This Is Your Life: June Whitfield 2

June WHITFIELD OBE (1925-2018)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - June Whitfield, actress, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a dubbing session for the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous at the BBC Television Centre.

June, who began her career in the 1940s, worked on countless radio and television comedy series, starring opposite many of Britain's major comedy talent, including Jimmy Edwards in the BBC radio series Take It From Here, and Terry Scott with whom she starred with in the BBC television sitcoms, Scott On... and later, Terry and June.

During the 1980s, June was part of the team on the BBC radio satire programme The News Huddlines, and made several stage appearances, including a revival of An Ideal Husband. And in the 1990s she secured a whole new generation of television fans with her role as Mother in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.

June Whitfield was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions – previously surprised by Eamonn Andrews in March 1976 at her home in Wimbledon.

"You're out of your mind. Oh Michael, it can't be! And there's me with no earrings!"

programme details...

Edition No: 911
Subject No: second timer
Broadcast date: Wed 8 Mar 1995
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Tue 28 Feb 1995
Repeated: Tue 29 Dec 2009 8.00pm
Venue: BBC Television Centre
Series: 35
Edition: 19
Code name: May

on the guest list...

Richard - cousin
Chris - niece
Veronica - niece
Margaret - sister-in-law
Frank Thornton
Kate Robbins
Anna Dawson
Derek Bond
Reginald Marsh
Rosemary Frankau
Tim Aitchison - husband
Suzy Aitchison - daughter
Julia Sawalha
Jennifer Saunders
Joanna Lumley
John - brother
Frank Muir
Denis Norden
Bob Monkhouse
Katie Boyle
Pat Coombs
Reg Varney
Liz Fraser
Leslie Phillips
Maggie Scott
Roy Hudd
Chris Emmett
Rolf Harris
Jack Tripp
Honor Blackman
Leslie Crowther
Esther Rantzen

production team...

Researcher: Charles Boyd
Writer: Charles Boyd
Director: Brian Klein
Associate Producer: John Graham
Executive Producer: Peter Estall
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

with thanks to June Whitfield and Orion Publishing for their contribution to this page

related pages...

June Whitfield

first tribute

The Good Life

the sitcom stars

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

Screenshots of June Whitfield This Is Your Life

June Whitfield recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in this exclusive contribution to the BigRedBook website…

"My two This Is Your Life episodes were a great surprise, especially the second one. I was with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley and, when I saw Michael Aspel, I naturally thought the Big Red Book was about to be presented to one of them. I had previously been 'caught' by Eamonn Andrews but perhaps the BBC had forgotten.

I was of course delighted to receive my Red Book No. 2.

It was such a surprise and a great thrill to be a 'subject' of This Is Your Life. When Michael Aspel arrived at a 'dubbing' session of "Ab Fab" I thought, 'Oh, he's after Jennifer or Joanna,' as they were there, and when he said my name I replied, 'It can't be – I've already done it.' I think that bit was cut when the show went out!

It is embarrassing when all your mates say nice things about you but a very heartwarming and emotional experience."

June Whitfield recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in her autobiography ...and June Whitfield, reproduced here with kind permission of the author...

In 1995, not long after we finished the third series of Ab Fab, Jennifer, Joanna, Julia and I were called in one day to do some dubbing, and while recording in the small studio, I saw Michael Aspel making his way towards me. I almost waved him away as I was concentrating on the matter in hand, then he said the magic words and produced the red book.

'No, no,' I said. 'There must be a mistake. I've been done.'

They cut that bit out!

I really thought he was there to nobble one of the others, but I soon realised from the grins that they'd known all about it. I was taken to the studio and once again basked in the deeply flattering process. The funny thing was that a few weeks before a woman had turned to me in the audience of a charity show and said, 'Are you looking forward to your This Is Your Life?' I told her I'd been done twenty years ago, but she smiled knowingly, and I just thought she was touched. The producer of the programme recently admitted to me that a list of possible subjects had been taken from his office and circulated at the time, so presumably this woman must have had access to it. However, I was still completely unprepared.

I wasn't thrown by it quite as much as the first time, but I did wonder how on earth they would manage to scrape together enough people to walk through the sliding doors. In the event, they rounded up rather more than the first time. Some of the old crowd had faded away, but I had acquired several new theatrical families in the intervening years, the Huddlines and Ab Fab teams to name but two.

The surprise guest at the end, and it really was a surprise, because no-one thought he'd be well enough to manage the journey, was Leslie Crowther. I had done his This Is Your Life some time earlier, and he was determined to appear on mine, even though he'd been very ill.

The recording of the show was delayed by about forty-five minutes because the traffic in West London had come to a standstill following a shooting incident in Castlenau, near Hammersmith Bridge. The extra time that Leslie was kept waiting didn't do him a lot of good, and I know Jean, his wife, was worried about him, but he did wonderfully well and I really appreciated the effort he'd made to be there.

Yet again, it was an overwhelming experience. For the second time in twenty years I was left gobsmacked with wonder at all the research and effort that must have gone into the show, and I greatly appreciated the trouble my friends and colleagues had taken to turn up.

Photographs above reproduced from June Whitfield's book - At a Glance: An Absolutely Fabulous Life

Series 35 subjects