Michael hid behind a newspaper in the reception area of a central London voice-over studio, until his given signal to surprise the Scottish actor - best known for his role as DCI Burke in ITV's police series, Taggart.
Among those paying tribute to Alex - the final actor to be honoured by This Is Your Life are presenter Jeremy Beadle and comedian Billy Connolly.

Michael recruited the help of record producer and fellow Pop Idol judge, Pete Waterman, to surprise Simon at the offices of record label, PWL.
Among those paying tribute are pop group Westlife, film director Michael Winner and actor David Hasselhoff. This was the last ever This Is Your Lifeshow that Michael Aspel recorded.