Tribute to Peter Vaughan Clarke, 1957 - 2023

I was 10, living in my home city in Mexico City in 1974, when they started showing the Tomorrow People on Mexican television. It was by far my favourite show and like kids in England, I would rush home to see it; my cousins and I would also play that we were Tomorrow People.

Stephen (played by PVC) was by far my favourite character and he became my first crush. I was devastated when he was taken out of the show...

Fast forward to 1990. I went to study in London and I would pass by Thames television every day. I longed to meet PVC.. But it wouldn't be until a decade later, around 2002, when I was back in Mexico, when through the TPDIS group, we had our first IRC (Internet Relay Chat) with PVC. I then discovered that I had lived only a few blocks away from him when I lived in London! A year or so later, in 2003, I finally met him in person when I travelled to the UK for the TP 30th Anniversary Dinner. My first meeting with him is one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Over the next few years I got to meet with PVC many times, particularly when I lived again in London for a few months some 15 years ago. He was always so kind to me, became a good friend and I will always cherish all the times we met. We shared our love for astronomy and the space programme. I will always be so grateful to him for everything he did for me.

Rest in peace, dear Peter. With much love and gratitude.

Ana xox

If memory serves after fifty plus years he was the first actor I cast for The Tomorrow People. In truth he was the first actor I cast in anything. I was very new and did not feel comfortable with the traditional audition set up, sitting behind a desk while hopefuls are paraded in front of you. It seems to demeaning, like saying "I am important and you are not." 

Peter was playing Peter Pan at a theatre in Manchester, England, just up the road from Granada Television where I was working as a Director and his agent suggested I should see him. We had lunch, Peter, me, and David Bowie with whom I was doing something at the time.  

He was such a nice kid it was impossible not to like him. I don't remember ever having any problems with him and like everyone involved with The Tomorrow People I grew very fond of him. It was impossible not to. One bad memory. When Peter turned fifteen he got himself a moped. Management at Thames worried that he might have an accident. So it was up to me to tell him he was not allowed to ride it. I felt awful about it. Poor kid. He was so happy to be independently mobile. Then he grew and they started to say he needed to be replaced with a younger kid. I felt that rather than drop him I would prefer to cancel The Tomorrow People. One reason that didn't happen is that Peter came to know of the anguish I was in, and his concern was not for himself but for the show and I think for me. He came to me and said that it would be wrong to cancel The Tomorrow People. He was too old for the role. He was leaving and I should not feel bad about it. What a great kid. Yes I did feel a bit like a father to him. 

Roger Price