Peter was born in Tehran, Iran. His father, as a Colonel in the Indian Army, was Consul in Ahwaz at the time. Peter spent the first four years of his life in India, before arriving in the UK in 1948.
Living around Winchester, he won a choral scholarship to the Cathedral Choir.
During his secondary school years in Tonbridge, Kent, he developed a passion for the theatre and decided to leave school early.
He won a scholarship to The Central School of Speech and Drama for their three-year acting course, where he won the Associated Television Award for best actor.
He worked for three years in repertory companies, including a tour with The Oxford Playhouse Company (with Judi Dench and Sheila Hancock) in 1965. He appeared in the West End at the Comedy Theatre in Shaw’s A Doctor’s Dilemma.
His TV acting credits include:
- Victoria Regina (1964);
- No Hiding Place (1966);
- Sexton Blake (1967);
- The Man in the Iron Mask (1968);
- A Family at War (1970).
Between acting jobs, he took on a number of TV presenting roles at Southern TV, Harlech TV and Granada TV.
TV would soon take over when he accepted a long-term contract with BBC South, where he appeared regularly on South Today, as a reporter (1971 – 1982), newsreader and a relief main presenter (c. 1978).
He also worked as a regional announcer for BBC One South in the late-1970s and early 1980s.
He announced the results of the Southampton jury in A Song for Europe (1978 and 1980).
He moved to London to become one of the presenters on the popular science programme Tomorrow’s World (BBC One, 1982 – 1991).
He appeared with his co-presenters – and with former presenters Raymond Baxter and James Burke – on Tomorrow’s World 21st Birthday Special (BBC Two, 28th December 1986). He also co-presented Tomorrow’s World 25th Birthday (BBC One, 3rd May 1990).
For a time in the 1980s, he took on various adventures as part of the spin-off programme, Tomorrow’s World at Large.
On one edition, Peter trained to become a North Sea diver and work at depth on the Echo Fiske field in the North Sea. This was at a time when the technology was rapidly developing but quite a few professional divers lost their lives.
He presented:
- Top Gear (BBC Two, 1980);
- Airport 86 – Live (BBC One/BBC Two, 1986);
- The Software Show (BBC One, 1992).
He narrated an edition of Q.E.D. (BBC One, 6th May 1987).
On radio, he co-presented Going Places with Janet Trewin (BBC Radio 4, 1993 – 1994).
He left television to set up his own production company which produced many programmes for a range of industries – with a focus on training and the development of working cultures.
Later, he joined his wife Liz (who co-founded and was head of the BBC Coaching Department) in her company, Macann Coaching and Communication.
In May 2019, he appeared in an advert for Monarch Mobility.
Correspondence
Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Peter in April 2024.
Tell us about your time with BBC South and covering announcing duties in the evenings on BBC One as the voice behind the globe
“When I joined BBC South, it was as the continuity presenter and newsreader. It was an extraordinary set up with what was called a ‘self-op desk’. This referred to the desk I sat behind while presenting news bulletins and other short local programmes.
“At the press of a button, I would switch the BBC One channel across the South of England (from Dorset to Kent and up to Berkshire) from being controlled by the output from London to being run through my desk.
“Single-handed, and while (for example) reading the news to camera, I would cut up slides, cut to myself in vision, change slides (watching the monitor out of the corner of my eye to make sure it was the right one), run film, run video tape, control sound levels, cut in and out of film, provide voiceover if necessary – and then at the end of the bulletin, return us back to the network on a precisely agreed second.
“It was not for the fainthearted, but became second nature after a while.”
Did you present the main evening programme often or when Bruce Parker was away?
“Yes, presented South Today during the second half of the 1970s on occasions. when Bruce was away.”
How did you get the job on Tomorrow’s World and did you always have an interest in science and technology?
“I always knew it would be my favourite programme to work on. However, I heard far too late about a vacancy that came up. When I made contact I was told auditions had already been held.
“However, a few days later in the press office of The Southampton Boat Show (an annual event we covered), I heard a guy say to a press officer ‘I am a producer on Tomorrow’s World…do you know of anything in the show that would be of interest to our programme?’
“I immediately went up to him and asked ‘Did you find your presenter replacement?’ To which he replied ‘Yes, we did…but it’s a bit embarrassing – he turned us down!’
“I said ‘Right…I will try again tomorrow.’
“I immediately sent a tape of a few of the stories I had covered and they showed some interest…but warned that I should be aware that they were first going to look back through all the recent audition tapes to see if they had missed some potential talent.
“I duly did the audition and it went very well – particularly since I messed up my presentation, but recovered well…a useful talent to have on a live show renowned for things going wrong!”
Personal information
Clips of Peter on The TV Room
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Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Peter Macann (2019). COPYRIGHT: BBC.
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