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Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Charlie Drake, comedian, actor, writer and singer, was surprised by Michael Aspel during the curtain call of the Ray Cooney farce Funny Money at the Playhouse Theatre in London.

Charlie became a household name during the 1950s through such BBC television comedy shows as Drake's Progress and The Charlie Drake Show. He won the Charles Chaplin Award for Best Comedy at the 1968 Montreux Television Festival for a compilation of sketches from his last BBC series in 1967.

His later television shows were produced by ITV, including the popular series The Worker which ran for five years. Although he made the occasional comic guest appearance on television, Charlie was largely concentrating on straight drama by the late 1970s, appearing in Shakespeare and Pinter on stage, and critically acclaimed performances on television, such as the unscrupulous moneylender Smallweed in the 1985 BBC adaptation of Bleak House.

Charlie Drake was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions – previously surprised by Eamonn Andrews in December 1961 at the London Palladium.

"You're just in time Michael - I don't feel very well!"

programme details...

• Edition No: 929
• Subject No: second timer
• Broadcast date: Wed 1 Nov 1995
• Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
• Recorded: Mon 9 Oct 1995
• Repeated: Thu 2 Nov 1995 2.35pm
• Venue: unknown
• Series: 36
• Edition: 9
• Code name: Duck

on the guest list...

• Ray Cooney
• Lynda Baron
• Trevor Bannister
• Peter Ellis
• Ron Aldridge
• Christopher - son
• Stephen - son
• Paul - son
• Henry McGee
• Jean Geoghegan - sister
• Russ Conway
• Phyllis Rounce
• Nyree Dawn Porter
• Nicholas Smith
• Josephine Tewson
• Ernest Maxin
• Tommy Cannon
• Bobby Ball
• Chris Quinten
• Tony Scannell
• Bill Kenwright
• Jess Conrad
• Dianne Lee
• Dave Kirstian
• Roger Kitter
• Mia Carla
• Jim Davidson

related appearances...

• Nosher Powell - Apr 1972
• Arthur Askey - Dec 1974
• June Whitfield - Apr 1976
• Cannon and Ball - Nov 1981
• Bob Monkhouse - Feb 1982
• Tessie O'Shea - Dec 1984
• Bill Ward - Dec 1986
• Harry Corbett - Dec 1988

production team...

• Researchers: Sue Green, Elizabeth Ross
• Writer: Roy Bottomley
• 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

Charlie Drake

first tribute

It's a Funny Old Life

it's all about the comedy

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

Trevor Bannister

Cannon and Ball

Russ Conway

Ray Cooney

Jim Davidson

Interviews

Chris Drake, son of Charlie Drake, recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in January 2020

Screenshots of Charlie Drake This Is Your Life