Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
As This Is Your Life returned to its regular time slot of 7pm on a Wednesday, TV Times magazine marked the start of the new series with an article revealing some of the programme's behind-the-scenes secrets involving those shows that were 'near-misses' or didn't make it to the screen at all!
As Series 26 becomes the last series to regularly use the Royalty Theatre in Holborn, a couple of editions this year are recorded at Thames Television's Teddington Studios, which will become the programme's home for the next few years.
Future presenter Michael Aspel made his first appearance as a guest on This Is Your Life in an edition paying tribute to an impressionist, singer and comedian - the two had worked together on Thames Television's magazine programme The Six O'Clock Show. Michael would take over as host of This Is Your Life in 1988 after the untimely death of Eamonn Andrews in November of the previous year.
And in a particularly devious pick-up - a highlight of the series - a comedian and actor who happened to be working as the This Is Your Life audience warm-up man discovered that he was actually getting the audience in the mood for his own 'Life', not realising the clocks had been altered, and the programme was already being recorded.
related pages...
the studio look and locations
a career review
a brief biography
the show's fifty year history
When a life hangs in the balance
TV Times reveals more behind-the-scenes stories
A TV Times pre-This Is Your Life interview with Michael Aspel
| William ROACHE | Actor | 16 October 1985 |
| Dennis TAYLOR | Snooker player | 23 October 1985 |
| Elisabeth WELCH | Singer, actress and entertainer | 6 November 1985 |
| Sheila MERCIER | Actress | 13 November 1985 |
| Richard BRANSON | Businessman | 20 November 1985 |
| Maurice DENHAM | Actor | 27 November 1985 |
| David ELLAWAY | Ambulanceman and Red Cross worker | 4 December 1985 |
| Terry O'NEILL | Photographer | 11 December 1985 |
| Gerry MARSDEN | Singer and musician | 18 December 1985 |
| Joyce CAREY | Actress | 26 December 1985 |
| CHAS n DAVE | Pop rock duo | 31 December 1985 |
| Oliver REED | Actor | 8 January 1986 |
| Felix BOWNESS | Comedian and actor | 15 January 1986 |
| John HARRIS | Paralympian athlete | 22 January 1986 |
| Bonnie LANGFORD | Actress, singer and dancer | 29 January 1986 |
| Henry COTTON | Former golfer | 5 February 1986 |
| June MCELNEA | Nursing sister | 12 February 1986 |
| Derek JAMESON | Journalist and broadcaster | 19 February 1986 |
| Richard VERNON | Actor | 26 February 1986 |
| Martyn LEWIS | Journalist and newsreader | 12 March 1986 |
| Peter SHILTON | Football goalkeeper | 19 March 1986 |
| Ted ROGERS | Comedian and television presenter | 26 March 1986 |
| Simon WILLIAMS | Actor | 2 April 1986 |
| Larry SLATER | Royal Navy Aircrewman | 9 April 1986 |
| Lena KENNEDY | Novelist | 16 April 1986 |
| Denis QUILLEY | Actor and singer | 30 April 1986 |
Broadcast details
Thames Television production for ITV26 editions | 25 x 30 minutes | 1 x 45 minutes
Wednesday | 7.00pm x 24
Tuesday | 7.00pm x 1
Thursday | 6.30pm x 1
No edition broadcast on 30 October 1985 due to Thames Television's Telethon '85
Production team
Created by: Ralph Edwards - Ralph Edwards ProductionsProducer: Malcolm Morris | Associate Producer: Brian Klein | Directors: Terry Yarwood, Michael D Kent
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley, Norman Giller | Programme Consultant: Roy Bottomley
Researchers: Caroline Blackadder, Angela Mason, David N Mason, Miriam O'Callaghan, Colin Williams
Tom Wettengel, Claire Jenkinson, Angela Clark, Sue Green
Production Assistants: Irene Clark, Caroline Anne Brown | Designer: David Richens | Film Research: Susan Tiplady
Studio Supervisors: Gil Driver, Bill Sutton, Peter Sampson, Gordon Quinn, Tony Taylor, Del Randall
Nigel Spong, Chris Emmins, Dick Hibberd
Lighting Directors: Stuart Wilson, Grant Feltham, Peter Hardman, John O'Brien, Nino La Femina, Alan Harradine
Bill Minto, Ray Nicholson, Bob Newman, Stuart Gain, Luigi Bottoni
Senior Cameramen: Mick Donnelly, Peter Shaw, Peter Hodgson, Dave Ramsay, John Rivers, Roy Easton
Peter Howard, Albert Almond, Adrian J Fearnley, Chris Dingley
Sound Supervisors: Tony Unsworth, Ron Ferris, Clive Sweet, Ron Parker, Richard Bradford, Peter Stoddart
Tom McIntyre, Phil White, Brian Hibbert
Vision Control: Eric Donbavand, Ian Jones, Jim Fergus-Smith, Graham Baines, Bill Marley, David Harvey
Vision Mixers: Anne Birtwell, Peter Turl, Kathleen Hinchliffe, Chris Foley, Janice Reed, John Cooper, Kenneth Angus
Peter Boffin, Martin Perrett, Peter Phillips
Make-up Supervisors: Jane Hatch, Jeannie MacKenzie, Carole Bernard, Di Lofthouse, Mimi Kimmins
Leslie Sanders, Rosemary Harrison, Pauline Gyertson
Wardrobe Supervisors: Doreen Whiteoak, Sandra Jeffery, Martin Baugh, Dennis Hogan, Fran Bolwell, Pam Doolan
Floor Managers: Mick Graham, David London, Russell Norman, Simon Somers, Bill Allan, Maurice Langston
Tony Tyrer, Peter Beaven, Aidan Boulter
Production Team: Sue Davies, Helen Doble, Roy Fewins, Angela Kennedy, Liz Ross, Alan Tingay, Alan Ritchie
Richard Halladey, David Cumming, Mark Dobson, Grant Goodwin