Peter Purves Biography

Peter Purves (born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. He is best known for being a presenter on the BBC children's programme Blue Peter and for playing companion Steven Taylor in 44 episodes on the science fiction show Doctor Who.

Early life

Purves was born in New Longton, near Preston, Lancashire, and was educated at the independent Arnold School in Blackpool. He had originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began to act with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company instead. He also attended Manchester Polytechnic.

Doctor Who

At twenty-six years old, Purves first became known to television audiences in 1965 as Steven Taylor, one of the early time-travelling companions in the programme Doctor Who, when the Doctor was played by William Hartnell. After leaving Doctor Who, Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme Blue Peter from 1967 to 1978. Purves maintained his connection to Doctor Who throughout his time on Blue Peter, often hosting special features on the programme and interviewing the actors. These included many clips from episodes which are otherwise now lost, most notably The Daleks' Master Plan, in which Purves himself had appeared. Purves has provided DVD commentaries for many of the surviving Doctor Who episodes he appeared in and documents the making of each of his Doctor Who stories in his autobiography, Here's one I wrote earlier. Purves was also a good friend of the actor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor.

Blue Peter

Purves co-presented Blue Peter first with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd, during the programme's so called 'golden age'. After Noakes, Purves is the second longest serving male Blue Peter presenter. He was so closely associated with the programme, "the sensible one", that he found his association difficult to shake off. Purves moved on to other jobs as a presenter including Blue Peter Special Assignment, "Stopwatch" and "We're Going Places" and then later a spell as the front man for darts events on the BBC and as presenter of the long-running BBC1 motorbike trials series Kick Start.

Other television appearances

His recent TV career has included cameo appearances in episodes of the soap opera EastEnders and sitcoms The Office and I'm Alan Partridge. In The Office episode "Training Day" Purves played himself in a customer care training video that David Brent and his staff were being shown (incidentally, Purves is a qualified business trainer and a motivational speaker).

Dogs have featured in Purves's career from his Blue Peter days. He was given charge of one of the "Blue Peter Pets", Petra, a German Shepherd cross. This led to a thirty year association with television coverage of major dog shows such as Crufts and in 2007 his appearance as a judge on the reality TV programme The Underdog Show. Purves also writes for the dog press and regularly presents at dog award shows. On 31 July 2008 he was bitten by a West Highland terrier whilst judging a dog show at a garden centre in Norwich. Purves was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where he received treatment to his hand.

In the theatre

Purves is a noted pantomime director enjoying a good working relationship with the Chuckle Brothers. He has directed over 27 pantomimes at some of the UK's top theatres. In December 2012 Purves portrayed Alderman Fitzwarren in Dick Whittington at Harpenden Public Halls this was the first time Peter performed in Pantomime since 1985. He is also an after-dinner speaker.

Purves lived for a time in Bilton, and now lives in the Suffolk village of Sibton. In 2008, Valerie Singleton revealed she had had a "brief fling" with Purves.

Marking his 70th birthday, his 2009 autobiography Here's One I Wrote Earlier was released at The Kennel Club.