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This Is Your Life (UK TV series)

 

 
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This Is Your Life (UK TV series)
 
 
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This Is Your Life is a television documentary
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 series airing in the United Kingdom, originally on BBC Television
BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the BBC which began in 1932. The British Broadcasting Corporation has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927....
, and now ITV
ITV

ITV is a public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television network of British television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC....
. It is based on the US
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 show of the same name
This Is Your Life

This Is Your Life was a Documentary film series hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards. It originally aired in the United States from 1952 to 1961, and again in 1972 on NBC....
 which aired from 1952 to 1961, and again in 1972 on NBC.

The UK version was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was presented by Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews, Order of the British Empire was an Ireland-born television presenter based in England.Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, Ireland, the same street as playwright George Bernard Shaw....
 (who also ended up being the first "victim"). It ended in 1964 when he moved to Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation

Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies set up in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to safeguard their business by getting involved in television which was taking away their cinema audiences....
, but it was revived on ITV (produced by Thames Television
Thames Television

Thames Television was a Broadcast license of the United Kingdom ITV television network, covering Greater London and parts of Home counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
) in 1969, and Michael Aspel
Michael Aspel

Michael Terence Aspel, Order of the British Empire is an England journalist and television presenter. He has been a high-profile TV personality in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, presenting programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life, Strange But True? and Antiques Roadshow....
 (himself ) became presenter after Andrews died in 1987.






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This Is Your Life is a television documentary
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 series airing in the United Kingdom, originally on BBC Television
BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the BBC which began in 1932. The British Broadcasting Corporation has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927....
, and now ITV
ITV

ITV is a public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television network of British television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC....
. It is based on the US
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 show of the same name
This Is Your Life

This Is Your Life was a Documentary film series hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards. It originally aired in the United States from 1952 to 1961, and again in 1972 on NBC....
 which aired from 1952 to 1961, and again in 1972 on NBC.

The UK version was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was presented by Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews, Order of the British Empire was an Ireland-born television presenter based in England.Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, Ireland, the same street as playwright George Bernard Shaw....
 (who also ended up being the first "victim"). It ended in 1964 when he moved to Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation

Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies set up in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to safeguard their business by getting involved in television which was taking away their cinema audiences....
, but it was revived on ITV (produced by Thames Television
Thames Television

Thames Television was a Broadcast license of the United Kingdom ITV television network, covering Greater London and parts of Home counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
) in 1969, and Michael Aspel
Michael Aspel

Michael Terence Aspel, Order of the British Empire is an England journalist and television presenter. He has been a high-profile TV personality in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, presenting programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life, Strange But True? and Antiques Roadshow....
 (himself ) became presenter after Andrews died in 1987. It returned to the BBC in 1994, though it was still produced independently by Thames Television, and was axed again in 2003. It returned for a one-off special in 2007.

Celebrity guests on the UK version included Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is a retired United States boxing and former three-time List of heavyweight boxing champions.As an amateur, Ali won a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in the light heavyweight division gold medal....
 , Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd

Kenneth Arthur Dodd Order of the British Empire is a veteran England comedian and singer songwriter, famous for selling over 100 million records, his buck teeth, frizzy hair, feather duster , and his catchphrases, often playing on the 'tickled' motif, ex: "How tickled I am!"....
 , David Nixon, Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd

Frankie Howerd Order of the British Empire , was a distinctive England comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades....
, Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom

Sir Norman J Wisdom, Order of the British Empire is an England former comedian, singer and actor....
, David Jason
David Jason

Sir David John White, Order of the British Empire, known by his stage name David Jason , is an England actor, known for his comedy and dramatic roles....
, Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle

Jeremy James Anthony Gibson Beadle Order of the British Empire was an England television presenter, writer and Television producer....
, Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride

Anne Kirkbride is an England soap opera actor....
, Lord Mountbatten, Harry Hill
Harry Hill

Matthew Keith Hall , better known as Harry Hill, is a BAFTA award-winning England comedian, author and television presenter and former medical doctor, who began his career in comedy with the popular radio show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner....
, Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner

Frank Skinner is an English people writer and award-winning comedian, best known for the hit football song "Three Lions" with David Baddiel and The Lightning Seeds, as well as television presenter, alongside Baddiel, the hit comedy show Fantasy Football League....
, Jim Davidson
Jim Davidson (comedian)

Jim Davidson Order of the British Empire is an England comedian, actor and television presenter. Despite controversies surrounding aspects of his act and personal life, he has been made an officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to entertainment, particularly of British Soldiers in conflict zones....
, Charlie Cairoli
Charlie Cairoli

Charlie Cairoli was an Italian-born English clown, impressionist and musician....
, Joan Collins
Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins Order of the British Empire is a Golden Globe Award-winning English actress, bestselling author and columnist....
, Bernard Manning
Bernard Manning

Bernard John Manning was an England Stand-up comedy. He was born and brought up in Manchester in North West England.Manning courted controversy because his act often contained material involving ethnic stereotypes and minority groups....
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom singer. She performed the theme music to the James Bond films Goldfinger , Diamonds Are Forever , and Moonraker ....
, Stephen Behan father of Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan

Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish literature poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also a committed Irish Republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army ....
 and Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan

Dominic Behan was an Irish literature songwriter, short story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also a committed socialist and Irish Republican....
, Windsor Davies
Windsor Davies

Windsor Davies is an England-born Wales actor, well known for playing the part of Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the 1970s British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum....
, Sydney MacEwan
Sydney MacEwan

Canon Sydney MacEwan was a Scotland tenor and singer of traditional Scottish and Ireland songs.He was born and brought up in the Springburn area of Glasgow by his mother alone after his father left the family, and was the younger of two brothers....
, Peter Davison
Peter Davison

Peter Davison is an England actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the Fifth Doctor of Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984....
, Alfred Marks
Alfred Marks

Alfred Edward Marks OBE was a comic actor and comedian.Marks was born in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre....
, Brian Rix, George Best
George Best

George Best was a Northern Irish professional association football player, best known for his years with Manchester United F.C.. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders....
, Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan

Terence Alan Patrick Se?n Milligan KBE , known as Spike Milligan, was an England-Ireland comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright....
, Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee

John Devon Roland Pertwee , better known as Jon Pertwee, was an England actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, where he played the Third Doctor of Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge....
, Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes

Eric Sykes, Order of the British Empire is an England comedy writer and actor. He is known for his BBC television sitcom with Hattie Jacques and Deryck Guyler, called Sykes....
, Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde

Marty Wilde is an English people singing and songwriter. He was among the first generation of United Kingdom popular music celebrity to emulate United States Rock and roll and is the father of pop singer Kim Wilde....
, Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward

David Justin Hayward is an England musician, best known as a singer, guitarist and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.Hayward attended Commonweal School, in Swindon, Wiltshire ....
, Bernard Braden
Bernard Braden

Bernard Chastey Braden was a Canada-born England actor and comedian.Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and educated at Magee Secondary School, Kerrisdale, Vancouver....
, Paul Young
Paul Young

Paul Antony Young is an England pop music musician....
, Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter

Paul Francis Gadd is an England glam rock singer and songwriter, better known by his stage name Gary Glitter.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s....
, Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee

Patrick Macnee is an England actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers ....
, The Bee Gees, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie

William Edgar Oddie, Order of the British Empire is an England author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who first became famous as one of The Goodies....
, Tim Brooke-Taylor
Tim Brooke-Taylor

Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor is an English people comic actor known in Britain and Australia as a member of The Goodies and in the comedy radio shows I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again....
, producer Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright

Bill Kenwright Order of the British Empire is an actor, theatrical producer. He is also the Chairman of Everton F.C.....
, Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor

Barbara Ann Windsor, Order of the British Empire is an English people actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; she is now considered by many to be something of a British national institution....
, and DJ John Peel
John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, Order of the British Empire , known professionally as John Peel, was an England disc jockey, radio presenter and journalist....
. Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave

Lynn Rachel Redgrave Order of British Empire is an English actress.A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn Redgrave trained in London, before making her theatrical debut in 1962....
, in December 1996, was caught while taking her bow in her one-woman show on stage at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket or Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre is a West End theatre in The Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use....
, the only time the Redgrave clan
Redgrave family

The Redgrave family is a fifth-generation theatrical dynasty. All members of the family have worked in theatre at some point, many have also worked in film and television....
 was seen together onstage at the same time. Bob Hope
Bob Hope

Bob Hope, Order of the British Empire, Order of St. Gregory the Great , was an British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway theatre, and in radio, television and movies....
 and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore

Dudley Stuart John Moore Order of the British Empire was an English people actor, comedian and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the hugely popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook....
 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 Mantle

Clive Mantle is a United Kingdom actor....
's profile included a post-credits sequence where he thanked the audience for coming.

Footballer Danny Blanchflower
Danny Blanchflower

Robert Dennis "Danny" Blanchflower was a soccer, Coach , and journalist who captained Tottenham Hotspur F.C. during their double-winning season of 1961....
 turned down the "red book" in February 1961, as did author Richard Gordon
Richard Gordon

Richard Gordon may refer to:*Richard Gordon , English novelist, screenwriter and doctor*Richard Gordon , Jewish leader*Richard F. Gordon, Jr....
 (of Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House

Doctor in the House is a 1954 in film United Kingdom comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. It was the most popular box office film of 1954 in Great Britain and made Dirk Bogarde one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s....
 fame) in 1974. In 2001, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie

William Edgar Oddie, Order of the British Empire is an England author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who first became famous as one of The Goodies....
 (of The Goodies
The Goodies

:For information about the television series, see The Goodies The Goodies are a trio of United Kingdom comedians , who created, wrote, and starred in a surrealism British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketch comedy and situation comedy....
) initially turned it down, but changed his mind and appeared on the show. Actor Richard Beckinsale
Richard Beckinsale

Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an England actor, he was best known for his roles as Lennie Godber in the popular BBC British sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the United Kingdom sitcom Rising Damp....
 was a feature on the show shortly after his 31st birthday, 8 months before his death.

Originally it included non-celebrities who had done extraordinary things in their lives. In later years, following a persistent criticism of only deeming celebrities worthy of being featured on the show, non-celebrities were featured again. These included businesspeople, military personnel, the clergy and those had performed outstanding community or charity service but who were not well-known to the general public. Examples include Group Captain Sir Leonard Cheshire
Leonard Cheshire

Group Captain Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, Victoria Cross, Order of Merit, Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross was a highly decorated United Kingdom Royal Air Force aviator during the Second World War....
, Cromer
Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in the north of the England county of Norfolk. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters are in Holt Road in the town....
 lifeboatman Henry Shrimp Davies
Henry Thomas Davies

Henry "Shrimp" Thomas Davies British Empire Medal was a famous Lifeboat man from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England. ?Shrimp? Davies, as he was affectionately known was one of Cromer Lifeboat's longest serving coxswain....
, Mary Ward, community nurse to the boat people of the canals, Chay Blyth
Chay Blyth

Sir Charles Blyth, Order of British Empire, British Empire Medal , known as Chay Blyth, is a Scotland yachtsman and rower. He was the first person to sail non-stop westwards around the world on a 59-foot boat called British Steel....
, Sir Nicholas Winterton
Nicholas Winterton

Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton is a United Kingdom politician. He is the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Macclesfield , a position he has held since 1971....
 and Sir Fitzroy Maclean
Fitzroy Maclean

Major-General Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle MacLean of Dunconnel, 1st Baronet Order of the Thistle Order of the British Empire was a Scottish diplomat, soldier, adventurer, writer and politician....
. The series never profiled serving politicians, although retired politicians were occasionally featured, e.g. Lord Brabourne.

A few celebrities have appeared on the show twice, though, such as Bob Monkhouse
Bob Monkhouse

Robert Alan Monkhouse Order of the British Empire was an England entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host....
 and Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews, Order of the British Empire was an Ireland-born television presenter based in England.Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, Ireland, the same street as playwright George Bernard Shaw....
 himself. On 10 December 1969, the 20-year-old model Twiggy
Twiggy

Twiggy is an English Model , actress, and singer, now also known by her married name of Twiggy Lawson. In the 1960s, at 16, she became the first prominent teenage model....
 became the UK show's youngest "victim" - a record which still stands. When snooker player Stephen Hendry
Stephen Hendry

Stephen Gordon Hendry, Order of the British Empire is a Scottish people professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at 21....
 was surprised with the red book in 1990, aged 21, he remarked that he had "hardly had a life".

This Is Your Life returned in June 2007 on ITV
ITV

ITV is a public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television network of British television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC....
 for a special programme hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald
Trevor McDonald

Sir Trevor McDonald Order of the British Empire is a Trinidad and Tobago-born United Kingdom News Reporter and Journalist. He is a news presenter with ITN, notable for having been the first black people news reader in the UK....
 with guest Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell is an England A&R music executive, television personality/Television producer and entrepreneur, best known as a judge on such TV shows as Pop Idol, American Idol, The X Factor , and Britain's Got Talent....
. The new edition was co-produced by ITV Productions
Granada Productions

Granada Productions is one of Europe's leading commercial television production and distribution companies.Since January 2006, the company has used the name ITV Productions when making programmes for the ITV family of channels....
, STV Productions, TIYL Productions, Click TV and Ralph Edwards Productions.