Sylvia Peters (born Sylvia Lucia Petronzio in Highgate, London, in 1926) is a former British actress, and from 1947 to 1958 a continuity announcer for BBC Television.After training as a singer and dancer, Peters played in musicals at the Coliseum Theatre in London. In June 1947 she answered a newspaper advertisement for a continuity announcer for BBC Television, then based at Alexandra Palace, and was chosen from hundreds of applicants. She was part the team of continuity announcers headed by McDonald Hobley, and with Peter Haigh, who joined in 1952. In 1954, Peters was chosen to host Come Dancing (the predecessor of Strictly Come Dancing), doing so until her retirement in 1958. In 1953, Peters introduced the live television broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She would later be involved in teaching the Queen the broadcasting skills necessary for the Her Majesty's Royal Christmas Message broadcasts.In 1950, she married TV director Kenneth Milne-Buckley, who was responsible for the TV series Compact.After retiring from the BBC in 1958, Peters opened a dress-shop in Wimbledon, London, and has rarely been seen on screen since, with a small number of appearances, notably the Sykes 1977 Christmas special, and for special shows such as the BBC Television Service's 50th and 75th birthday specials. In the early 1980s she appeared on the magazine programme Afternoon Plus for Thames Television where she appeared with McDonald Hobley and Mary Malcolm. Sylvia did enjoy a brief return to television presenting in the late 1980s when she joined Robert (Bob) Dougall, Brian Johnston and other hosts in presenting the Channel 4 magazine programme for the over sixties, Years Ahead.In 2013 she introduced the digitally restored rebroadcast of the Queen's Coronation on BBC Parliament.In popular culture, Sylvia Peters and the presentation style used by her have often been satirised. One example of this is in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Idiot's Lantern".
A former musical actress, Peters joined the BBC in 1947 after answering a newspaper advertisement for a continuity announcer and was one of the post-War trio of announcers who stayed until 1958. Retired and later ran a dress shop in Wimbledon but came out of retirement to work as a presenter on the Channel 4 series 'Years Ahead'. She also re-appeared in November 1986 as an in-vision announcer on BBC Two to celebrate TV50, the 50th anniversary of BBC Television. One of her most notable achievements, however, was when she worked to coach HM The Queen in broadcasting skills for the Queen's Christmas broadcasts.
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Announcer for BBC television 1947-1959.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Two's Company
1959
TV Movie
The Gentle Art actress
Pantomania: Babes in the Wood
1957
TV Movie
Maid Marion
Pantomania, or Dick Whittington
1956
TV Movie
Alice Fitzwarren
Pantomania, or It Was Never Like This
1955
TV Movie
Cinderella
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Tremble
2012/I
Short executive producer
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Children's TV on Trial
2007
TV Series documentary
Herself
Imagine
2006
TV Series documentary
Herself
Timeshift
2003
TV Series documentary
Herself - BBC Announcer
Auntie: The Inside Story of the BBC
1997
TV Mini-Series documentary
Herself
See Dick and Jane... Lie, Cheat and Steal: Teaching Morality to Kids
1989
TV Movie documentary
Television: The Magic Rectangle - An Anatomy of the TV Personality