70 UP STAR PETER DAVIES FINDING COMFORT IN CREATIVITY AFTER SERIES FINALE!
Liverpool’s first reality star, Peter Davies, has opened up about finding comfort in creativity following the emotional finale of the documentary series that followed his life since 1964. As the extraordinary Up documentary series reaches its conclusion with 70 Up, Peter speaks out about finally stepping away from one of television’s greatest social experiments — and finding fulfilment through writing, music and theatre.
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Long before reality television became a global phenomenon, there was Seven Up! The groundbreaking documentary first aired in 1964, introducing viewers to a group of seven-year-old British children from different social backgrounds. Every seven years, cameras returned to discover where life had taken them. Among those original children was Liverpool’s Peter Davies.
More than six decades later, the story has finally reached its conclusion with 70 Up. The final instalment aired on ITV in September 2026, bringing to an end an extraordinary television project that evolved from an examination of Britain’s class system into something much bigger: a study of what it means to live a human life. For Peter, however, this wasn’t simply television. This was his life.
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And behind the remarkable television story is another, perhaps less familiar one — about a man who has increasingly found purpose through creativity. Peter’s relationship with Up has been complicated. Having cameras periodically return to examine your relationships, career, successes, disappointments and personal life is an experience very few people can understand.
“My involvement in the series goes back to the age of 6 – it’s been part of my whole life, so it’s difficult to imagine it not being there,” Peter said. “When I was younger, especially a young adult, the downside of it was the degree of intrusion into my life. I’m not an extrovert, so that was difficult to deal with at times.”
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That relationship became particularly difficult after Peter criticised Margaret Thatcher’s government and subsequently found himself facing fierce criticism from sections of the tabloid press. “I was quite shocked at how vitriolic these papers could be, and I decided that I didn’t want that again, and withdrew from the series for a few years.”
Eventually, Peter returned — but this time on his own terms. Instead of simply being someone whose life was being documented, Peter could use the extraordinary platform to showcase the things he was creating. “When I returned, it was on condition that ITV focus on my creative projects, and that was when …Up began to have a better impact on my life.”
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The conclusion of 70 Up has understandably left Peter with conflicting emotions. “Mixed feelings,” he said. “I won’t miss that intrusion, or the worry about how I’m going to come across to so many viewers, but of course I do recognise the significance of the series – it’s often been called the greatest documentary series of all time – and the private screening of it was for all of us quite an emotional occasion.”
The final programme proved emotional for viewers too, with the conclusion prompting widespread reflection on a series that allowed audiences to watch real people grow, change, love, lose and age across more than six decades. For Peter, the ending is still sinking in. “The last half hour of the final episode was very moving, and I’m still processing how I feel about that,” he said. “I will also miss members of the film crew, who have become friends over the years.”
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But while one enormous chapter has closed, Peter’s creative story is very much continuing. For much of his adult life, creativity had to coexist with the realities of earning a living. Peter has written, recorded and performed music throughout adulthood, while also pursuing a professional career that included teaching and working as a Crown Prosecutor. Like countless musicians, however, he discovered that passion doesn’t necessarily pay the mortgage.
“As many people who’ve done the same will agree, unless you’re one of a tiny handful, it’s almost impossible to make enough money from that to pay your bills and bring up kids,” he explained. “So I always had ‘day jobs’, which meant less time for the music.”
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Peter doesn’t speak bitterly about those years. Far from it. “I don’t resent that, it’s just how it is, and the jobs I did were OK, and I made some great friends. But reaching a stage of life where those day jobs could finally disappear created something precious: Time. The reality now is that I’ve been able to give up the day jobs and focus on various projects. Basically, I’ve been able to do more!”
And he certainly has. Alongside continuing to make music, Peter has written his debut novel and co-written a stage musical. Interestingly, he doesn’t claim creativity provides some magical route to permanent happiness. Instead, he makes a more meaningful distinction. “That hasn’t necessarily made me happier all the time, but it has made me feel more fulfilled, which in turn has a positive impact on my mental health,” he says.
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Perhaps the most fascinating connection between Peter’s creative work and his extraordinary television experience can be found in his debut novel, Valediction Records. His recent debut novel, the book centres on former members of a late-70s band whose lives remain haunted decades later by the collapse of the group. Former bandmates Stephen, Philip and Martin carry guilt, resentment, addiction and illness into later life, until events force them to confront the unfinished business of their past.
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On the surface, it’s a story about musicians. Underneath, it’s about something universal: Time. And that’s where an unexpected connection with 7 Up emerges. Peter hadn’t deliberately set out to replicate anything about the documentary series when writing his novel. In fact, he hadn’t even recognised the connection himself. “It was never intentionally based on that experience!” he says.
“Only when I was later interviewed by Tania Ruiz of La Vida Liverpool and I was asked that very perceptive question did I realise that 7 Up had without any doubt subconsciously impacted upon my thinking when I was drafting the story,” he explains. Suddenly, the similarities were obvious. Just as viewers of Up encounter the same people at radically different stages of their lives, Valediction Records looks backwards and forwards across decades, examining how the people we once were continue to inhabit the people we eventually become.
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It’s a remarkable case of life quietly finding its way into art. “7 Up started as an examination of social class in Britain but became much more,” Peter explained. “It became a story of what it means to lead a human life. I think that all novelists aspire to write about that. I have heard other writers talking about how their novel/poem/song/play in some mysterious way takes on a life of its own, and goes off in an unexpected direction. I love that idea.”
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Valediction Records has attracted enthusiastic responses since publication, with reviewers praising both its music-filled world and emotional themes. Screenwriter Ray Connolly described it as having a “filmic quality”, while playwright and journalist Zoe Lewis called it a “heart-warming tale of rock and roll, love and hope”. But for Peter, perhaps the greatest reward is simply discovering that his story means something to readers.
“I have had a lot of nice reviews and positive feedback – that vindication is what every writer seeks, the money is a secondary concern. The story of a post-punk band operating in the late seventies/early eighties has understandably struck a chord — apologies for the unintended pun! — with readers who remember that period and with anyone who has ever played in a band. The broader issues within that story — time passing, regret, love, redemption — are the ones we all face,” Peter said. “I would hope that anyone could read Valediction Records and recognise something of themselves in there.”
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Long before Peter became a published novelist, there was music. His musical journey can be traced back to late-1970s London and the explosion of punk. After playing in several bands, Peter began looking for his own musical identity. His admiration for Elvis Costello led him towards Gram Parsons and, gradually, into Americana and alternative country.
That journey eventually produced The Good Intentions, centred around Peter and his wife Gabrielle Monk. The Liverpool Americana outfit has toured in Britain and America, appeared on Bob Harris’s BBC Radio 2 country programme and won Best Americana Band at the British Country Music Awards in 2011. The Good Intentions have now been together for around 20 years, with various musicians joining Peter and Gabi for recordings and live performances.
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Peter’s creativity has also found another outlet — theatre. Together with fellow Merseyside songwriter Jimmy Rae, Peter co-wrote Under The Mersey Moon, a country music stage production telling the story of struggling songwriter Danny Rogers and a journey that takes him from Liverpool towards Nashville — only for him to discover something rather different from the success he originally sought.
It’s another project in which music becomes the vehicle for a bigger story about life, dreams, family and finding your place in the world. Following sell-out productions at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion, the show is heading to Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre from 11th–13th November 2026, featuring 13 original songs performed by a live five-piece band and local cast.
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There is something wonderfully circular about Peter Davies’ story. At seven years old, somebody else pointed a camera at him and began telling his story. More than 60 years later, Peter is telling stories himself. Through songs. Through theatre. And now through fiction.
Perhaps Valediction Records and 7 Up were always destined to have something in common. Both begin with individual lives but ultimately ask much bigger questions. What happens to our dreams? How much of the person we once were survives inside us? What do we regret? Who do we love? And what do we do with the time we have left? For Peter, the answer increasingly seems to be: create something.
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The cameras that have periodically returned throughout almost his entire life have finally stopped rolling. The landmark television experiment has reached its conclusion. But at 70, Liverpool’s original reality television star isn’t looking backwards. There are songs waiting to be recorded, stories waiting to be written and stages waiting to be filled. After a lifetime spent having his life documented, Peter Davies is now firmly in control of the next chapter.
Peter Davies / 70 UP
