This is Your life ( uk TV series ) - wikipedia This is Your life ( uk TV series ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2014 ) This is Your Life Title card of 2007 revival. Genre Documentary Biography Presented by Eamonn Andrews ( 1955 -- 1964, 1969 -- 1987 ) Michael Aspel ( 1987 -- 2003 ) Trevor McDonald ( 2007 ) Country of origin United Kingdom Original language ( s ) English No. of series 43 No. of episodes 1,130 Production Running time 30 -- 60 minutes Production company ( s ) BBC Productions ( 1955 -- 1964 ) Thames Television ( 1969 -- 2003 ) Click TV ( 2007 ) Ralph Edwards Productions ( 2007 ) STV Productions ( 2007 ) ITV Productions ( 2007 ) TIYL Productions ( 2007 ) Distributor Fremantle Media ITV Studios STV Group plc Release Original network BBC One ( 29 July 1955 -- 30 April 1964, 2 November 1994 -- 8 August 2003 ) ITV ( 19 November 1969 -- 20 July 1994, 2 June 2007 ) Original release 1955 -- 1964, 1969 -- 2003, 2007 Chronology Related shows American version New Zealand version Australian version This is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same title. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It returned in 2007 as a one - off special presented by Trevor McDonald, which to date was its most recent airing. In the show the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the ' big red book '. Both celebrities and non-celebrities have been ' victims ' of the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it has alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV. The surprise element was a very important part of the show ; if the guest heard about the project beforehand, it would be immediately abandoned. Contents 1 History 2 Guests 3 Theme music 4 Transmissions 4.1 BBC1 4.2 ITV 4.3 BBC1 4.4 Special 5 References 6 External links History The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was first presented by Ralph Edwards to the first `` victim '', Eamonn Andrews, who was the presenter from the second show. The scriptwriter for the first 35 episodes was Gale Pedrick. It ended in 1964 when Andrews moved to Associated British Corporation, but it was revived on ITV ( produced by Thames Television ) in 1969. The big red book for fireman Tom Breaks, Mon 26 Mar 1962 The only other occasion during Andrews ' presentational run where he was not the presenter was in 1974 when he was the subject a second time, and the show was presented by David Nixon. Michael Aspel ( himself, a `` victim '' in 1980 ) became presenter after Andrews died in 1987. The show returned to the BBC in 1994 but was still produced independently by Thames Television. The programme was axed again in 2003. At first, the show was always broadcast live ; later, programmes were sometimes pre-recorded. Live broadcasts ended in 1983 when boxer Alan Minter could not stop swearing during his appearance, but newspapers were able to find out which star was to be featured and ratings dropped as people no longer watched it just to see who was on that week. The show returned in June 2007 on ITV for a one - off special programme hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald with guest Simon Cowell. The new edition was co-produced by ITV Productions, STV Productions, TIYL Productions, Click TV and Ralph Edwards Productions. Ant & Dec 's Saturday Night Takeaway featured a return of This is Your Life to celebrate Ant & Dec 's 25 years together, quizzing them on their 25 years as part of `` Ant vs Dec '' in episode 6 of Series 11. Michael Aspel returned as host alongside Ashley Roberts. Guests Lynn Redgrave, in December 1996, was caught while taking her bow in her one - woman show on stage at the Haymarket Theatre, the only time the Redgrave clan was seen together on stage at the same time. Bob Hope and Dudley Moore have been the only subjects of two - part editions of the programme, in 1970 and 1987 respectively. Both were broadcast over two weeks. Clive Mantle 's profile included a post-credits sequence where he thanked the audience for coming. Footballer Danny Blanchflower turned down the `` red book '' in February 1961. Author Richard Gordon ( of Doctor in the House fame ) was asked in 1974 and, like Bill Oddie ( of The Goodies ) in 2001, he initially turned it down, but changed his mind and appeared on the show. Actor Richard Beckinsale was a feature on the show shortly after his 31st birthday, eight months before his death. In 1996, the Sunday Mirror reported that a planned show for Cockney comedy actor Arthur Mullard was pulled after researchers contacted his eldest son. The same report featured claims that Mullard had terrorised his family and had sexually abused his daughter for many years. The series originally included non-celebrities who had done extraordinary things in their lives. In later years, following a persistent criticism of only deeming celebrities worthy of being featured on the show, non-celebrities were featured again. These included businesspeople, military personnel, the clergy and those that had performed outstanding community or charity service but who were not well known to the general public. Examples include : paramedic Allan Norman ; Group Captain Leonard Cheshire ; Cromer lifeboatman Henry `` Shrimp '' Davies ; Colonel Tod Sweeney ; Mary Ward, community nurse to the boat people of the canals ; Chay Blyth ; Sir Nicholas Winton ; Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader ; and Sir Fitzroy Maclean. The series never profiled serving politicians, although retired politicians were occasionally featured, e.g. Lord Brabourne. Forty - two celebrities have appeared on the show twice -- including Honor Blackman, Bob Monkhouse and Eamonn Andrews himself. David Butler was 17 when he became the youngest ever subject of This is Your Life. He was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the headmaster 's study of Hemel Hempstead Grammar School. David lost both his legs and a hand when, aged 11, he found an unexploded bomb on Ivinghoe Beacon. When snooker player Stephen Hendry was surprised with the red book in 1990, aged 21, he remarked that he had `` hardly had a life ''. Theme music The theme tune used from 1969 was called ' Gala Performance ' and was composed by Laurie Johnson for KPM. Transmissions BBC1 Series Start date End date Episodes 29 July 1955 6 May 1956 15 1 October 1956 27 May 1957 19 30 September 1957 5 May 1958 31 29 September 1958 11 May 1959 33 5 31 August 1959 28 March 1960 31 6 19 September 1960 8 May 1961 34 7 2 October 1961 7 May 1962 32 8 2 October 1962 14 May 1963 31 9 3 October 1963 30 April 1964 30 ITV Series Start date End date Episodes 10 19 November 1969 27 May 1970 26 11 18 November 1970 12 May 1971 26 12 17 November 1971 10 May 1972 26 13 15 November 1972 9 May 1973 26 14 21 November 1973 15 May 1974 27 15 10 October 1974 7 May 1975 27 16 12 November 1975 5 May 1976 26 17 27 October 1976 27 April 1977 27 18 23 November 1977 31 May 1978 27 19 25 October 1978 3 May 1979 27 20 28 November 1979 21 May 1980 26 21 15 October 1980 15 April 1981 26 22 13 October 1981 31 March 1982 26 23 20 October 1982 13 April 1983 26 24 26 October 1983 18 April 1984 26 25 7 November 1984 8 May 1985 27 26 16 October 1985 30 April 1986 26 27 15 October 1986 8 April 1987 26 28 14 October 1987 20 January 1988 7 29 19 October 1988 1 March 1989 20 30 25 October 1989 7 May 1990 27 31 17 October 1990 17 April 1991 26 32 16 October 1991 15 April 1992 26 33 30 September 1992 21 April 1993 30 34 12 January 1994 20 July 1994 26 BBC1 Series Start date End date Episodes 35 2 November 1994 17 May 1995 28 36 6 September 1995 6 March 1996 27 37 20 September 1996 24 March 1997 26 38 1 September 1997 23 February 1998 26 39 7 September 1998 1 March 1999 26 40 1 November 1999 29 May 2000 28 41 9 November 2000 7 June 2001 26 42 17 October 2001 23 May 2002 26 43 2 January 2003 8 August 2003 25 Special 2 June 2007 ( ITV ) References Jump up ^ `` Mr Gale Pedrick ''. The Times. 24 February 1970. p. 10. Retrieved 29 August 2014. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Woodward, Ian ( May 12, 1996 ). `` ARTHUR MULLARD WAS THE COCKNEY COMIC MILLIONS LOVED... AND A MONSTER WHO RAPED HIS DAUGHTER AT 13 ; ' Behind his TV smile lurked an evil pervert who made me his sex slave, drove my mum to suicide and destroyed my life '. ''. www.thefreelibrary.com. Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 23. External links This is Your Life on IMDb. A celebration of This Is Your Life Guest and series list ( web.archive.org ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=This_Is_Your_Life_(UK_TV_series)&oldid=800051219 '' Categories : 1955 British television programme debuts 1950s British television series 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1990s British television series 2000s British television series 2007 British television programme endings British television series based on American television series BBC television documentaries ITV television programmes STV Productions Television series by FremantleMedia Television series by ITV Studios English - language television programs Television programmes produced by Thames Television Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content Use British English from August 2014 Use dmy dates from December 2012 Articles needing additional references from August 2014 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia فارسی Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Edit links This page was last edited on 11 September 2017, at 08 : 12. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who presented the first this is your life
Answer: Eamonn Andrews