Janet Ellis, the beloved former Blue Peter presenter, is stepping into a significant new role at the start of 2026. The 70-year-old broadcaster will become the next president of Humanists UK, taking over from geneticist Adam Rutherford. In a remarkably candid interview, Ellis opens up about her journey from children's television to championing secular causes, navigating single motherhood in the spotlight, and coping with the profound grief of losing her husband.
A New Chapter: Championing Secular Values
Ellis, who lives in London with her 21-year-old grandson and a large Italian Spinone dog named Angela, says she has "always been struck" by the organisation's "steady calmness". She sees it as a vital port of irreligious decency in increasingly polarised times. The group campaigns for secular schools and assisted dying laws, causes Ellis strongly supports.
"Since I was a child, I've found the idea of prioritising what came next over this bit a really weird concept," she explains. "Everything starts and finishes in our minds." She acknowledges it's a tough period to assume such a prominent role, with culture wars intensifying, but states firmly, "I've never been scared of saying what I think. The reassuring thing is, as you get older, it gets easier."
An Accidental Career in Television
Ellis's path to becoming a household name was far from planned. Born in Kent in 1955, she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, dreaming of a theatre career. "Telly in those days was a bit, 'Well, if I have to,'" she recalls. Her first professional role was playing a plant pot on stage.
The suggestion of moving into TV presenting was initially met with horror. "When my agent first said, 'What about presenting?', I found it absolutely, outrageously awful," she admits, gesturing as if towards the Royal Shakespeare Company. Yet, life had other plans. After a small part in Doctor Who and a stint on Jigsaw, she joined Blue Peter at 23, shortly after having her first child, future pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Juggling Fame, Motherhood and Loss
Ellis's early career was marked by personal challenges. She divorced when Sophie was four and she was a new Blue Peter presenter, a move that could have been scandalous in a different era. "I wasn't in the age of X and Insta and paparazzi," she notes, crediting the lack of modern media scrutiny. She later left the show in 1989, not because she was fired while pregnant with her son Jack, as rumours suggested, but because she chose not to return after maternity leave.
Her personal life found joyous stability when she married television producer John Leach in 1988. He was, she says, "the funniest person I've ever met" and a "brilliant stepfather" to Sophie. His death from tonsil cancer in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a devastating blow. Treatment was disrupted, and his funeral was restricted to just 15 people.
"It was ridiculous that he should die so young," Ellis reflects. This profound loss is the only thing that ever challenged her agnosticism. "If anything was going to challenge it, it would be the hope that you'd see someone again. But I'm not going to see him again... I genuinely find it comforting that we had a good time here."
Through it all, including the very public joy of her daughter Sophie's 'Kitchen Disco' broadcasts during lockdown, Ellis has maintained her characteristic wit and resilience. As she prepares to lead Humanists UK, she remains the same perceptive, principled figure who once taught a generation how to use sticky-backed plastic, now ready to advocate for a more secular and compassionate society.
