Peter Purves
Height:
185 cm
Peter Purves was born in New Longton, Lancashire on 10 February 1939. After leaving school he took a four-year teacher-training course. In 1961, after only one year as a teacher, he turned to acting, initially with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company and later with the Wimbleton Theatre Company. His first TV role was in Z Cars (1962) and more T...
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Peter Purves was born in New Longton, Lancashire on 10 February 1939. After leaving school he took a four-year teacher-training course. In 1961, after only one year as a teacher, he turned to acting, initially with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company and later with the Wimbleton Theatre Company. His first TV role was in Z Cars (1962) and more TV work followed, including a play called Armchair Theatre: The Girl in the Picture (1964) and an episode of The Villains (1964). In 1965 he auditioned for the part of a Menoptra in the Doctor Who story "The Web Planet", but was turned down. However, the director, Richard Martin, later cast him as Morton Dill in Docteur Who: Flight Through Eternity (1965), and this led to him playing regular character Steven Taylor. After Docteur Who (1963), Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme Blue Peter (1958). More presenting work followed, primarily on sports-based programmes, and it is for this that he is now best known. He has also been managing director of a video production company. Show less «
[on William Hartnell] I thought Bill was definitive, to be honest. I don't think he was always the greatest actor but I think he was the def...Show more »
[on William Hartnell] I thought Bill was definitive, to be honest. I don't think he was always the greatest actor but I think he was the definitive Doctor. Show less «
I think Jon (Jon Pertwee) was a very strong Doctor. I never liked him as the Doctor and I knew Jon very well and liked him very much as a pe...Show more »
I think Jon (Jon Pertwee) was a very strong Doctor. I never liked him as the Doctor and I knew Jon very well and liked him very much as a person, we were actually good friends off screen. Show less «
I didn't enjoy Docteur Who (1963) when it got bogged down in England and UNIT and all that. I got really bored with all that.
I didn't enjoy Docteur Who (1963) when it got bogged down in England and UNIT and all that. I got really bored with all that.
Funnily enough, I've always said I think Sylvester McCoy was the nearest to Bill (William Hartnell) in the performance he gave as the Doctor...Show more »
Funnily enough, I've always said I think Sylvester McCoy was the nearest to Bill (William Hartnell) in the performance he gave as the Doctor. Everyone else tried to move away from him, so when Bill left eventually you got Patrick Troughton in there. Patrick tried very hard not to be Bill and everyone else was their own individual. When Sylvester came along I always felt that that was the nearest in character to being Bill. Show less «
[on Docteur Who (1963)'s reputation for wobbly sets] I never saw a set wobble.
[on Docteur Who (1963)'s reputation for wobbly sets] I never saw a set wobble.
It was an extraordinary place, the BBC, in the Sixties and Seventies, it really was. It was the place to work and the standards were very, v...Show more »
It was an extraordinary place, the BBC, in the Sixties and Seventies, it really was. It was the place to work and the standards were very, very high. I think it was the golden age of television to a large extent. We can do things technically now that are so much better and so on and so on and so on, I don't think television has actually improved. I think it was wonderful then. Show less «
Peter Purves's Photos
Steven Taylor
