Blue Peter says 'sorry' for Red Hand blunder

Bosses of BBC TV children’s show Blue Peter have apologised over the use of the Red Hand of Ulster symbol.

The controversy emerged two weeks ago in a children’s competition to design new airline livery.

New presenter Zoe Salmon, 24, a former Miss Northern Ireland, suggested the Red Hand of Ulster would make a good design for an airline’s livery.

She caused more controversy a week later by selecting a design of a map of Ireland, covered in the Union Jack, as one of her favourites.

Head of Blue Peter Anne Gilchrist issued an apology to David Miller, professor of sociology at Strathclyde University, who was among those who complained about the use of the Red Hand of Ulster, saying it was a sectarian symbol.

Ms Gilchrist wrote: “We can assure you that the symbol was used in good faith and it certainly wasn’t our intention to be provocative or promote sectarianism.

“The reason we chose to use it was because it is the official symbol of the province of Ulster.

“Of Ulster’s nine counties, three are located in Eire and six in Northern Ireland and we were advised that both communities are equally attached to the red hand as representative of their province.”

She added: “Blue Peter never seeks to offend its audience. We take all complaints seriously and after we received yours we did some detailed investigation into it, the result of which is that we realise that the context in which we were referring to the Red Hand was inappropriate and mistaken.

“We’d like to apologise for any upset or concern we have caused.”

Professor Miller said today: “This symbol has sectarian connotations. It’s used on the loyalist murals by paramilitaries and would cause offence to a lot of people.”