1. Peter John Purves is an English television presenter and actor.
16 Facts About Peter Purves
1. 2.
Peter Purves has continued to make regular television appearances, including coverage of the Crufts dog show.
3.
Peter Purves's father was a tailor who ran a hotel in Blackpool for a short period.
4.
Peter Purves originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began to act with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company instead.
5.
At 26 years old in 1965, Peter 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.
6.
Peter 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.
7.
Peter 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.
8.
Peter Purves was a good friend of the actor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor.
9.
Peter 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.
10.
Peter Purves co-presented Blue Peter first with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton, and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd, during the programme's perceived golden age.
11.
Peter Purves has had a 40-year association with television coverage of major dog shows such as Crufts and his 2007 appearance as a judge on the reality TV programme The Underdog Show.
12.
Peter Purves writes for the dog press and regularly presents at dog award shows.
13.
Peter Purves has worked as a pantomime director and has directed over 30 pantomime productions.
14.
Peter Purves lived for a time in the Bilton area of Rugby, Warwickshire, and then Northamptonshire.
15.
Peter Purves was previously married from 1962 to 1982 to a Leeds-born playwright, Gilly Fraser.
16.
In December 2022 Peter Purves received an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire.