Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
TV Times magazine previewed the new series with an article about how supersonic travel and a shrinking world could enable Eamonn Andrews to pop up anywhere around the globe. And ironically, the series ended with the first transatlantic edition as the production team travelled to New York to surprise a British-born American songwriter and composer in Times Square.
The series featured not the first This Is Your Life to be broadcast from onboard a ship - that was back in 1959 - but the first edition produced on a moving vessel - in this case, the QE2 - when Eamonn Andrews was smuggled aboard to surprise the ship's captain.
The book Surprise Of Your Life, published in April 1978, was co-written by presenter Eamonn Andrews and producer Jack Crawshaw and promised to reveal 'the dramatic stories behind television's top show This Is Your Life'.
In the first known 'pick-up' of its kind, Eamonn Andrews interrupted a disc jockey during his BBC Radio 2 morning show to surprise him live on air.
TV Times magazine published an in-depth article on the problems faced by the production team as they tracked down a Wimbledon champion.
related pages...
the show's fifty year history
TV Times photo feature
The deuce of a job getting Ginny's jigsaw to fit
TV Times feature on Virginia Wade
| Richard BECKINSALE | Actor | 23 November 1977 |
| Peter USTINOV | Actor, writer, director and broadcaster | 30 November 1977 |
| Virginia WADE | Tennis player | 7 December 1977 |
| Robert ARNOTT | Captain of the QE2 | 14 December 1977 |
| Lin BERWICK | Disabled counsellor | 21 December 1977 |
| Bob PAISLEY | Football manager | 28 December 1977 |
| The BACHELORS | Irish music group | 4 January 1978 |
| David BROOME | Show jumping champion | 11 January 1978 |
| Arthur ENGLISH | Actor and comedian | 18 January 1978 |
| Barry SHEENE | Motorcycle racer | 25 January 1978 |
| Margot TURNER | Military nurse and nursing administrator | 1 February 1978 |
| Pat COOMBS | Actress | 8 February 1978 |
| Michael CROFT | Founder of the National Youth Theatre | 15 February 1978 |
| Max BOYCE | Comedian, singer and entertainer | 22 February 1978 |
| Nicholas PARSONS | Television and radio presenter and actor | 1 March 1978 |
| Richard GOOLDEN | Actor | 8 March 1978 |
| Ian HENDRY | Actor | 15 March 1978 |
| Marti CAINE | Comedienne and entertainer | 22 March 1978 |
| Ian WALLACE | Opera singer, actor and broadcaster | 29 March 1978 |
| Dennis WATERMAN | Actor | 5 April 1978 |
| Anton DOLIN | Ballet dancer and choreographer | 12 April 1978 |
| Terry WOGAN | Radio and television broadcaster | 19 April 1978 |
| William FRANKLYN | Comedy actor | 26 April 1978 |
| Richard MURDOCH | Comedy actor | 3 May 1978 |
| Harry PATTERSON | Author | 17 May 1978 |
| Jule STYNE | Songwriter and composer | 24 May 1978 |
| Mike YARWOOD | Impressionist and comedian | 31 May 1978 |
Broadcast details
Thames Television production for ITV27 editions | 27 x 30 minutes
Wednesday | 7.00pm x 26 | 8.30pm x 1
Production team
Producer: Jack Crawshaw | Directors: Royston Mayoh, Terry Yarwood, Peter Webb, Robert ReedWriters: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley, John Sandilands | Programme Consultants: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Researchers: Maurice Leonard, Marilyn Gaunt, Lavinia Warner, Debbie Gaunt, Tony Lee, John Viner, Michael Ford
Programme Associate: Kay Bird | Production Assistants: Kate McNamara, Angie Piper, Penny Welsford
Designers: Graham Guest, Jim Nicholson, Richard Jarvis, Ronnie Baldwin