This Is Your Life (British TV series)

This Is Your Life
Title card of 2007 revival
Genre
Presented by
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series43
No. of episodes1,130 (285 missing)
Production
Running time30–60 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkBBC Television
Release29 July 1955 (1955-07-29) –
30 April 1964 (1964-04-30)
NetworkITV
Release19 November 1969 (1969-11-19) –
20 July 1994 (1994-07-20)
NetworkBBC One
Release2 November 1994 (1994-11-02) –
8 August 2003 (2003-08-08)
NetworkITV
Release2 June 2007 (2007-06-02)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

This Is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American series. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It briefly returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by Trevor McDonald.

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 featured on 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 cancelled.