''This Is Your Life'' is a British biographical
television documentary
Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries.
Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film.
*Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...
, based on the 1952 American
show of the same title. It was hosted by
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987.
Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It briefly returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian- British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN.
McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.
Career ...
.
In the show the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities have been featured on the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it has alternated between being broadcast on the
BBC and on
ITV.
The surprise element was a very important part of the show; if the guest heard about the project beforehand, it would be cancelled.
History
The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the
BBC and was first presented by
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards (June 13, 1913DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 86-87. – November 16, 2005) was an American radio ...
to the first "victim",
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
, who was the presenter from the second show. The scriptwriter for the first 35 episodes was
Gale Pedrick
Frank Gale Pedrick-Harvey (born Pedrick; 15 June 1906 – 23 February 1970), known professionally as Gale Pedrick, was an English writer, journalist, scriptwriter, and broadcaster.
Life
Pedrick was born on 15 June 1906, in London, England, an ...
.
[ ] In 1958, it was the most popular regular show on the BBC with audiences between 8.75 and 10.5 million. It ended in 1964 when Andrews moved to
ABC Weekend TV
ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...
, but it was revived by
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
for broadcast on ITV in 1969.
The only other occasion during Andrews' presentational run where he was not the presenter was in 1974 when he was the subject a second time, and the show was presented by
David Nixon.
Michael Aspel (himself, a "victim" in 1980) became presenter after Andrews died in 1987. The show returned to the BBC in 1994 but was still produced independently by Thames Television, by then no longer an ITV contractor. The programme was discontinued again in 2003.
At first, the show was broadcast live; later, programmes were sometimes pre-recorded. Live broadcasts ended in 1980 when boxer
Alan Minter
Alan Sydney Minter (17 August 19519 September 2020) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, an ...
could not stop swearing during his appearance.
The show returned in June 2007 on
ITV for a one-off-special programme hosted by Sir
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian- British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN.
McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.
Career ...
with guest
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...
. The new edition was co-produced by
ITV Productions
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...
,
STV Productions, TIYL Productions, Click TV and Ralph Edwards Productions.
''
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), an ...
'' featured a return of ''This Is Your Life'' to celebrate
Ant & Dec's 25 years together, quizzing them on their 25 years as part of "Ant vs Dec" in episode 6 of Series 11.
Michael Aspel returned as host alongside
Ashley Roberts.
Notable guests
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards throughout her career.
A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. B ...
, in December 1996, was caught while taking her bow in her one-woman show on stage at the
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...
, the only time the
Redgrave family was seen together on stage at the same time.
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...
and
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
have been the only subjects of two-part editions of the programme, in 1970 and 1987 respectively. Both were broadcast over two weeks.
Clive Mantle
Clive Andrew Mantle (born 3 June 1957) is an English actor. He played general surgeon Mike Barratt in the BBC hospital drama series ''Casualty'' and ''Holby City'' in the 1990s, and Little John in the 1980s fantasy series ''Robin of Sherwood'' ...
's profile included a post-credits sequence, in which he thanked the audience for coming.
Footballer
Danny Blanchflower
Robert Dennis Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was a former Northern Ireland footballer, football manager and journalist who played for and captained Tottenham Hotspur, including during their double-winning season of 1960 ...
turned down the "red book" in February 1961. Author
Richard Gordon (of ''
Doctor in the House'' fame) in 1974, and
Bill Oddie
William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.
A birder since his childhood in Quinto ...
(of
The Goodies) in 2001 initially turned it down, but then relented and appeared on the show. Actor
Richard Beckinsale was featured on the show at the age of 30, just sixteen months before his death.
Hattie Jacques appeared in 1963, with her husband
John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation c ...
who had helped set up the surprise; however, much to her extreme discomfort, she was at the time living separately from Le Mesurier with her lover John Schofield.
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and '' Open All Hours''.
...
was planned to be one of the show's subjects and his wife Joy Tubb was helping the producers with the set up and pre-production, but Barker revealed in his autobiography that he had become extremely upset by his wife's obvious secrecy and even begun to suspect she might have been having an extra-marital affair. Barker confronted his wife and she had to explain to him about the programme, leading to its cancellation. Barker took the opportunity to impress upon his wife that he never wanted to be featured on the show, so future attempts to plan an edition around him were thwarted.
Maureen Lipman revealed in her first autobiographical book that she had made an arrangement with her agent and her husband that she would never participate in the programme should they ever be approached, with her husband
Jack Rosenthal
Jack Morris Rosenthal (8 September 1931 – 29 May 2004) was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations. ...
also agreeing he would never be the subject. Both were willing and happy to appear as a guest on other editions featuring their friends. Lipman light-heartedly revealed that her refusal to be featured was the thing that upset her mother the most about her career.
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultim ...
was the subject of the show in April1974. He was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during a fencing match that was being filmed for the children's TV series ''
Magpie
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is on ...
''.
Peter Davison
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...
was the featured celebrity in March 1982. He later revealed in interviews and his autobiography that the planned finale of his edition was to be the appearance of actress
Beryl Reid, but Davison's then-wife
Sandra Dickinson
Sandra Dickinson (née Searles) is an American-British actress. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She has often played characters who fell into the trope of a dumb blonde with a high-pitched voice.
Early life
D ...
objected and persuaded the producers not to end the show in this way as Davison and Reid barely knew each other, having worked together only once for two days' recording. Reid's inclusion was to maximise publicity for the two episodes of ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...
'' that the BBC were airing at the same time as Davison's ''This Is Your Life''. Dickinson won her argument, and although Reid appeared, the edition ended instead with the reunion of Davison and his Guyanese aunt.
In May 1971,
Googie Withers
Georgette Lizette Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 191715 July 2011), known professionally as Googie Withers, was an English entertainer who was a dancer and actress with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. ...
was the featured guest, but the surprise planned by host Eamonn Andrews did not go according to plan, when Withers arrived in the studio, thinking she was going to be interviewed by
Godfrey Winn. When Andrews stepped forward with the red book, Withers asked him why he was working as a floor manager and no longer as a presenter. This was in part due to her living in Australia where the show was not known.
In 1996, the ''
Sunday Mirror
The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...
'' reported that a planned show for Cockney comedy actor
Arthur Mullard was pulled after researchers contacted his eldest son. The same report featured claims that Mullard had terrorised his family and had sexually abused his daughter for many years.
The programmes originally included non-celebrities who had done extraordinary things in their lives. In later years, following a persistent criticism of only celebrities being featured on the show, non-celebrities were featured again. These included business people, military personnel, the clergy and those that had performed outstanding community or charity service but who were not well known to the general public. Examples include: paramedic Allan Norman; Group Captain
Leonard Cheshire
Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a highly decorated Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and group captain during the Second World War, and a philanthropist.
Among the honours Cheshire received as ...
;
Cromer
Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline.
The local government authorities are Nor ...
lifeboatman
Henry ''"Shrimp"'' Davies; Colonel
Tod Sweeney
Colonel Henry John Sweeney MC (1 June 1919 – 4 June 2001), known as Tod Sweeney, was an officer of the British Army. During the Second World War he was a platoon commander in the coup de main operation, by gliderborne troops of the 2nd Battal ...
;
Mary Ward, community nurse to the boat people of the canals;
Chay Blyth; Sir
Nicholas Winton; Group Captain Sir
Douglas Bader; and Sir
Fitzroy Maclean. The series never profiled serving politicians, although retired politicians were occasionally featured.
Forty-two celebrities have appeared on the show twice – including
Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 58. (1962 ...
,
Dora Bryan,
Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'.
Ear ...
and
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
himself.
David Butler was 17 when he became the youngest ever subject of ''This Is Your Life'' (episode aired 5 March 1962).
He was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the headmaster's study of
Hemel Hempstead Grammar School. Butler lost both his legs and a hand when, aged 11, he found an unexploded bomb on
Ivinghoe Beacon.
When snooker player
Stephen Hendry was surprised with the red book in 1990, aged 21, he remarked that he had "hardly had a life".
Ant and Dec
Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as child actors on CBBC's ...
presented a one-off episode on
The Chris Moyles Show in 2012 celebrating his second-to-last day on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...
with special guests
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...
,
Roy Walker and
Gary Barlow live from the
BBC Radio Theatre.
Theme music
The theme tune used from 1969 onwards was called "Gala Performance", and was composed by
Laurie Johnson
Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing ...
for
KPM.
Transmissions
BBC
ITV
BBC1
Special
Portrayal in fiction
In Series 8, Episode 1 of the television detective series ''
Endeavour'', Jack Swift, a celebrity footballer, is surprised by Eamonn Andrews and becomes the subject of ''This Is Your Life'' after attending a
fashion show
A fashion show (French ''défilé de mode'') is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fal ...
in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Andrews is played by
Lewis Macleod.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0181260, title=This Is Your Life.
Guest and series list(web.archive.org)
1955 British television series debuts
1950s British television series
1960s British television series
1970s British television series
1980s British television series
1990s British television series
2007 British television series endings
BBC television documentaries
British television series based on American television series
British television series revived after cancellation
English-language television shows
Television series by Fremantle (company)
Television series by ITV Studios
Television series by STV Studios
Television shows produced by Thames Television
Television shows shot at Teddington Studios