- Born
- Height1.85 m
- 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.
An early TV role was in the BBC's legendary police series Z Cars (1962) and more TV work followed, including a play called 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 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. He has also been managing director of a video production company.- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesKathryn Evans(February 5, 1982 - present)Gilly Fraser(1962 - ?) (divorced, 2 children)
- His favourite Docteur Who (1963) serial was War of God (1966) (better known as "The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve"), which was a historical script credited to John Lucarotti. The story was completely wiped by the BBC during the 1970s.
- [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.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- [on Docteur Who (1963)'s reputation for wobbly sets] I never saw a set wobble.
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