Welcome to the Big Red Book - a website dedicated to This Is Your Life - a national television institution.

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  Big Red Book

Celebrating television’s This Is Your Life

THIS IS YOUR LIFE...

... a simple premise for a TV show. A surprise encounter and an unexpected reunion. The host reveals the life story of the unsuspecting ‘subject’ with the help of a Big Red Book and a gathering of family and friends.


That formula became one of the most popular TV programmes on British television ever, running almost 50 years, producing over 1000 editions, and, in the process, becoming a British institution.


At the peak of its popularity, in the 1970s and 80s, millions of TV viewers regularly tuned in every Wednesday at 7pm with excited anticipation of whose name would be embossed on that week’s Big Red Book...


This website is a celebration of the show and the lives it honoured. Open the Big Red Book to reveal a record of every UK edition from 1955-2003 and learn about the series, the subjects and the sets as we turn back the pages of one of the best loved television treasures of all time.


So, as the man said....

                                        “if you look at that screen over there...”

  1. SERIES

From 1 to 43

  1. SUBJECTS

A-Z list of 1104 names

  1. FEATURES

Exclusive insights

  1. ARTICLES

Delve into the archives

  1. UPDATES

News and site updates

The aim of this website is to present an accurate, online record of every UK edition of This is Your Life from 1955 to 2003 through exclusive features, articles and interviews. If you have any comments, suggestions or material for consideration, we would love to hear from you: bigredbook@me.com

Big Red Book - a celebration of This Is Your Life

  1. ★ FOCUS ON... In an exclusive interview TV producer Johnnie Hamp, responsible for over 2000 television productions, including music, variety and comedy shows such as The Comedians, recalls his experience of This Is Your Life...

  1. ★ NEW... this month... new subject pages for broadcaster Terry Wogan, comedian Frank Carson with an exclusive interview with Johnnie Hamp, Anglian priest Rev Clarence Wolfe and music hall singer G H Elliott - along with two new features A Novel Life and Radio Times

  1. ★ FOCUS ON... Actress Jean Kent, best remembered for her roles in many British films, including the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s, recalls her This Is Your Life experience in an exclusive interview...