Peter Purves

Peter John Purves (born on 10 February 1939 in New Longton, Lancashire, England) played the First Doctor's companion Steven Taylor from The Chase to The Savages. He also had a small comic role in The Chase as American tourist Morton Dill.

As well as reprising the role of Steven for Big Finish's audio adventures, he also recreated the role of the First Doctor.

He had previously been considered for the role of an unspecified Menoptera in The Web Planet. (DCOM: The Chase)

Career
Purves had originally planned to go into teaching, but instead began acting with the Repertory Company. He first became well-known to television audiences in the mid-1960s as Steven Taylor in Doctor Who.

After leaving Doctor Who, Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme, Blue Peter. He was one of the longest-serving, lasting from 1967 to 1978. For much of that time, he co-presented with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton and was so closely associated with the programme, especially as the sensible one, that he found the image difficult to shake off afterwards. His subsequent career has mainly been as a presenter, frequently for major dog shows such as. He was also host of the long-running BBC TV motorbike trials series Kick Start.

He has made cameo appearances as himself in episodes of programmes such as the soap opera EastEnders and the hugely popular sitcom.

Purves now lives in the Suffolk village of. In recent years, Purves has reprised the role of Steven for a number of Big Finish Productions audio dramas, and has also provided the voice of the First Doctor for several of these productions.

Purves was depicted in the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time by an uncredited actor in one scene recreating the press photocall announcing Jackie Lane's casting in the series. Despite it not being shown in the docudrama, Purves and William Hartnell got on "awfully well" in spite of the increasing difficulty that came with Hartnell's health issues and the change of cast and production team within quick succession.

Credits
As Steven Taylor

Doctor Who

 * The Chase
 * The Time Meddler
 * Galaxy 4
 * The Myth Makers
 * The Daleks' Master Plan
 * The Massacre
 * The Ark
 * The Celestial Toymaker
 * The Gunfighters
 * The Savages

Tales of the TARDIS

 * The Time Meddler

Doctor Who Main Range

 * The Secret History

Special Releases

 * The Five Companions
 * The Light at the End

The Early Adventures

 * The Bounty of Ceres
 * An Ordinary Life
 * The Ravelli Conspiracy
 * The Sontarans
 * The Dalek Occupation of Winter
 * An Ideal World
 * Entanglement
 * The Crash of the UK-201
 * Daughter of the Gods
 * The Secrets of Det-Sen

Companion Chronicles

 * Mother Russia
 * The Suffering
 * The Perpetual Bond
 * The Cold Equations
 * Tales from the Vault
 * The First Wave
 * The Anachronauts
 * Return of the Rocket Men
 * Upstairs
 * The War To End All Wars
 * The Founding Fathers
 * The Locked Room
 * Across the Darkened City
 * The Vardan Invasion of Mirth

Short Trips

 * Flywheel Revolution
 * Etheria
 * This Sporting Life
 * O Tannenbaum
 * Peace in Our Time
 * Out of the Deep

As the First Doctor

The Early Adventures

 * The Bounty of Ceres
 * An Ordinary Life
 * The Ravelli Conspiracy
 * The Sontarans
 * The Dalek Occupation of Winter
 * An Ideal World
 * Entanglement
 * The Crash of the UK-201
 * Daughter of the Gods
 * The Secrets of Det-Sen

Companion Chronicles

 * Mother Russia
 * The Suffering
 * The Perpetual Bond
 * The Cold Equations
 * Tales from the Vault
 * The First Wave
 * The Anachronauts
 * Return of the Rocket Men
 * Upstairs
 * The War To End All Wars
 * The Founding Fathers
 * The Locked Room
 * Across the Darkened City
 * The Vardan Invasion of Mirth

Short Trips

 * Flywheel Revolution
 * Etheria
 * This Sporting Life
 * O Tannenbaum
 * Peace in Our Time
 * Out of the Deep

Other Roles

Doctor Who

 * The Chase - Morton Dill

Target Novelisations

 * Daleks: Mission to the Unknown
 * Daleks: The Mutation of Time
 * The Massacre
 * The Time Meddler
 * The Ark
 * The Savages

BBC Audio

 * Men of War
 * Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space

Doctor Who Audio Annuals

 * The Sons of Grekk
 * Peril in Mechanistria
 * Ten Fathom Pirates

Documentary

 * Myth Makers: William Hartnell
 * The Story of Doctor Who
 * Girls! Girls! Girls!
 * Dennis Spooner: Wanna Write a Television Series?
 * The End of the Line?
 * Riverside Story
 * Tomorrow's Times
 * Doctor Who in America
 * The Doctors Revisited - The First Doctor
 * Remembering Douglas Camfield
 * Boys! Boys! Boys!
 * William Hartnell: The Original
 * Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty
 * The Trouble with Chumblies
 * Flight Through Eternity

Other

 * Children in Need 1985