Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
A shake-up of franchises at ITV in the early 1990s, including deregulation, privatisation and mergers, resulted in the transmission of This Is Your Life being seriously affected as the airing of series 34 was delayed until January 1994.
The production team travelled to Australia for the first and only time in October 1993, where they recorded two editions of the programme - honouring an Australian cricket captain and a British-born actor - which were then broadcast in June 1994.
The press reported that a television soap opera actor suffered a heart attack at the after-show party of his This Is Your Life tribute - fortunately, he made a full recovery.
The series ends with the last ever edition produced by Thames Television to be broadcast on ITV - dedicated to a great British star - as the curtain came down on the programme's ITV years, ahead of the programme's return to the BBC.
Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley - who was involved in the production of every This Is Your Life since 1969 - published The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book - revealing many of the programme's behind-the-scenes secrets.
related pages...
the show's fifty year history
Me, calm? I couldn't be more nervous
TV Times interviews Michael Aspel
| LITTLE and LARGE | Comedy double act | 12 January 1994 |
| Michael GRAYDON | Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff | 19 January 1994 |
| Jeremy BEADLE | Television presenter and writer | 26 January 1994 |
| Jill SUMMERS | Actress | 2 February 1994 |
| Phyllis MAYCOCK | Retired bus conductress | 9 February 1994 |
| David HASSELHOFF | Actor | 16 February 1994 |
| Bill KENWRIGHT | Theatre producer | 23 February 1994 |
| Richard BRIERS | Actor | 9 March 1994 |
| Edward HARDWICKE | Actor | 16 March 1994 |
| David CASSIDY | Singer and actor | 23 March 1994 |
| Frankie VAUGHAN | Singer and actor | 30 March 1994 |
| Coral ATKINS | Former actress who became a foster mother | 6 April 1994 |
| Charlton HESTON | Actor | 13 April 1994 |
| Joe LONGTHORNE | Singer and impressionist | 20 April 1994 |
| Francis LEE | Former footballer | 27 April 1994 |
| Edmundo ROS | Musician | 11 May 1994 |
| Ron MOODY | Actor | 18 May 1994 |
| Reg GUTTERIDGE | Boxing journalist and commentator | 25 May 1994 |
| Bob CAROLGEES | Entertainer | 1 June 1994 |
| Allan BORDER | Australian cricketer | 8 June 1994 |
| Sydney SAMUELSON | UK's first British Film Commissioner | 15 June 1994 |
| Dean BELL | New Zealand former rugby league footballer | 22 June 1994 |
| Michael CRAIG | Actor | 29 June 1994 |
| Virginia ELLIOT | Showjumper | 6 July 1994 |
| Richard THORP | Actor | 13 July 1994 |
| Pat KIRKWOOD | Actress, singer and dancer | 20 July 1994 |
Broadcast details
Thames Television production for ITV26 editions | 26 x 30 minutes
Wednesday | 7.00pm x 25 | 9.30pm x 1
Production team
Producer: Malcolm Morris | Associate Producer: John Graham | Directors: Brian Klein, Malcolm MorrisWriters: Roy Bottomley, Norman Giller, Simon Booker, Chris Greenwood, Ian Brown
Researchers: Sue Green, Mandy Nixon, Elizabeth Ross, Ian Brown, Mark Linnane | Programme Consultant: Roy Bottomley
Production Assistants: Irene Maxwell-Clark, Liz Fleming, Lynne Marriott | Programme Co-ordinator: Mandy Lee
Designer: Harry Clark | Film Research: Susan Tiplady