Blue Peter says 'sorry' for cat name-fixing scandal

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Presenters Konnie Huq and Zoe Salmon yesterday held up fluffy cats as they tried to explain in the simplest terms that the programme had rigged an online poll to name its feline pet.

The apology was the second time this year the show's presenters have tried to explain to viewers how it deceived them, after the presenters were forced to say sorry for getting a child visiting the studio to pose as a winning caller in a competition.

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Zoe clutches Socks while Konnie cuddles new addition Cookie

Miss Salmon held up the Blue Peter cat that viewers were asked to name in the poll in January last year.

The viewers had voted for the name Cookie in the website poll but Blue Peter staff secretly rejected that name and chose Socks instead.

When that deception came to light last week, an apologetic BBC announced that Socks would now be joined by a second kitten - to be called Cookie, the original name viewers wanted.

Yesterday, Cookie was duly displayed in front of the cameras by Miss Huq, who told viewers it was "a brand new kitten, only 13 weeks old, and we're all in love with him".

Her co-presenter added: "You may have already seen or read in the news that Cookie was the name that actually should have been given.

"So today we had to say sorry, and what better way to say sorry than with this cute thing."

The apology came in the first edition of the new series of the BBC1 show.

It followed yesterday's announcement that acting editor Tim Levell has become the new editor of the programme.

The former editor, Richard Marson, was sacked over the poll, but is set to appeal against the BBC's actions.

Mr Marson was also at the helm when Blue Peter was involved in its first and most serious deception, in which a child visiting the studio was asked to pose as a phone-in competition winner.

The BBC was fined an unprecedented £50,000 by media watchdog Ofcom over the incident.