This Is Your Life: Peter Davison

Peter DAVISON (1951-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Peter Davison, actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in Trafalgar Square, London, having been led to believe he was there to make a promotional film for Doctor Who.

Peter, who was born in London but grew up in Knaphill, Surrey, first began acting as a teenager with the amateur dramatics group the Byfleet Players. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama before finding work at the Nottingham Playhouse. His break into television came in 1977 with the ITV drama series Love for Lydia.

He then played the role of Tristan Farnon in the popular BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small while at the same time appearing in the sitcoms Holding the Fort and Sink or Swim. In 1981, he was cast as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, becoming, at the age of 29, the youngest actor to play the role.

"You're joking!"

programme details...

Edition No: 598
Subject No: 595
Broadcast date: Wed 24 Mar 1982
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 17 Mar 1982
Venue: Royalty Theatre
Series: 22
Edition: 25
Code name: Shandy

on the guest list...

Sarah Sutton
Janet Fielding
Matthew Waterhouse
Tony Ainley
John Nathan-Turner
John Mahoney
Sandra Dickinson - wife
Donald Searles
David Searles
Robert Hardy
Carol Drinkwater
Christopher Timothy
Brian Sinclair
Sheila - mother
Claude - father
Pamela - sister
Barbara - sister
Shirley - sister
Clive - brother-in-law
Margaret Hennessey Brown
Tom Barnes
Ann Stanley
Jane Walters
Rick Dunning
David Boylett
Philip Boylett
John Curless
Ivy Bear
Tom Peacock
Eleanor Jones
Mel Martin
Christopher Blake
Matthew Kelly
Patricia Hodge
Christopher Godwin
Sara Corper
Robert Glenister
Beryl Reid
Olga - aunt
Dave Clark

production team...

Researcher: Katie Lander
Writer: unknown
Director: unknown
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Peter Davison recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in October 2015

Screenshots of Peter Davison This Is Your Life

Doctor Who Magazine article: Peter Davison This Is Your Life

Doctor Who Magazine April 2022

ALSO THIS MONTH

Wednesday the 17th

Peter Davison arrives at Trafalgar Square in full costume, in the belief that he's about to record a trailer for Australian TV alongside companion actors Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse, plus Master actor Anthony Ainley... only for TV presenter Eamonn Andrews to emerge from a monster-flanked TARDIS wielding his Big Red Book. The resultant edition of Thames TV's biographical surprise show This Is Your Life airs exactly one week later.

Series 22 subjects