Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
"Oh, it was always such a glamorous show..."
Maurice Leonard was part of the This Is Your Life team as a researcher, writer and programme associate for ten years.
In an exclusive interview, Maurice recalls his role as a researcher and discusses the working methods of the programme, as well as remembering the show's host, Eamonn Andrews, and sharing some of the more light-hearted aspects of the job - all told in his inimitable style...
This Is Your Life
Researcher:
Series 14 - 22
Writer:
Series 14 - 37
Programme Associate:
Series 20 - 22
related pages...
a brief biography
tributes to the original presenter
the programme's icon
the producers who steered the programme's success
the show's fifty year history
Jack Crawshaw reviews his time on This Is Your Life
A TV Times photocall for the production team
The day we lost The Big Red Book
Further secrets revealed by producer Malcolm Morris
Maurice Leonard recalls Eamonn Andrews
Before entering the world of television, Maurice Leonard had built up an impressive curriculum vitae, which included a stint working as a book jacket writer for a medical publisher in London alongside the future best-selling novelist Jilly Cooper. His first job in television came relatively late in life when he joined the promotion department of Granada Television in Manchester in 1967, writing scripts for the on-air announcers and creating film and video trailers for forthcoming programmes.
A year later, he returned to London to undertake a similar role in the promotion department of the newly formed Thames Television. Once settled into his new position, he made several applications to join the company's flagship light entertainment programme, This Is Your Life, before producer Malcolm Morris offered him a job as a junior researcher in 1973.
Maurice Leonard (second from the left) with the This Is Your Life production team photographed for a TV Times article in 1981
Maurice was part of the This Is Your Life team for a decade, researching the lives of subjects as diverse as American heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, and former Viceroy of India and second cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth II, Lord Mountbatten. He wrote the scripts for several editions, including those featuring the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and ballerina Beryl Grey. In 1979 he was promoted to Programme Associate, working closely with producer Jack Crawshaw through a period in the programme's history that saw it consistently top the ratings, with audiences often peaking at more than 20 million.
Maurice left the Life team in 1982 to become a producer - initially in children's television before reuniting with Eamonn Andrews to re-launch the panel game show What's My Line? In the mid-1980s, Maurice formed a long-lasting and highly successful working relationship with entertainer Michael Barrymore, producing such television programmes as Stike It Lucky, Barrymore and My Kind of Music.
Maurice Leonard recalls his time working on This Is Your Life in an interview recorded in July 2016
Maurice Leonard discusses aspects of researching the This Is Your Life edition featuring Muhammad Ali in an interview recorded in July 2016
Maurice Leonard remembers working with This Is Your Life presenter Eamonn Andrews in an interview recorded in July 2016
Maurice Leonard recalls an aspect of working as a This Is Your Life researcher in an interview recorded in July 2016