This Is Your Life (British TV series)

History

The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was first presented by Ralph Edwards to the first subject, Eamonn Andrews, who was the presenter from the second show. The scriptwriter for the first 35 episodes was Gale Pedrick. 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, but it was revived by Thames Television 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 subject 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.

The show returned in June 2007 on ITV for a one-off-special programme hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald with guest Simon Cowell. The new edition was co-produced by ITV Productions, STV Productions, TIYL Productions, Click TV and Ralph Edwards Productions.

Notable guests

Hattie Jacques appeared in 1963, with her husband John Le Mesurier who had helped set up the surprise; however, she was at the time living with her lover John Schofield while Le Mesurier lived in a separate room in the same house.

Ronnie Barker 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 upset by his wife's obvious secrecy and even began 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 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 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.

Peter Davison 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 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 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 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 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.

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.

Theme music

The theme tune used from 1969 onwards was called "Gala Performance", and was composed by Laurie Johnson for KPM.

Transmissions

BBC

ITV

BBC1

Special

Accolades

In 2000, the series was nominated for Most Popular Entertainment Programme at the 6th National Television Awards.

References

References

1. (24 February 1970). "Mr Gale Pedrick". [[The Times]].
2. (11 February 1959). "'This Is Your Life' BBC-TV's Top Aud".
3. "This Is Your Life (2007)". BFI.
4. McCann, Graham. (2010). "Do You Think That's Wise? The life of John Le Mesurier". [[Aurum Press]].
5. Barker, Ronnie. It's Hello From Him. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First edition (1 November 1988). {{ISBN. 978-0450488719
6. Lipman, Maureen. How Was It For You? Sphere; New edition (16 October 1986). {{ISBN. 978-0708831335
7. Rigby, Jonathan. (2007). "Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History". Reynolds & Hearn.
8. (2 May 2016). "Peter Davison recalls This Is Your Life".
9. Davison, Peter. 'Is There Life Outside The Box?' John Blake Publishing Ltd (6 October 2016). {{ISBN. 978-1786061126
10. "YouTube, a Google company".
11. McFarlane, Brian. 'Double-Act: The Remarkable Lives and Careers of Googie Withers and John McCallum'. Monash University Publishing (2006). ASIN: B01K05T4YW
12. (30 April 2013). "Googie Withers This Is Your Life".
13. Woodward, Ian. (12 May 1996). "ARTHUR MULLARD WAS THE COCKNEY COMIC MILLIONS LOVED ...AND A MONSTER WHO RAPED HIS DAUGHTER AT 13; 'Behind his TV smile lurked an evil pervert who made me his sex slave, drove my mum to suicide and destroyed my life'.".
14. Butler, David. "David Butler's Website".
15. (10 October 2000). "National Television Awards, The: 6th National Television Awards (2000)".