1968 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1968.
Lost in space debut was 19 August 1968 on Thames TV

Events

January

*1 January – The colour television licence is introduced when a £5 "colour supplement" is added to the £5 monochrome licence fee, therefore making the cost of a colour licence £10.
*5 January – ''Gardeners' World'' is broadcast for the first time. The programme will pass its 50th series.
*13 January – Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet bear, moves from the BBC to ITV following its cancellation the previous year by the controller of BBC 1, Paul Fox.

February

*4 February – Cult series ''The Prisoner'' finishes its first run on British television.
*5 February – BBC2's '' Newsroom'' becomes the first news programme in the UK to be broadcast in colour.
*12 February – Children's stop-motion animation ''The Herbs'' debuts on BBC1.

March

*4 March – TWW closes. The station has lost its franchise in the previous ITV licensing awards and decided to close 10 weeks early, selling its remaining airtime to HTV for £500,000, however Harlech is not ready to commence transmissions and to fill the gap an interim service, staffed by former TWW staff, is provided until Harlech's launch on 20 May.
*11 March – The popular Yugoslavian and West German produced children's series ''The White Horses'' is shown on BBC1.

April

*1 April – ''Reporting Scotland'' launches on BBC1 Scotland, replacing ''A Quick Look Round''.
*6 April – The 13th Eurovision Song Contest is held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Spain wins the contest with the song "La, la, la", performed in Spanish by Massiel after Spanish authorities refuse to allow Joan Manuel Serrat to perform it in Catalan. This year marks the first time the event is broadcast in colour, with several European countries transmitting it in colour. Because BBC1 does not yet broadcast in colour, BBC2 airs an encore edition of the show in colour the following day.
*15 April – BBC1 screen the UK television premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1960 horror movie '' Psycho'', starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.
*20 April – Conservative MP Enoch Powell makes his infamous Rivers of Blood speech about immigration and anti- discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom. The speech is made at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre at 2:30pm. The Birmingham-based television company ATV has seen an advance copy of the speech this morning and its news editor has ordered a television crew to go to the venue where they film sections of the speech. The speech provokes great outcry among the British public, making Powell simultaneously one of the most popular and loathed politicians in the country and leading to his rapid dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet by Conservative party leader Edward Heath.

May

*4 May – Mary Hopkin performs on the British TV show '' Opportunity Knocks''. Hopkin catches the attention of model Twiggy who recommends her to Beatle Paul McCartney who soon signs Hopkin to Apple Records.
*7 May - BBC1 airs the M. R. James ghost story ''Whistle and I'll Come to You'', starring Michael Hordern.
*20 May – Harlech (which becomes HTV in 1970) starts its dual service for Wales and the West of England, replacing the interim ITSWW which has itself replaced TWW in March.

June

*14 June – BBC1 launch the children's show ''The Basil Brush Show'', featuring mischievous puppet fox Basil.

July

*9 July – American time-travel series ''The Time Tunnel'' debuts on BBC1.
*28 July – Final day on air for ABC which has broadcast to the North and Midlands regions during weekends. The 1968 contract round sees the end of weekend franchises in these regions. It is also the last day on air for ATV London which loses its weekend franchise to the newly formed London Weekend Television.
*29 July – Granada and ATV broadcast seven days a week to the North-West and Midlands respectively. The North is split into two regions with Granada broadcasting to the North-West and Yorkshire Television broadcasting to the Yorkshire region. It is also the last day on air for Rediffusion, London in the London area.
*30 July
**Thames Television goes on air, having taken over the London weekday franchise from Rediffusion, London. Thames is a new joint venture between the respective parent companies of ABC (ABPC, known for the ABC cinema chain) and Rediffusion (British Electric Traction), the ABPC having been awarded the controlling 51% stake in the new London weekday broadcaster but with profits shared equally. Thames's evening news program ''Today'', presented by Eamonn Andrews, features Jamaican Barbara Blake Hannah as the first black news presenter on British television.
**Children's magazine programme '' Magpie'' premieres on ITV.
*31 July – Popular sitcom ''Dad's Army'', set in the World War II Home Guard begins its nine-year run on BBC1 with the episode "The Man and the Hour".

August

*2 August – London Weekend Television takes over the London weekend franchise from ATV. Going on air initially as London Weekend Television, it later adopts the name London Weekend before reverting to its original name (often abbreviated to LWT) in 1978.
*3 August – ITV technicians' strike immediately after the 1968 franchise changes.Bowden-Smith, Kif
Strike Service
' Vision On, 1 January 2002, accessed 7 May 2009
Archived
2009-05-09. causing a national stoppage. The individual companies are off the air for several weeks and an emergency service is established. The ITV Emergency National Service is presented by management personnel with no regional variations, the first time that a uniform presentation practice has been adopted across all regions. The strike ends on 18 August.
*21 August – The BBC's scheduled transmission of the fourth ''Dad's Army'' episode is postponed for coverage of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

September

*2 September – Morecambe and Wise return to the BBC in '' The Morecambe & Wise Show''. Debuting on BBC2, the double act prove so popular (gaining prime-time audiences in excess of 20 million viewers) the show eventually moves to BBC1 in September 1971.
*9 September – Translated French children's puppet series ''Hector's House'' debuts on BBC1.
*14 September – The final editions of ''Look Westward'' (Westward Television), ''The Viewer'' (Tyne Tees Television), ''TV Post'' (Ulster Television), ''Television Weekly'' (Harlech Television) and ''TV World'' (ATV Midlands) are broadcast.
*21 September – ''TVTimes'' becomes a national publication, as previously some ITV companies have produced their own listings magazines.
*29 September – ''Joe 90'', the science-fiction Supermarionation series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson debuts on ITV.

October

*12–27 October – The BBC and ITV provide coverage of the 1968 Olympic Games. The BBC's coverage is extensive, with live coverage into the night and a daily breakfast programme ''Good Morning Mexico''. This is also the first time the Games are broadcast in colour, albeit only on BBC2 which simulcasts the majority of BBC1's coverage. This is also the first time that ITV shows the Olympic Games.

November

* 2 November – BBC1 debuts '' Zokko!'', the first British Saturday morning live children's magazine programme.

December

*7 December – American science fiction series ''Land of the Giants'' makes its debut on ITV.

Debuts

BBC1

* 3 January – '' Zokko!'' (1968–1970)
* 6 January – '' The Portrait of a Lady'' (1968)
* 22 January – ''Hugh and I Spy'' (1968)
* 30 January – '' Cilla'' (1968–1976)
* 11 February – ''Nicholas Nickleby'' (1968)
* 12 February – ''The Herbs'' (1968)
* 11 March – ''The White Horses'' (1966-1967)
* 1 April – ''Reporting Scotland'' (1968–present)
* 7 April – '' The First Lady'' (1968–1969)
* 7 May - ''Whistle and I'll Come to You'' (1968)
* 10 May – '' Thicker Than Water'' (1968–1969)
* 12 May – ''The Railway Children'' (1968)
* 21 May – ''Lulu's Back in Town'' (1968)
* 24 May – ''Wild, Wild Women'' (1968–1969)
* 14 June
**''The Basil Brush Show'' (1968–1980, 2002–2007)
**''Me Mammy'' (1968–1971)
* 23 June – '' The Dave Allen Show'' (1968)
* 30 June – ''Triton'' (1968)
* 9 July – ''The Time Tunnel'' (1966–1967)
* 15 July – '' Ukridge'' (1968)
* 28 July – '' The Man in the Iron Mask'' (1968)
* 31 July – ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977)
* 30 August – ''The Old Campaigner'' (1968–1969)
* 9 September – ''Hector's House'' (1968–1975)
* 12 September – ''Sportsnight'' (1968–1997)
* 13 September – ''Oh Brother!'' (1968–1970)
* 15 September – ''Song of Summer'' (1968)
* 29 September – '' The £1,000,000 Bank Note'' (1968)
* 3 November – ''Treasure Island'' (1968)
* 18 November –
Tom's Midnight Garden
' (1968)
* 25 December – '' The Harry Secombe Show'' (1968–1973)
* 30 December – ''Adventure Weekly'' (1968–1969)

BBC2

*5 January – ''Gardeners' World'' (1968–present)
*15 January – ''Look and Read: Len and the River Mob'' (1968)
*22 January – ''The World of Beachcomber'' (1968–1969)
*2 March – ''Point Counter Point'' (1968)
*19 April – ''Late Night Horror'' (1968)
*29 April – '' Marty'' (1968–1969)
*14 June – ''Colour Me Pop'' (1968–1969)
*22 June – ''Cold Comfort Farm'' (1968)
*5 July – '' The Expert'' (1968–1976)
*13 July – ''Middlemarch'' (1968)
*29 July – ''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' (1968) (first shown in ''Theatre 625'' series)
*31 August – ''Nana'' (1968)
*2 September – '' The Morecambe & Wise Show'' (1968–1977)
*8 September – ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1973)
*10 September – '' The Jazz Age'' (1968) (Anthology series)
*11 September – ''A Touch of Venus'' (1968) (Anthology shorts)
*27 September – ''Scene'' (1968–2002) (Anthology series)
*10 October – '' Jazz at the Maltings'' (1968–1969)
*28 October – '' Broaden Your Mind'' (1968–1969)
*16 November – ''Resurrection'' (1968)
*28 December – ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' (1968–1969)
*31 December – ''The Borderers'' (1968–1970)

ITV

*4 January – '' A Man of our Times'' (1968)
*5 February – ''Rogues' Gallery'' (1968–1969)
*28 February – '' The Flight of the Heron'' (1968)
*28 March – '' Virgin of the Secret Service'' (1968)
*3 April – ''The Ronnie Barker Playhouse'' (1968)
*4 April – ''Freewheelers'' (1968–1973)
*19 April – ''Spindoe'' (1968)
*17 June – ''Devil-in-the-Fog'' (1968)
*12 July – '' The War of Darkie Pilbeam'' (1968)
*30 July – '' Magpie'' (1968–1980)
*31 July – '' Frontier'' (1968)
*1 August – ''The Queen Street Gang'' (1968)
*2 August – ''Gazette'' (1968)
*6 August – '' Best of Enemies'' (1968)
*10 August – '' Never a Cross Word'' (1968–1970)
*15 August – ''Nearest and Dearest'' (1968–1973)
*19 August - Lost in Space
*21 August – ''Tom Grattan's War'' (1968–1970)
*25 August – ''The Big Match'' (1968–1992)
*22 September – '' The Caesars'' (1968)
*24 September –
**'' How We Used To Live'' (1968–2002)
**'' Inside George Webley'' (1968–1970)
*25 September
** ''The Champions'' (1968–1969)
** '' Her Majesty's Pleasure '' (1968–1969)
*29 September – ''Joe 90'' (1968–1969)
*1 October – ''The Root of All Evil?'' (1968–1969)
*28 October – ''Houseparty'' (1968–1981; 1993–1995)
*November - ''Sugarball The Jungle Boy'' (1968-1969)
*5 November – ''Father, Dear Father'' (1968–1973)
*8 November – ''Please Sir!'' (1968–1972)
*16 November – ''Journey to the Unknown

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