Peter John Purves (; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. He played Steven Taylor in Doctor Who under the First Doctor, a role he continued to play in audio dramas for Big Finish Productions. He later became a presenter on the BBC children's programme Blue Peter for eleven years. He has continued to make regular television appearances, including coverage of the Crufts dog show. Early life Purves was born in New Longton, near Preston, 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. Doctor Who Purves first appeared in Doctor Who in the role of Morton Dill in The Chase after being cast by director Richard Martin. At 26 years old, Purves first became known to television audiences in 1965 as Steven Taylor, one of the early time-travelling companions in the programme Doctor Who, 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, he 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. Blue Peter 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 and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd, during the programme's perceived golden age. After Noakes, Purves is the longest-serving male Blue Peter presenter. Purves maintained his connection to Doctor Who throughout his time on Blue Peter, often hosting special features on the programme and interviewing the actors. These included clips from