. It was still considered to be a 'bad' thing to be gay in some areas in the 80s, including childrens' tv. Even Owain Wyn Evans, who started on CBBC Wales, was told to stay in the closet 20 years later. Some things never change at the BBC, but thankfully we are now more tolerant in general, though it was too late for poor Michael. May he rest in peace.❤
You need to read the truth in the 50th anniversary book.
We're all just fleeting moments in time.
RIP
The first of the former Blue Peter presenters to die young
wasn't he also tie Tok in return to oz?
@@nathanwood5977 I think so
The first former presenter to die at the time.
@Nathan Wood yes I have vivid memories of Janet Ellis (I think it was her) interviewing him on the set of Return to Oz in 1984. That's how he got the job in Blue Peter, Biddy was impressed with him. Obviously, this was short-lived, unfortunately.
Yes, most of them died young, the exception being John Noakes.
Michael died in 1989 at 28
Chris Trace died in 1992 at 59, Caron Keating died in 2004 at 41, John Noakes died in 2017 at 83 and Chris Wenner died in 2021 at 56.
R.I.P Mr Michael Sundin.
Gone too soon 😔 😢 😢. Good presenter
HE WAS TIK TOK
Return to Oz 1985
0:25 "a world champion trampoline champion"? - talk about a tongue twister for Yvette 😄
A world champion trampolinist would have been a better description.
@@kevinlongman007 I think she should have said "a world trampoline champion" but said champion first by mistake
A world trampy trampoline champion
Michael Sundin actually died of an AIDS related liver cancer illness on 23rd July 1989, yet the BBC Blue Peter team still omitted to mention this actual information.
Yes it was done for a reason. You have to remember this was the 80s and aids was still fairly new to the public and many were still ignorant.
The BBC treated Michael appallingly. I was a dear friend of Michael's throughout the 1980's; he was such a lovely soul. I often think of him and how very sweet he was to me always.
@Such Is This Mystery Did he ever tell you what really happened? Did Biddy fire him because he was gay and it got into the press?
I recall ‘Farmer-Groom’ always looked at him with disdain on the show. You can see it when Micheal interviews Tripods cast.
Why would they? It’s a children’s programme. They don’t need to read out the autopsy report.
Yvette has thigh boots on?
Shame wot happened to Michael Sundin.
On the trampoline...what On earth was he wearing skis for?! Don't geddit.
I remember this, but I didn’t know he was gay and his death was as a result of AIDS. 😢
There was nothing "camp" about Michael!
Remember guys it's the 80s rubber up!
Hind-sight is a great thing......can you protect yourself against something you dont know exists if you can please explain cos you r going 2 b 1 extremally wealthy THUG
Your original post was with the name Thug ?????