Peter Woods was born on 7 November 1930 in Romford, Essex, England, UK. He was a British journalist, reporter and newsreader. He was one of the BBC's best known broadcasters of his day. He was the biological father of BBC broadcaster Justin Webb. Woods was readily seen as an archetypal British newsreader, and was used as such in comedy sketches and films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These included Monty Python, There's a Lot of It About, The New Statesman, and Jonnie Turpie's 1987 film Out of Order. He also appeared (again as a newsreader) in an advertising campaign for KP Cheese Dips in the mid-1980s. Along with all the other BBC newsreaders of the time, Woods participated in the 1977 Christmas edition of the Morecambe and Wise Show. They delivered a rendition of the song "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" (from the musical South Pacific) with Woods getting the deep-voiced last line and using his trademark seriousness to comic effect.

From the mid-1980s up until his death, Woods narrated the "Railscene" videos, a series of videos about Britain's railways. He also narrated a set of five Castle Vision productions about the steam trains of "The Big Four" British railway companies and British Railways.He was married to Kathleen Marian Smith and Emma Jean Steer. He died on 22 March 1995 in Yeovil, Somerset, England, UK.