Blue Peter row chief steps down

The BBC said Blue Peter editor Richard Marson was taking a role as an executive producer within the BBC's Children's department working on independent projects.

According to the corporation, the timing of the job change was "not entirely coincidental".

The children's show used a visiting child to pose as the winner of a phone-in competition after a technical problem meant callers could not get through.

Viewers were asked to identify a celebrity by a picture of their feet - belonging to EastEnders character Bradley Branning - and an accompanying clue, to win a prize selected from a list of children's toys.

A total of 13,862 callers entered the premium rate phone line competition during a live edition of the show in aid of the programme's charity appeal for Unicef on November 27 last year.

Calls cost 10p and 3.25p from each call went to the Blue Peter Appeal in aid of Unicef. The BBC did not make a profit from the phone-in.

In March host Konnie Huq told viewers: "We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened, we let you down."

At the time, BBC Children's controller Richard Deverell called the faking of the competition an "exceptional incident" and said the person responsible had acted "in a panic".

The incident was one of the most serious of a series of allegations involving television premium-rate telephone competitions. Other high profile shows hit by complaints over their phone-ins included Channel 4's Richard and Judy, the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and ITV's the X Factor.