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scottishvix's review
4.0
Peter Purves admits right from the beginning that he's not one for looking much at the past - he doesn't keep a diary or a lot of memorabilia. This book is written entirely from his memory.
Purves writes as if he's telling you a story and, if you're familiar with his voice, you can hear it in your head as you read. It makes the book somewhat disjointed at times. Towards the end particularly he'll run through his entire, several year involvement with a project then realise he's jumped forward to the present day and has to run back and pick up where he left off. But this fits well with his chatty writing style and makes it more as if you're having a conversation with someone who just went off on a brief tangent.
The largest portion of the book is devoted to his time on Blue Peter, naturally since he presented the show for 10 years. He admits himself that he doesn't remember much of his time in the studio, but he has very clear memories of many of the short films he did out of the studio. His clearest and most detailed memories are of the summer trips they took, where the team went abroad to film for three weeks. Purves would have made an excellent travel writer. Each location he described made me want to visit it for myself!
There isn't much from his time on Doctor Who, though he manages to remember something about each serial he did. There was one particular story about a time when he and his wife had Bill Hartnell over for dinner that had me roaring with laughter. It is a fascinating look at how actors (and shows) were treated by the people in charge in the 60s. I can't imagine now that the producers would get to filming episode 3 of a serial without knowing who was going to be taking over as the new leading man in episode 6. Or that a lead actress would only find out that her contract wasn't being renewed when she got the script for her last episode.
Purves steers clear of going into the personal much, which is his right. He admits to several affairs during his first marriage, but only in the passing. Indeed, he makes it clear he only mentioned his "short fling" with Valerie Singleton because she had already made it public. He makes it clear that he has always found it difficult to trust people, and while he seems to be honest, anything that goes beyond his work or a fun anecdote is skimmed over as briefly as possible. This is not a book for those wanting some sensation or gossip.
If you're reading this expecting a lot of in-depth reminiscences, this is not the book for you. If you want a brief, chatty jolly look at the life of a man involved in two cultural phenomenons, you're in the right place.
Purves writes as if he's telling you a story and, if you're familiar with his voice, you can hear it in your head as you read. It makes the book somewhat disjointed at times. Towards the end particularly he'll run through his entire, several year involvement with a project then realise he's jumped forward to the present day and has to run back and pick up where he left off. But this fits well with his chatty writing style and makes it more as if you're having a conversation with someone who just went off on a brief tangent.
The largest portion of the book is devoted to his time on Blue Peter, naturally since he presented the show for 10 years. He admits himself that he doesn't remember much of his time in the studio, but he has very clear memories of many of the short films he did out of the studio. His clearest and most detailed memories are of the summer trips they took, where the team went abroad to film for three weeks. Purves would have made an excellent travel writer. Each location he described made me want to visit it for myself!
There isn't much from his time on Doctor Who, though he manages to remember something about each serial he did. There was one particular story about a time when he and his wife had Bill Hartnell over for dinner that had me roaring with laughter. It is a fascinating look at how actors (and shows) were treated by the people in charge in the 60s. I can't imagine now that the producers would get to filming episode 3 of a serial without knowing who was going to be taking over as the new leading man in episode 6. Or that a lead actress would only find out that her contract wasn't being renewed when she got the script for her last episode.
Purves steers clear of going into the personal much, which is his right. He admits to several affairs during his first marriage, but only in the passing. Indeed, he makes it clear he only mentioned his "short fling" with Valerie Singleton because she had already made it public. He makes it clear that he has always found it difficult to trust people, and while he seems to be honest, anything that goes beyond his work or a fun anecdote is skimmed over as briefly as possible. This is not a book for those wanting some sensation or gossip.
If you're reading this expecting a lot of in-depth reminiscences, this is not the book for you. If you want a brief, chatty jolly look at the life of a man involved in two cultural phenomenons, you're in the right place.
nwhyte's review
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2456973.html
Growing up, I knew Peter Purves as one of the presenters of Blue Peter two afternoons a week. It wasn't until after he had left, I think, that I became aware before I was born he had been a regular on Doctor Who, as Steven Taylor, one of the companions to the First Doctor. I was delighted when he was practically the first person I met at Gallifrey One in 2013. I think he's also the earliest of the regular actors on Who to have written an autobiography. (The only other Hartnell-era personality to have done that is Anneke Wills.)
It's a good read. 30 pages of 250 are devoted to his one year on Doctor Who; 80 to his eight years on Blue Peter. That's still less than half of the book, and he makes a good set of anecdotes out of the indignities of the life of an actor, and his subsequent shift to directing (I wished he'd said a bit more about that) and presenting various TV programmes about subjects such as dogs and darts. He also seems to have settled down into a long-lasting second marriage. (Not mentioned in the book, but his Gilly Fraser, his first wife, also appeared in Doctor Who as Ann Davidson, the possessed air stewardess in The Faceless Ones.) The most moving section is where he writes about Petra, the Blue Peter dog who he looked after for much of her long life; she was a rather difficult dog, but she taught him a lot.
The book also provided me with a moment of unexpected enlightenment about Dire Straits. I'm sure many of you are familiar with their song Tunnel of Love. I had personally always been mystified by the lines "Girl it looks so pretty to me / Like it always did / Like the Spanish City to me / When we were kids." It turns out (and here those of you familiar with northeast England will be giving me serious side-eye) that the Spanish City was a famous funfair, close to the railway stations of Cullercoats and Whitley Bay, just north of the mouth of the River Tyne, where the young Peter Purves was taken by his grandparents while visiting from Blackpool, and where the young Mark Knopfler acquired a taste for rock and roll a decade or so later.
One shouldn't expect a lot from celebrity memoirs, but this one is reasonably shot through with humanity and a certain degree of humility. Acting is a fragile career, and Doctor Who and Blue Peter, Purves' high points, both came pretty early. He's had a lot of time to reflect, sometimes through force of circumstances, and this book that doesn't promise much does deliver a bit more.
Growing up, I knew Peter Purves as one of the presenters of Blue Peter two afternoons a week. It wasn't until after he had left, I think, that I became aware before I was born he had been a regular on Doctor Who, as Steven Taylor, one of the companions to the First Doctor. I was delighted when he was practically the first person I met at Gallifrey One in 2013. I think he's also the earliest of the regular actors on Who to have written an autobiography. (The only other Hartnell-era personality to have done that is Anneke Wills.)
It's a good read. 30 pages of 250 are devoted to his one year on Doctor Who; 80 to his eight years on Blue Peter. That's still less than half of the book, and he makes a good set of anecdotes out of the indignities of the life of an actor, and his subsequent shift to directing (I wished he'd said a bit more about that) and presenting various TV programmes about subjects such as dogs and darts. He also seems to have settled down into a long-lasting second marriage. (Not mentioned in the book, but his Gilly Fraser, his first wife, also appeared in Doctor Who as Ann Davidson, the possessed air stewardess in The Faceless Ones.) The most moving section is where he writes about Petra, the Blue Peter dog who he looked after for much of her long life; she was a rather difficult dog, but she taught him a lot.
The book also provided me with a moment of unexpected enlightenment about Dire Straits. I'm sure many of you are familiar with their song Tunnel of Love. I had personally always been mystified by the lines "Girl it looks so pretty to me / Like it always did / Like the Spanish City to me / When we were kids." It turns out (and here those of you familiar with northeast England will be giving me serious side-eye) that the Spanish City was a famous funfair, close to the railway stations of Cullercoats and Whitley Bay, just north of the mouth of the River Tyne, where the young Peter Purves was taken by his grandparents while visiting from Blackpool, and where the young Mark Knopfler acquired a taste for rock and roll a decade or so later.
One shouldn't expect a lot from celebrity memoirs, but this one is reasonably shot through with humanity and a certain degree of humility. Acting is a fragile career, and Doctor Who and Blue Peter, Purves' high points, both came pretty early. He's had a lot of time to reflect, sometimes through force of circumstances, and this book that doesn't promise much does deliver a bit more.
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