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Peter Purves
Peter John Purves (/ˈpɜːrvɪs/; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. Beginning his career as an actor, he joined Doctor Who to play Steven Taylor, a companion of the First Doctor, which he played from 1965 until 1966. In 1967, he became a presenter on the children's programme Blue Peter, where he remained for eleven years. He has continued to make appearances on TV, including coverage of the Crufts dog show.
Purves was born in New Longton, Lancashire. His father was a tailor who also ran a hotel in Blackpool for a short period. He was educated at the independent Arnold School in Blackpool and in the sixth form at Barrow-in-Furness Grammar School for Boys for a year, where he took A-levels and gained a pass in mathematics. He originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began to act with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company instead.
At 26 years old in 1965, Purves first appeared in Doctor Who in the role of Morton Dill, an American tourist, in The Chase after being cast by director Richard Martin.
Purves then appeared later in the same story as space pilot Steven Taylor, and became well known to television audiences in that role, as one of the early time-travelling companions in the programme, when the Doctor was played by William Hartnell. He 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. He was also a good friend of the actor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor.
Purves has said that he prefers the historical stories on the show, such as The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve and The Myth Makers.
In 2007, Purves returned to the role of Steven Taylor in the audio drama Mother Russia and has portrayed him in several additional audio dramas in the years since.
In 2023, Purves reprised his role as Steven in the series Tales of the TARDIS.
After leaving Doctor Who, Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme Blue Peter from 1967 to 1978. He co-presented Blue Peter, first with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton – the "Val, John and Pete" line-up – and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd. After Noakes, Purves is the longest-serving male Blue Peter presenter.
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Peter Purves
Peter John Purves (/ˈpɜːrvɪs/; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. Beginning his career as an actor, he joined Doctor Who to play Steven Taylor, a companion of the First Doctor, which he played from 1965 until 1966. In 1967, he became a presenter on the children's programme Blue Peter, where he remained for eleven years. He has continued to make appearances on TV, including coverage of the Crufts dog show.
Purves was born in New Longton, Lancashire. His father was a tailor who also ran a hotel in Blackpool for a short period. He was educated at the independent Arnold School in Blackpool and in the sixth form at Barrow-in-Furness Grammar School for Boys for a year, where he took A-levels and gained a pass in mathematics. He originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began to act with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company instead.
At 26 years old in 1965, Purves first appeared in Doctor Who in the role of Morton Dill, an American tourist, in The Chase after being cast by director Richard Martin.
Purves then appeared later in the same story as space pilot Steven Taylor, and became well known to television audiences in that role, as one of the early time-travelling companions in the programme, when the Doctor was played by William Hartnell. He 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. He was also a good friend of the actor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor.
Purves has said that he prefers the historical stories on the show, such as The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve and The Myth Makers.
In 2007, Purves returned to the role of Steven Taylor in the audio drama Mother Russia and has portrayed him in several additional audio dramas in the years since.
In 2023, Purves reprised his role as Steven in the series Tales of the TARDIS.
After leaving Doctor Who, Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme Blue Peter from 1967 to 1978. He co-presented Blue Peter, first with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton – the "Val, John and Pete" line-up – and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd. After Noakes, Purves is the longest-serving male Blue Peter presenter.