Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
As a new decade began, This Is Your Life continued to top the television ratings, and the sight of Eamonn Andrews and his Big Red Book inevitably caused a stir wherever they were spotted!
TV Times magazine marked the new series by interviewing six deserving and recent former subjects - often considered the unsung heroes - who recall what being thrown into the spotlight meant to them. While this series included another such worthy subject for its Christmas Day broadcast - a Chester housewife who, for over 27 years, was a foster mother to more than 150 children.
Although smaller in size than the New London Theatre, the programme's new home - the Royalty Theatre - still offered a sense of occasion as Eamonn Andrews led each subject through the audience and up onto the theatre's large stage, which allowed for those longer guest lists!
More behind-the-scenes secrets are revealed by producer Jack Crawshaw as he looks back on his years working on the programme in a TV Times feature, bridging this series and the next, which would be Jack's last one as producer.
related pages...
the programme's icon
the studio look and locations
the producers who steered the programme's success
the show's fifty year history
Royalty plans future as opera-dance venue in Thames TV tie-up
The Stage reports on This Is Your Life's new home
Magic Book That Opens New Chapters Of Life
TV Times feature on 'The Unsung Heroes'
A selection of reader's letters from TV Times
Jack Crawshaw reviews his time on This Is Your Life
| Joe LOSS | Musician and band leader | 15 October 1980 |
| Julie GOODYEAR | Actress | 22 October 1980 |
| Lawrie MCMENEMY | Football manager | 29 October 1980 |
| Peter BOWLES | Actor | 5 November 1980 |
| Mike YARWOOD | RAF rescue helicopter crewman | 12 November 1980 |
| John SCHLESINGER | Film director | 19 November 1980 |
| Andrew LLOYD WEBBER | Composer | 26 November 1980 |
| Janet BROWN | Actress, comedian and impressionist | 3 December 1980 |
| Rodney BEWES | Actor | 10 December 1980 |
| Russell HARTY | Writer and broadcaster | 17 December 1980 |
| Joan WELLS | Foster mother | 25 December 1980 |
| Billy CONNOLLY | Comedian and musician | 31 December 1980 |
| Bill OWEN | Actor | 7 January 1981 |
| Jeffrey ARCHER | Author | 14 January 1981 |
| Brian JACKS | Judoka | 21 January 1981 |
| Melvyn HAYES | Actor | 28 January 1981 |
| Fred HOUSEGO | Taxi driver | 4 February 1981 |
| Alex HIGGINS | Snooker player | 11 February 1981 |
| Tim BROOKE-TAYLOR | Comedian and actor | 18 February 1981 |
| Bernard CRIBBINS | Actor and singer | 25 February 1981 |
| Gemma CRAVEN | Actress and singer | 4 March 1981 |
| Jim WATT | Boxer | 11 March 1981 |
| John THAW | Actor | 18 March 1981 |
| Jonjo O'NEILL | Jockey | 25 March 1981 |
| Judith CHALMERS | Television presenter | 8 April 1981 |
| Margaret PRICE | Paralympic athlete | 15 April 1981 |
Broadcast details
Thames Television production for ITV26 editions | 26 x 30 minutes
Wednesday | 7.00pm x 25
Thursday | 9.30pm x 1
No edition broadcast on 1 April 1981 due to the League Cup Final replay football match
Production team
Created by: Ralph EdwardsProducer: Jack Crawshaw
Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood, Paul Stewart Laing
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley | Programme Consultants: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Researchers: Katie Lander, Brian Klein, Robin Ellis-Bextor, Vivien Lind, Tom Wettengel, John Graham, Cathy Parnall
Programme Associate: Maurice Leonard
Production Assistants: Irene Clark, Claire Jenkinson, Laura Bond
Designers: George Lack, Graham Guest
Engineering Managers: Norman Andrews, Peter Groome
Lighting Directors: John O'Brien, Dennis Bowden-Williams, Robert Byde, Harry Holton, Jack Archer, Ken Craik, Alan Harradine, Ray Nicholson
Sound Supervisors: Tony Morley, Peter Stoddart, Keir Polyblank, John Overton, Mike Pontin, Ivan Ager, Bill Rawcliffe
Senior Camermen: John Chapman, Roger Blanchard, Ian Westwater, Chris Dingley, Roy Easton, Gerry Whitney
Vision Control: Des Tope, Tony Ball, Geoff Mott, Andy Fraser, Ian Jones, Richard Waitling
Vision Mixers: John Cooper, Janice Howes, Valerie Waters, Peter Turl, Tony Kemp, Kenneth Angus, Peter Phillips
Martin Perrett, Nick Rigsby, Kathleen Lenane
Floor Managers: John Sanders, David London, Noola Delany, Bill Allan, Robert Hughes, Ken Dodds, Maurice Langston
David Downing, Russell Norman
Make-up Supervisors: Jeannie MacKenzie, Carole Bernard, Mimi Kimmins, Ann Whitelaw, Lesley Sanders, Rosemary Harrison
Wardrobe Supervisors: Sandra Jeffery, Marj Short, Linda Fleckney-Clark
Graphics: Ray Bruce, Jack Frogell, Memfhis Hakki, Bruce Langsman, Patrick Murphy, Dan Webster
Film Editor: Chris Sames
Production Team: Roy Fewins, Martin Leonard, Alan Ritchie, Judy Webbe, Alan Tingay, Christine Cocks