Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
John THAW (1942-2002)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - John Thaw, actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of the National Theatre in London, following a meeting in which he'd been discussing an upcoming role at the venue.
John, who was born in Manchester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before making his professional stage début at the Liverpool Playhouse. He later appeared in several episodes of the BBC police series Z Cars, before securing a starring role as a hard-nosed policeman in two series of the ITV drama Redcap between 1964 and 1966.
In 1974 he was cast as the hard-bitten, tough talking Flying Squad detective Jack Regan in the ITV police drama series The Sweeney, a role which established him as a major star.
programme details...
- Edition No: 570
- Subject No: 566
- Broadcast date: Wed 18 Mar 1981
- Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
- Recorded: Thu 12 Mar 1981
- Venue: Royalty Theatre
- Series: 21
- Edition: 23
- Code name: Warm
on the guest list...
- John Burgess
- Ian Kennedy Martin
- Ted Childs
- Diane Keen
- Carol Drinkwater
- Jack Smethurst
- James Ellis
- Kenny Lynch
- John Bluthal
- Tony Selby
- George Sewell
- Ian Hendry
- Sheila Hancock - wife
- Melanie - daughter
- Abigail - daughter
- Joanna - daughter
- Dennis Waterman
- John - father
- Mildred - stepmother
- Beattie - aunt
- Charlie - uncle
- Doris - aunt
- Mary - aunt
- Harold - uncle
- John Lee
- Sam Hughes
- Tom Courtenay
- Richard Briers
- Diana Rigg
- Raymond - brother Filmed tributes:
- Johnny Briggs
- Betty Driver
- Nicol Williamson
related appearances...
- ITV This Is Your Life - Sep 1976
- Sheila Hancock - Jan 1977
- Dennis Waterman - Apr 1978
- Richard Briers - Mar 1994
production team...
- Researcher: John Graham
- Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
- Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood
- Producer: Jack Crawshaw
- names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life
spotlight on the stars
keeping it in the family
A special edition celebrating ITV's 21st anniversary
Jack Crawshaw reviews his time on This Is Your Life
Photographs and screenshots of John Thaw This Is Your Life
John Thaw simply couldn't bear the front-of-house area at London's National Theatre. It's nothing to do with any of the fine work he had done in the thriving centre of Britain's stage world. It's just that this is where he was surprised in 1981 by Eamonn Andrews and the big red book of This Is Your Life. For the shy star, the sentimental show was a deeply embarrassing experience.
He could hardly duck out of it as he had taken part enthusiastically in his wife Sheila's own television trip down memory lane some five years before. As the time for the surprise approached Sheila was terrified that her husband would refuse to take part in the programme. For the most part, he sat and squirmed his way through the recording, except when first his father arrived and then, from Australia, his brother Raymond. At that point John Thaw's smile lit up the screen as the two men closet to him were briefly reunited for the watching viewers.
John was grabbed by Eamonn on his way out of a back-stage meeting about his starring role in Sergeant Musgrave's Dance. He thought he was on his way out to the car park when he was suddenly confronted by a waiting crowd of close friends singing round the piano. Well, not quite all close friends. The actor John Bluthal just happened to be going to a show that night and was dragged in by some of the others for the booze-up. On the show Eamonn announced: 'And here are all your very good friends – Tony Selby, Dennis Waterman, Ian Hendry, James Ellis...' Sheila laughed afterwards that 'on the video recording we have, John Bluthal – whom John had never met in his life – is clearly heard to mutter as he shakes John's hand, "Sorry about this mate."'
The screening was one of the most popular This Is Your Life programmes ever made and at his home in Poynton on the outskirts of Manchester, Harvey Bryant raised a glass of champagne to his old friend's prediction 'One day I'll be on This Is Your Life' coming true. Ironically, when it happened, the evening was one of the most excruciating of Thaw's life.
My husband John... cannot bear the front-of-house at the National because it was here that he was cornered for his This Is Your Life.
Thinking he was coming through a pass door to the car park lift after a meeting back stage, he was confronted by a waiting crowd of close friends and Eamonn with the red book.
Well, not all close friends. The actor John Bluthal just happened to be going to a show that night and was dragged in by some of the others for the booze-up. On the show Eamonn announced, 'And here are all your very good friends – Tony Selby, Dennis Waterman, Ian Hendry, James Ellis, etc.' On the video recording we have, John Bluthal (whom John had never met in his life) is clearly heard to mutter as he shakes John's hand, 'Sorry about this, mate.'
The beer-loving Inspector Morse was still the scotch-drinking Inspector Regan (who had a first name, Jack) of The Sweeney when Eamonn Andrews collared John Thaw on 12 March 1981.
He had gone to the National Theatre on the South Bank for a meeting about his appearance in a production there. When he walked into the foyer, gathered round the piano were his wife Sheila Hancock, and a whole gang of friends, including Jack Smethurst, Kenny Lynch, Tony Selby, Ian Hendry, George Sewell, Diane Keen, Carol Drinkwater, James Ellis, writer Ian Kennedy Martin and Sweeney producer Ted Childs (later executive producer on Morse).
At the television studios that day, his Sweeney sergeant, Dennis Waterman, was waiting, fresh from location. And we learned how Jimmy 'Schnozzle' Durante's number 'The Song has got to come from the Heart' got into an episode of The Sweeney.
Manchester-born John Thaw told jokes and did impressions in the interval at Saturday morning cinema clubs, so he and his brother could get in for free. Down south, Dennis Waterman did the same sort of thing. So they decided to feature as a comedy duo in The Sweeney.
It was John's former headteacher who encouraged his acting, and to attend an audition at RADA at the age of just sixteen, he was driven overnight in his Uncle Charlie's van. He got a place and left home with a neat, brown paper parcel under his arm - they didn't have a suitcase.
Fellow former student Nicol Williamson greeted from Broadway, and the student he shared digs with, Tom Courtenay, was there, as was Diana Rigg, his co-star in the West End hit Night and Day.
Series 21 subjects
Joe Loss | Julie Goodyear | Lawrie McMenemy | Peter Bowles | Mike Yarwood | John Schlesinger | Andrew Lloyd WebberJanet Brown | Rodney Bewes | Russell Harty | Joan Wells | Billy Connolly | Bill Owen | Jeffery Archer | Brian Jacks
Melvin Hayes | Fred Housego | Alex Higgins | Tim Brooke-Taylor | Bernard Cribbins | Gemma Craven | Jim Watt
John Thaw | Jonjo O'Neill | Judith Chalmers | Margaret Price