The show was axed by the BBC in early 2003 after a long-term decline in viewing figures from 10 to 3 million per show.
Raymond Baxter left the programme in 1977 after a difference of opinion caused by the new editor Michael Blakstad referring to him in a press interview as "the last of the dinosaurs".
Whenever Bob Symes presented any reports, directors had to be careful when showing close-ups of his hands because various accidents during his years of inventing had caused him to lose parts of several fingers; they had to choose a finger that did not look too gruesome.