Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
30 December 1987
a brief biography
the man who created it all
TV personality Noel Edmonds turned down the chance of hosting This Is Your Life rather than break his contract with the BBC.
Mr Edmonds, the 39-year-old presenter of BBC-1's Telly Addicts quiz, was top of Thames Television's short list to take over from Eamonn Andrews in the long-running, top 10 show.
The offer to host 26 shows of This Is Your Life a year for three years would have worked out at about £1 million, with the possibility of more work following on.
A spokesman for Thames said they approached Mr Edmonds before Christmas, but he had just signed a new three-year contract with the BBC which he was not prepared to break.
Personality
There is speculation that Michael Parkinson, Nick Owen and Irish personality Gloria Hunniford are being considered for the job, but the Thames spokesman refused to comment last night on possible replacements.
There is pressure on the TV company to find a suitable successor for Mr Andrews, who died in November.
The show's American creator, Ralph Edwards, is understood to have warned Thames that unless a new series is transmitted within the next 12 months he will withdraw the rights.
The TV company would not comment. It is understood to be aware of the time pressure but believes Mr Edwards, as a close family friend of the Andrews, will understand any delays.