This Morning’s stars left gagging in horror as they open Blue Peter’s famous time capsule after 40 years

THIS Morning stars Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby’s delight turned to horror today as they opened the Blue Peter time capsule.

When the top of the box – meant to contain treasures from the past – was cracked off, they were confronted with a mountain of foul-smelling brown sludge.

Holly even suggested the box, whose plaque has been swiped by thieves, was piled high with dog poo.

She and Phillip were joined by Sarah Greene, who was a Blue Peter host when the original capsule was buried in the car park of London’s Television Centre in 1981.

However, even she was forced to admit that the contents were “just disgusting”.

The box had included drawings of mods and punks, a record of 1980s sweets, and a version of the Blue Peter theme by Mike Oldfield.

But when the capsule of “life in Britain in the 1980s” was opened – with great fanfare – the reality was quite different.

Sarah, 64, was so horrified by the contents – a soup of brown sludge – she tried to shield it from viewers.

The telly veteran said: “I don’t think you need to see. Oh my Lord. Perhaps we should have wrapped things up a little more.”

Holly, 41, who was seen with her hand clamped over her mouth when the box was opened, asked: “Did one of the Blue Peter dogs put something inside there?”

Sarah, who joked she needed a hazmat suit to examine the contents, explained: “There were projects in there that were done with kids.”

Holly added: “We may not be able to judge for ourselves, Sarah. It’s really whiffy isn’t it?”

She replied, gasping slightly for air: “I’m not really breathing properly at the moment.”

Phillip told viewers: “It’s rust and age.” But Sarah prompted laughter from the hosts when she joked in reply: “No that’s me.”

Blue Peter was once filmed at Television Centre but has since moved to the BBC’s Salford base, with the West London studios now used by This Morning and other ITV shows.

Peter Duncan and a group of Hitchin schoolchildren buried the time capsule in the car park of Television Centre in March 1981.

But with new flats being put up on the site, the box has been dug up by builders.

Local children later helped put together a more modern time capsule, burying a This Morning script, a PS4 controller and Holly and Phil’s mugs.

Fans were in hysterics at the underwhelming reveal, with one writing: “Howling at the Blue Peter Time Capsule reveal on #ThisMorning.”

Another quipped, referring to the former Blue Peter dog: “Did Shep make the time capsule out of a cornflake box and some double sided sticky tape?”

A third tweeted: “The Blue Peter time capsule may not have faired well but Sarah Greene looks great.”