Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
The second series of This Is Your Life secured a fortnightly Monday evening slot as ratings rose and press attention grew. The public's appetite for the programme prompted various newspaper and magazine articles to reveal behind-the-scenes secrets.
All programmes for this series were broadcast from the King's Theatre in Hammersmith, except for the edition which honoured the conductor of the Manchester-based Halle Orchestra, which, broadcast from BBC Manchester's Dickenson Road Studios, was the first edition to be produced outside of London.
In a new development, there are several occasions where the theatre stage is dressed appropriately for the chosen subject, as in the case of a writer whose life story was unfolded from the setting of a well-stocked library.
For the first Christmas-themed edition, the This Is Your Life book - which will later become an icon of the programme - 'bears the symbols of the season' as a cleaner and mother was treated to a family reunion.
The series ended with another special edition, broadcast in June 1957, in which recent subjects returned to the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, to recall their experience of appearing on the programme - as Eamonn Andrews attempted to dispel some negative press criticism.
related pages...
Stories behind This Is Your Life
a review of the second series
the programme's icon
the show's fifty year history
TV Mirror reports on the presenter's popularity
Radio Times editorial
A brief review from Picturegoer magazine
What goes on behind that Green Door
The Acton Gazette goes behind-the-scenes
| Peter SCOTT | Conservationist, painter, sportsman and broadcaster | 1 October 1956 |
| Ada REEVE | Actress | 15 October 1956 |
| Peter METHVEN | Retired Fire Officer | 29 October 1956 |
| Sue RYDER | Charity activist | 12 November 1956 |
| Harry S PEPPER | Songwriter, composer, actor and BBC producer | 26 November 1956 |
| Compton MACKENZIE | Writer | 10 December 1956 |
| Maud FAIRMAN | Cleaner | 24 December 1956 |
| Billy SMART | Circus owner and showman | 31 December 1956 |
| Brian HESSION | Clergyman, filmmaker and campaigner | 7 January 1957 |
| John BARBIROLLI | Conductor and cellist | 21 January 1957 |
| Duncan GUTHRIE | Charity founder | 4 February 1957 |
| Esmond KNIGHT | Actor | 18 February 1957 |
| Sammy MCCARTHY | Boxer | 4 March 1957 |
| Edwin MADRON | Lifeboatman coxswain | 18 March 1957 |
| Diana DORS | Actress | 1 April 1957 |
| Parry JONES | Tenor | 15 April 1957 |
| Percy FLOOD | Charity founder | 29 April 1957 |
| G H ELLIOTT | Singer and dancer | 13 May 1957 |
| Stuart HIBBERD | Radio broadcaster | 27 May 1957 |
| Stories behind THIS IS YOUR LIFE |
Review of the series | 24 June 1957 |
Broadcast details
BBC Television Service19 editions | 1 special | 20 x 30 minutes
Monday | 8.15pm x 5 | 7.15pm x 3 | 8.45pm x 1 | 8.00pm x 1 | 7.30pm x 10
Production team
Devised by: Ralph EdwardsProducer: T Leslie Jackson
Writers: Gale Pedrick, Larry Forrester | Researchers: Peter Moore, Nigel Ward
Research Assistants: Nickola Sterne, Christopher Canty, Jarvis Adair, Frederick Treves
Music written by: James Turner | Orchestra conducted by: George Clouston | Music arranged by: Alan Bristow
Production Assistant: Ronald Lane