This page indexes the individual year in

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

1920s

* 1926 in British television –

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird FRSE (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly dem ...

demonstrates the world's first television system. * 1927 in British television – The BBC begins broadcasting as the British Broadcasting Corporation under the

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

. * 1928 in British television – John Logie Baird's Television Development Company demonstrates their model A, B, and C 'televisors' to the general public. * 1929 in British television –

begins broadcasting 30-minute-long programmes for his mechanically scanned televisions.

1930s

* 1930 in British television – John Logie Baird installs a television receiver at the British Prime Minister's residence in London. * 1931 in British television – No events for this year. * 1932 in British television –

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

begins broadcasting a regular channel, which later becomes

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. * 1933 in British television – The first television revue, Looking In, is shown on the BBC * 1934 in British television – The agreement for joint experimental transmissions by the BBC and John Logie Baird's company comes to an end. * 1935 in British television – Baird stops broadcasting in September. *

1936 in British television This is a list of events related to British television in 1936. Events *2 November – The first regular high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) BBC Television Service, based at Alexandra Palace in London, officially begins broadca ...

– Electronically scanned television begins from

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

. *

1937 in British television This is a list of events related to British television in 1937. Events January *19 January – BBC Television broadcasts ''The Underground Murder Mystery'' by J. Bissell Thomas from its London station, the first play written for television. Fe ...

– First outside broadcast at the Coronation of

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

. * 1938 in British television – First news bulletin carried by BBC television, in sound only. Previously, the service had aired British Movietone News cinema newsreels. * 1939 in British television – Television broadcasts are suspended during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

for fear that the signals would help German bombers.

1940s

* 1940 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II. * 1941 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II. * 1942 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II. * 1943 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II. * 1944 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II. * 1945 in British television – No television is broadcast during World War II.

ends on 2 September. *

1946 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1946. British television broadcasts resumed this year. They had been suspended during World War II, for fear that the signals would help German bombers. Events January – May *No events. ...

– The BBC resumes broadcasting for the first time since the end of

. * 1947 in British television – The

BBC Television Service BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

broadcasts are temporarily suspended since

due to a national fuel crisis. *

1948 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1948. Events January *5 January – ''Television Newsreel'' is first shown on the BBC Television Service. February–June *No events. July *29 July – The BBC Television Service begins ...

– The

resumes broadcasting again and begins its coverage of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. * 1949 in British television – The

Sutton Coldfield television transmitter The Sutton Coldfield transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. In terms of population covered, it is the third most important transmitter in the UK, after Crystal ...

is opened in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

, making it the first part of the UK outside

to receive

and long-running dancing show ''

Come Dancing ''Come Dancing'' is a British ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off on the BBC from 1949 to 1998. Unlike its follow-up show, ''Strictly Come Dancing'', contestants were not celebrities. The show was created by Eric Morley, the ...

'' launches.

1950s

* 1950 in British television – First televised report of general election results in the UK. * 1951 in British television – The Holme Moss transmitter is opened in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...

, making

available to the region for the first time. * 1952 in British television – The funeral of King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

is televised in the UK. *

1953 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1953. Events January *No events. February *No events. March *17 March – Patrick Troughton becomes television's first Robin Hood, playing the eponymous folk hero in the first of six half ...

– The

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

sees a vast increase in television set sales. *

1954 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1954. Events January *11 January – The first weather forecast with an in-vision presenter is televised in the United Kingdom, its first presenter is George Cowling. February *No events. ...

– ''

The Grove Family ''The Grove Family'' was a British television series soap opera, generally regarded as the first of its kind broadcast in the UK, made and broadcast by the BBC Television Service from 1954 to 1957. The series concerned the life of the family of ...

'', regarded as Britain's first soap, begins airing. * 1955 in British television – ITV launches, resulting in the destruction of the BBC's 23-year-long

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

on British television. * 1956 in British television – ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starr ...

'', regarded as the first modern

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

which began on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

, is transferred to BBC television. ITV's

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

and ATV regions go on air during weekdays. The weekend franchise in both areas is operated by

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

. *

1957 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1957. Events January *No events. February *16 February – The "Toddlers' Truce" (an arrangement whereby there were no television broadcasts between 6pm and 7pm, to allow parents to put th ...

– ''

The Sky at Night ''The Sky at Night'' is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter dat ...

'', the longest-running television programme hosted by the same presenter,

Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore was president of the Bri ...

, begins on the BBC. ITV's Scottish region goes on air. * 1958 in British television – ITV's TWW and

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

regions go on air and ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

'', the world's longest-running children's programme, is first broadcast by the BBC along with long-running various sport show ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap al ...

''. * 1959 in British television – The first Vienna New Year's Concert to be broadcast on television is aired by the BBC. ITV's Anglia, Tyne Tees and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

regions go on air.

1960s

1960 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1960. Events January *1 January – Sir Hugh Greene becomes Director-General of the BBC. *31 January – Southern Television's broadcast area expands when it begins broadcasting to Kent and ...

– The Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting is established to look at the future of broadcasting and paves the way for the establishment of soon to launch channel

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...

'', Britain's longest-running television soap, debuts on ITV. Nan Winton becomes the first national female newsreader on BBC television. *

1961 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1961. Events January *1 January – ''Dechrau Canu, Dechrau Canmol'', featuring congregational Christian singing in the Welsh language, debuts on BBC Television. The series will still be ...

– ITV's Westward,

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

and

Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region t ...

regions are established. '' The Avengers'' and '' Points of View'' debut on British television. *

1962 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1962. Events January *2 January – ''Z-Cars'' premieres on BBC TV, noted as a realistic portrayal of the police. Unusually for its time, the series is set in Northern England, most BBC dram ...

– ITV finally arrives in North West Wales and the Channel Islands with the launch of Wales West and North Television and

Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programme for insertion into the ...

and the satirical show ''

That Was The Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

'' begins with only two series. *

1963 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1963. Events January *7 January – Granada Television first broadcasts ''World in Action'', its influential investigative current affairs series which will run for 35 years. *13 January – ...

– The science fiction series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' is aired for the first time and the satirical show ''

'' comes to an end after series 2. * 1964 in British television –

goes on the air and long-running football and music shows ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' and ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...

'' are both launched and ''

Stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ...

'' begins on ITV. *

1965 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1965. Events January *January – The BBC collaborates with Ireland's RTÉ on a television broadcast as Irish Taoiseach Seán Lemass and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neil ...

–

Cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

advertising is banned on British television and ITV's Saturday afternoon '' World of Sport'' programme and popular Supermarionation, '' Thunderbirds'' both begin airing. *

1966 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1966. Events January *1 January – The first edition of ''Rugby Special'' is broadcast on BBC2, showing weekly highlights of rugby union matches. *3 January – Stop-motion children's tel ...

– ''

Cathy Come Home ''Cathy Come Home'' is a 1966 BBC television play about homelessness. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. A 1998 ''Radio Times'' readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" an ...

'', possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television, is presented in

's ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

'' anthology strand. * 1967 in British television –

begins colour broadcasting at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

and

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television. Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and Engl ...

's cult television series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'' debuts on ITV, along with ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ...

'' and '' News at Ten'' is also launched on ITV. *

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 mono ...

– Following franchise changes technical staff at ITV stage a strike, leading to ITV management establishing an emergency national service for the duration of the industrial action and popular BBC sitcom ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran fo ...

'' begins along with ''

Joe 90 ''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, AP Films#Century 21, Century 21, for ITC Enterta ...

''. *

1969 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1969. Events January *3 January – ITV Granada exclusively begins showing the American cartoon series '' Spider-Man'' long before any other ITV regions. *4 January – Guitarist Jimi Hend ...

– Regular

colour television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

broadcasting begins on

and ITV, and the world watches footage of the

1969 Moon landing Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and ...

. Popular ground-breaking sketch comedy ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became ...

'' debuts on BBC One.

1970s

1970 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1970. Events January *1 January–5 February – BBC2 airs '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'', a series of six teleplays, each of which focusses on the life of one of King Henry VIII of Engla ...

– The ''

BBC Nine O'Clock News The ''BBC Nine O'Clock News'' was the flagship BBC News programme. It was launched on 14 September 1970 and ran until 13 October 2000, when it was replaced by the ''BBC Ten O'Clock News''. History The ''Nine O'Clock News'' was the BBC's flags ...

'' goes on air for the first time and staff at ITV begin a three-month colour strike, making colour television programmes black & white like in previous years, after a dispute with their management over pay from 13 November of this year to February and December of the following year. '' The Goodies'' also debuts on

, as well as '' The Adventures of Rupert Bear''. *

1971 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1971. Events January *3 January – BBC Open University broadcasts begin on BBC2. *27 January – Valerie Barlow is electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer and then perishes in a house fire on ...

– End of ITV's colour strike, Launch of the ''

Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'', popular comedy show ''

The Two Ronnies ''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, ser ...

'' and the popular series '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. *

1972 in British television Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condi ...

– First Community Cable Television Experiment awarded to

Greenwich Cablevision Greenwich Cablevision was the first community television station in Britain, broadcasting briefly in the Greenwich area of London during the 1970s. History Greenwich Cablevision was half-owned by Canadian business interests and had Maurice Town ...

. – Debut of

's ''

Newsround ''Newsround'' (stylised as ''newsround'', and originally called ''John Craven's Newsround'' before his departure in 1989) is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972. It was one of the world's first tele ...

'' and ITV's ''

Emmerdale Farm ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'', both of which continue to air to the present day, and ''

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

''. *

1973 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1973. Events January *4 January – The world record-breaking long-running comedy series ''Last of the Summer Wine'' starts as a 30-minute pilot on BBC1's ''Comedy Playhouse'' show. The fi ...

– Debuts of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

's critically acclaimed documentary series ''

The World at War ''The World at War'' is a 26-episode British documentary television series that chronicles the events of the Second World War. It was produced in 1973, at a cost of £900,000 (), the most expensive factual series ever produced. It was produ ...

'', and ''

The Wombles ''The Wombles'' are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recyc ...

'' on

. *

1974 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1974. Events January *3 January – BBC1 show the first episode of the Second World War set comedy series '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' starring Windsor Davies. *5 January **Debut of the chi ...

– The BBC teletext service

Ceefax Ceefax (, punning on "seeing facts") was the world's first teletext information service and a forerunner to the current BBC Red Button service. Ceefax was started by the BBC in 1974 and ended, after 38 years of broadcasting, at 23:32:19 BST ...

first goes on air with 30 pages of information, and the Saturday morning children's entertainment series ''

Tiswas ''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV. It was ...

'' is launched by ATV. *

1975 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1975. Events January *2 January – The police drama series ''The Sweeney'' premieres on ITV, with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. *6 January – Due to financial cutbacks at the BBC, BBC1 ...

– The popular sitcom ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

'' first appears along with '' The Good Life'', ''

Space 1999 ''Space: 1999'' is a British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television programme that ran for two series from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Far side of the Moon, Moon's ...

'' and ''

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children's book ''A Bear Called Paddington'' and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, a ...

'' on British television screens, as well as the police drama ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Insp ...

''. 1975 also sees the first transmission of a

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

film on British television. * 1976 in British television – The ''

Multicoloured Swap Shop ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'', more commonly known simply as ''Swap Shop'', is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1976 to 27 March 1982. It was ground-breaking in many ways: by broadcasting on Saturday mornin ...

'' opens on the BBC, Punk group the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

cause a storm of controversy and outrage in the UK by swearing well before the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

on the regional

news programme ''Today'', hosted by

Bill Grundy William Grundy (18 May 1923 – 9 February 1993) was an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work as anchor of ''Today'', a regional magazine programme on Thames Television in London. In the latter role, Grundy gained ...

but Grundy, who has goaded them into doing so, is temporarily sacked making the news programme ''Today'' come to an end. * 1977 in British television – Colour television licenses exceed black & white licenses and repeated black & white programmes for the first time in the UK since ITV's colour strike and ''

Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

'', an

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peopl ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

dramatizing the

birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

, life, ministry,

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

based on the accounts in the four

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s debuts on British television. The series stars

Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...

as Jesus. *

1978 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1978. Events January *2 January – The first episode of the science fiction series ''Blake's 7'' is broadcast on BBC1. *4 January – The first edition of the arts series '' The South Ba ...

–

Anna Ford Anna Ford (born 2 October 1943) is an English former journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She first worked as a researcher, news reporter and later newsreader for Granada Television, ITN, and the BBC. Ford helped launch the British ...

becomes the first female news reader on ITN and the first of ITV's '' An Audience with'' is aired, presented by

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), best known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, actor and television presenter. Early life Born in Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green, in Birmingham, Carrott was educated at Acocks Gr ...

. * 1979 in British television – Technicians at

go on strike – the dispute quickly spreads to other regions in the ITV network and ITV is off air for eleven weeks from 10 August to 24 October,

begins

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informa ...

for some programmes,

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

presents the first edition of ''

Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...

'' and

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

presents the first edition of ''

Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 un ...

''.

1980s

1980 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1980. Events January *1 January – The sitcom, ''Hi-de-Hi!'', set in a holiday camp in 1959/60 makes its debut on BBC1. *6 January – Debut of the game show ''Family Fortunes'' on ITV, pr ...

– Launch of ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

'', the first televising of ''

Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...

'', ''

Family Fortunes ''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show ''Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, '' All Star Family Fortunes'', followed from 2006 to ...

'' and ''

Play Your Cards Right ''Play Your Cards Right'' (or ''Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right'') is a British television game show based on, and played similarly to, the American show ''Card Sharks''. History ''Play Your Cards Right'' broadcast on ITV from 1 Februar ...

'' both debut on ITV and the first ''BBC Children in Need'' telethon. *

1981 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1981. Events January *1 January – The Channel Four Television Corporation, Channel Four Television Company is established in preparation for the launch of Channel 4. *5 January **Debut of ...

– Viewers watch the

Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer The wedding of the Prince of Wales (future King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride wa ...

, ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...

'' and ''

Postman Pat ''Postman Pat'' is a British stop-motion animated television series first produced by Woodland Animations. The series follows the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman who works for Royal Mail postal service in the fictional village of Greendal ...

'' both debut on

. '' Danger Mouse'' debuts on ITV. ATV,

, and Westward go off air after losing their broadcasting franchises – they are replaced on 1 January 1982 by

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

, TVS and TSW respectively. *

1982 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1982. Events January *1 January **Associated Television (ATV) was restructured into Central Independent Television but still broadcasting in the Midlands. Television South (TVS) starts broa ...

–

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, Britain's fourth terrestrial channel, goes on air, along with the first airing of its first and long running teatime game show ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'' and first animated Christmas special ''

The Snowman ''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book '' The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It w ...

'';

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

, a Welsh-language version is also launched. "The Satellite Channel", the channel which later became

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

, also goes on air. *

1983 in British television This is a list of British television-related events from 1983. Events January *1 January – Channel 4 airs ''One in Five'', a late-night profile of homosexual lifestyles. This programme and ''The Eleventh Hour: Veronica 4 Rose'', featuring two s ...

–

and ITV launch their respective

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a ...

services. Children's ITV is also launched. 1983 also sees

Bob Holness Robert Wentworth John Holness (12 November 1928 – 6 January 2012) was a British-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor. He presented the British version of '' Blockbusters''. Early life Holness was born in Vryheid, ...

presenting the first edition of '' Blockbusters'' on ITV. * 1984 in British television –

goes off the air for one day when technical staff walk out on strike,

airs the first edition of ''

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...

'' and '' Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' debuts on ITV 12 years before moving to satellite channels

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

and

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

1985 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1985. Events January *1 January **BBC1's New Year's Eve special ''Live Into 85'', broadcast from Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, ends broadcasting early after a series of disasters. **New Yea ...

– ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' debuts along with ''

Howards' Way ''Howards' Way'' is a television drama series produced by BBC Birmingham and transmitted on BBC1 between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business comm ...

'', ''

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

'' and '' Telly Addicts'' on

, The 17-hour

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

concert takes place in both London and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, The last

405-line The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture. It wa ...

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

s are switched off in the UK and

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chi ...

is also launched. *

1986 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1986. Events January *1 January **New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include a Paul Young concert simulcast with BBC Radio 1 **The network television premieres of the 1981 fantasy film '' Cl ...

–

begins a full daytime schedule service for the first time with Australian soap ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' making its UK debut as part of the schedule, while

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

becomes the first ITV region to begin broadcasting 24 hours a day. 1986 also sees ''

'' make its British television debut along with ''

Pingu ''Pingu'' is a stop-motion children's television series co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann. It was originally produced from 1990 to 2000 by Swiss company The Pygos Group (originally called Trickfilmstudio) for SF DRS in Switzerl ...

'', '' Casualty'' and ''

Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

''. *

1987 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1987. Events January *1 January – New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include the network television premiere of '' Local Hero'' and the classic film ''To Have and Have Not''. *2 January ** ...

– '' ThunderCats'', ''

Going for Gold ''Going for Gold'' is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996. It was revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009. Background 1987–96 ''Going for Gold'' was origin ...

'' and ''

Fireman Sam ''Fireman Sam'' ( Welsh: ') is a Welsh animated children's television series about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd ...

'' all debut on

; The

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...

strike begins after members of the technician's union the ACTT walk out in a dispute over the station's ‘Caring Christmas Campaign.’ What is meant to be a 24-hour stoppage continues for several months when staff are locked out by Managing Director

Bruce Gyngell Bruce Gyngell AO (8 July 1929 – 7 September 2000) was an Australian television executive, active for more than 40 years in both Australian and UK television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena o ...

. TV-am is unable to broadcast '' Good Morning Britain''. It is replaced with a skeleton service that sees non-technical staff operating cameras and Gyngell himself directing proceedings, as well as imported shows such as '' Flipper'', ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

'' and ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'' being used to fill up the station's airtime. Viewing figures remain high throughout the disruption, which continues well into 1988, although normal programming gradually resumes. The strikers are eventually sacked and replaced with non union staff. ITV stations later follow Gyngell's example. The

ITV Schools ITV Schools (full name: Independent Television for Schools and Colleges) was the educational television service set up in 1957 by the Independent Television Authority, broadcasting learning programmes for children ages 5 to 18 across ITV-affil ...

service move to

to allow ITV to develop a fully commercial daytime schedule and ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'' and ''

'' end as does the original run of ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

''. Two separate government studies identify spare frequency space on the

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

band, prompting political debate about the viability of a fifth UK terrestrial TV channel. *

1988 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1988. Events January *1 January – **New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include the first network television showing of Roger Donaldson's historical drama, '' The Bounty''. **BBC2 airs a fi ...

– By the end of 1988, all ITV regions are providing a full 24-hour service, which includes through-the-night news summaries and bulletins from ITN. Also in 1988, the BBC and Channel 4 both start broadcasting into the early hours for the first time.

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

airs its first

Red Nose Day Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

fundraiser on

while ITV broadcasts ''

Death on the Rock "Death on the Rock" was a British television documentary, part of Thames Television's current affairs series '' This Week''. It was broadcast in 1988. The programme examined the deaths of three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members in ...

'', a hugely controversial episode of

's '' This Week'' current affairs strand, investigating Operation Flavius, which resulted in the SAS killing three members of the IRA in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

. The British government introduces 6 years of regulations banning the direct broadcast of people representing eleven

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The developm ...

and

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a u ...

groups. '' You Bet!'' appears along with '' This Morning'' and '' 15 to 1''. 1988 also sees the end of the long-running soap ''

Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

'' along with '' Play School'' which is replaced by '' Playbus''. The popularity of ''

'' sees it moved to an early evening slot on BBC One. *

1989 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1989. Events January *1 January **''Neighbours'' stars and pop singers Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with their duet Especially for You. The song ...

–

Sky Television plc The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

is launched while the government introduces a controversial Broadcasting Bill that will pave the way for the deregulation of commercial television. Television cameras are allowed into the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for the first time. Also ''

A Grand Day Out ''A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit'', later marketed as ''A Grand Day Out'', is a 1989 British stop-motion animated short film starring Wallace and Gromit. It was directed, co-written, and animated by Nick Park at the National Film and ...

'' starring

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series ce ...

debuts first on

before moving to the BBC ''and

Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. ...

'' debuts on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

and Australian soap ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a tri ...

'' debuts on ITV.

1990s

* 1990 in British television –

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

(BSB) is launched, but later merges with

after an unsuccessful run.

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...

the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...

, delivers the first budget statement to be televised. The Broadcasting Bill receives Royal Assent, pop music game show ''

Stars in Their Eyes ''Stars in Their Eyes'' is a British television talent series, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format ''Soundmixshow''. It featured a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars. The show premiered on 21 July 1 ...

'' first appears on ITV along with ''

You've Been Framed! ''You've Been Framed!'' is a British television series where viewers can contribute to the programme with their humorous home movies for the entertainment of others. It is produced by ITV Studios and comedian Harry Hill has been providing narrat ...

'' and ''

Mr. Bean ''Mr. Bean'' is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect and starring Atkinson as the title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside Curtis and R ...

'', popular BBC sitcom ''

One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour shows) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late 2000. The first fi ...

'' also appears and ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' debut on Sky. *

1991 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1991. Events January *1 January **The Independent Television Commission (ITC) replaces the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). On the same day, the Broadcasting Act 1990 takes effe ...

– Regular programming is abandoned in order to bring live coverage of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

after Allied Forces launch

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Over the duration of the war there is extended coverage of events in the Persian Gulf. ITV also broadcasts news and discussion programmes about the war throughout the night. Some broadcasting, particularly in the earlier part of the war, comes from CNN. Also this year the ITV franchise auction results are announced and take effect starting midnight

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 1 January 1993. *

1992 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1992. Events January * 1 January ** New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include the network television premiere of Michael Jackson's 1988 film ''Moonwalker''. ** New Year's Day highlights on B ...

– The controversial one-off drama '' Ghostwatch'' is broadcast on

, a 'live' investigation into a haunted North London house.

UK Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

is launched, a joint venture between the BBC and

. The ITC invites bids to run a fifth UK television channel but rejects the sole application amid concerns about its business plan and investor commitment to the project. The hugely popular BBC sitcom ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...

'' makes its debut, as does the popular Channel 4 morning show ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu. The p ...

''. 1992 also sees ''

'', '' Thunderbirds'', ''

'' and ''

'' all move from ITV to the BBC. Live coverage of top flight English football transferred from ITV to

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

meaning that viewers had to pay a subscription fee to watch the newly formed

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. *

1993 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1993. Events January *1 January **Carlton Television takes over the weekday ITV franchise in London at midnight, replacing Thames after 24 years on the air. Meridian takes over the South of ...

–

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

takes over the ITV London Weekday franchise, replacing

after 24 years. Additionally, Meridian Broadcasting takes over the South of England franchise from TVS,

Westcountry Television ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The co ...

takes over the South West England franchise from TSW, and

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

takes over the

franchise from

. 1993 also sees

Teletext Ltd Teletext Ltd was the provider of teletext and digital interactive services for ITV, Channel 4 and Five in the United Kingdom. Origins ''Teletext Ltd'' started providing teletext services for ITV and Channel 4 on 1 January 1993, replacing ...

take over the ITV and

teletext franchises from

ORACLE An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word ...

. *

1994 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1994. Events January *1 January – In the early hours of the morning, BBC2 airs the first ''Hootenanny'' which began late the previous evening. The annual New Year's Eve music show is hoste ...

– The 1988–1994 broadcasting ban is lifted when the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish re ...

declares a ceasefire. Following an earlier attempt to award the broadcasting licence for a fifth UK terrestrial television channel, the ITC readvertises for bids. After an absence of 7 years ''

'' returns along with ''

'',

airs the first National Lottery draw and

celebrates its 30th birthday. 1994 also sees '' Wipeout'' appear along with ''

Pets Win Prizes ''Pets Win Prizes'' is a game show, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation and shown on Saturday nights on BBC 1 in the United Kingdom from 16 July 1994 to 3 August 1996. It was originally hosted by Danny Baker, but Dale Winton became ...

'' and ''

Small Talk Small talk is an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed. In essence, it is polite and standard conversation about unimportant things. The phenomenon o ...

''. *

1995 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1995. Events January *2 January – The network television premiere of ''The Doors'', Oliver Stone's critically acclaimed biopic of Jim Morrison on BBC2, starring Val Kilmer. *3 January ...

– This year sees the launch of several new satellite TV channels, as well as the first

National Television Awards The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are vot ...

, while Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd is awarded the licence to run Channel 5. ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, includin ...

'' also debuts on

. 1995 also sees the beginning of the sport game show ''

They Think It's All Over "They think it's all over" is a quote from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, when England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup. In the final few seco ...

''. *

1996 in British television This is a list of British television-related events from 1996. Events January *1 January – The James Bond film ''Never Say Never Again'' is aired as part of BBC1's New Year's Day schedule, starring Sean Connery. *3 January – Debut of ''Hetty ...

– Launch of

Granada Sky Broadcasting ITV Digital Channels Limited (formerly known as Granada Sky Broadcasting) is a wholly owned subsidiary of British broadcaster ITV plc. It manages all of the company's television channels with the exception of ITV, which is part of the entir ...

and an unsuccessful rebranding of the

ITV Tyne Tees ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...

region. The acclaimed dramas ''

Our Friends in the North ''Our Friends in the North'' is a British television drama serial produced by the BBC. It was originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC2 in early 1996. Written by Peter Flannery, it tells the story of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne ...

'' and ''

This Life This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France People with the surname * Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...

'' are broadcast on BBC2. 1996 also sees the beginning of a new Friday entertainment show towards the new millennium ''

TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series ...

'' on

while Pauline Quirke stars in the psychological crime thriller ''

The Sculptress ''The Sculptress'' (1993) is a crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. She won an Edgar and a Macavity Award for the book. The novel was adapted as a BBC-TV series in 1996, starring Pauline Quirke as Olive Martin. Synopsis Olive Mar ...

''. *

1997 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1997. Events January *1 January – **New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include a TV film adaptation of ''The Mill on the Floss'' and ''Global Sunrise'', an 80-minute film presented by Ju ...

– Launch of Channel 5, Britain's fifth terrestrial channel followed by the first appearance of the ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

'' on

, The

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 throug ...

network and

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic tele ...

are also launched. Programming schedules are abandoned to provide up to date news coverage following the

death of Diana, Princess of Wales In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...

. 1997 also sees the futuristic game show '' Robot Wars'' filmed in the latter half of this year and then appears on

in the early half of the following year. *

1998 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1998. Events January *1 January – The network television premiere of '' Forrest Gump'' on BBC One, starring Tom Hanks. *3 January – The US supernatural series ''Buffy the Vampire Sla ...

– Digital

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...

is launched in the UK, spearheaded by Sky. The UK's first two digital only stations,

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

and

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

are both launched. ITV launches ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'',

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...

is also launched and ''

'' the last of the ongoing 1940s debuts leaves the BBC after nearly 50 years. 1998 also sees '' Don't Try This at Home'' take over from '' You Bet!'' at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused ...

. *

1999 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1999. Events January *1 January **New Year's Day highlights on BBC One include ''Apollo 13''. ** Denise van Outen presents her final edition of ''The Big Breakfast'' although she would r ...

– Popular television presenter

Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, her ...

is assassinated outside her home in West London, The murder remains unsolved to the present day,

Six TV Six TV was the sixth free to air terrestrial television channel in the United Kingdom, broadcast in Oxford and Southampton. It was the final analogue network to have been launched after BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It oper ...

, Britain's sixth and last terrestrial localised channel launches in both

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, ITV axes '' News at Ten'' after a run of 32 years and

broadcasts a marathon 28-hour programme to welcome in the new millennium. 1999 also sees the debut of ''

Tweenies ''Tweenies'' is a British live action Puppet children's television series created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan. The programme is focused on four pre-school aged characters, known as the "Tweenies", playing, singing, dancing, and learning ...

'' on

2000s

* 2000 in British television –

Judith Keppel Judith Cynthia Aline Keppel (born 18 August 1942) is a British quiz show contestant who was the first person to win one million pounds on the British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. She has appeared on the former BBC Two ...

becomes the first contestant to win the £1 million prize on ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

''. The UK versions of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'' and '' Big Brother'' also debut this year. ''

'' celebrates 40 years on air with a live episode and the ITV News Channel launches. Channel 5 outbids ITV for the broadcasting rights to ''

''. *

2001 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 2001. Events January *1 January – The BBC reality show ''Castaway 2000'' comes to an end as its participants leave the island of Taransay. *4 January – The popular classic children's ...

– The world witnesses the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Regular programming is suspended in order to bring up to date coverage of events relating to the attacks. Charles Ingram cheats to win the £1 million prize on ''

''. ITV's '' News at Ten'' returns after being axed two years previously, the

ITV Sport Channel ITV Sport Channel was a short-lived digital sport television channel, that was owned by Carlton Communications and Granada plc. It was launched on 11 August 2001 and closed on 12 May 2002, precipitating ITV Digital's collapse over a month late ...

launches along with E4 and ITV rebrands its English and Welsh services to ITV1. 2001 also sees TV soap ''

'' return after 13 years of absence, ''

'' moves to Channel 5, and ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original ser ...

'' debuts on

. *

2002 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 2002. Events January *1 January **Provisional viewing figures released by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board indicate that on average, BBC One had more viewers than ITV (TV network ...

–

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Idol ...

is voted winner of the first series of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'', ''

Harry Hill's TV Burp ''Harry Hill's TV Burp'' (also known as just ''TV Burp'') is a British television comedy programme broadcast between 2001 and 2012 on ITV. The show was produced by Avalon Television and was written and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. Each ep ...

'' begins on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

with

showing repeats afterwards, along with '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here'' and ''

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), and ...

'',

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

launches to separate from

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7–16 ...

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners ...

is replaced by

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

, the

is defunct, All major television networks cover the Death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, which occurs on 30 March and Channel 5 is rebranded as

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

. 2002 also sees ''

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between " crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigne ...

'', ''

The Story of Tracy Beaker ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Background The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gir ...

'', ''

The Basil Brush Show ''The Basil Brush Show'' is a British children's television sitcom series, starring the glove puppet fox Basil Brush. It was produced for six series by The Foundation, airing on CBBC from 27 September 2002 to 25 December 2007. The show is a s ...

'' and '' Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow'' begin on

along with ''

BrainTeaser ''BrainTeaser'' was a British game show based on the original Dutch format of ''Puzzeltijd'' (English: Puzzle Time). The show was broadcast live, with phone-in viewer puzzles being announced and played during the show in addition to the studi ...

'' appearing on Channel 5. *

2003 in British television This is a list of British television-related events from 2003. Events January *1 January – The Studio closes after nearly two years on the air. *2 January – BBC One airs '' Dot's Story'', an ''EastEnders'' spin-off. It tells the story of D ...

– ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined i ...

'' becomes the first ongoing British television programme to reach its 50th anniversary since ''BBC Wimbledon'' in 1977, ''

The Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's ...

'' in 1988 and ''BBC Cricket'' in 1989 and ITV screens the controversial

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...

documentary ''

Living with Michael Jackson ''Living with Michael Jackson'' is a television documentary in which the British journalist Martin Bashir interviewed the American singer Michael Jackson from May 2002 to January 2003. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV (as a ''Toni ...

''. *

2004 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 2004. Events January *1 January – '' Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' makes its Network television premiere on BBC One. *2 January – The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca-Cola sponso ...

– ''

Supernanny ''Supernanny'' is a British reality television programme about parents struggling with their children's behaviour, mealtime, potty training, etc. The show features professional nanny Jo Frost, who devotes each episode to helping a family wh ...

'' launches a year before the

London Bombings London attack may refer to any of the following attacks that have occurred within London, London metropolitan area, City of London, Lundenwic, Londinium, or County of London: ;Actuated attacks * List of terrorist incidents in London **1973 Old Ba ...

, ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

'' sequels to take over from ''

'',

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

resigns as

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...

in the wake of the

Hutton Report The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and ...

and '' News at Ten'' axes from ITV for a second time. ''

Peppa Pig ''Peppa Pig'' is a British preschool animated television series by Astley Baker Davies. The show follows Peppa, an anthropomorphic female piglet, and her family, as well as her peers portrayed as other animals. The show first aired on 31 Ma ...

'' also debuts on Channel 5, along with '' Something Special'' on

and the long-running ITV singing talent show ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''. 2004 also sees

Tiny Pop Tiny Pop (styled as tiny POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. Broadcast on many of the major digital television platforms in the UK, Tiny Pop, which was ...

launched in the UK to replace Pop Plus. *

2005 in British television This is a list of British television-related events in 2005. Events January *1 January **Sky takes over production of ''Five News'' from ITN. The first scheduled Sky produced news programme had been due to air on 3 January, but two shorter bu ...

– After an absence of 16 years ''

'' returns to British television starting with

Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...

in the leading role, The quiz show ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a.k ...

'' is launched along with the ''

Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 7 March 2005 to 30 June 2006. The programme returned after a three-year break, from 25 May 2009 to 9 March 2012. In early 2013, the show went into hiatus agai ...

'' and ''

The Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show '' The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash pr ...

'', '' The Two Ronnies Sketchbook'' sequels to take over from ''

'',

More4 More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas. Content When ...

is launched and the ITV News Channel is defunct. 2005 also sees the debut of ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

'' on

. *

2006 in British television The following is a list of British television related events from the year 2006. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC One BBC Two BBC Three BBC F ...

–

ITV Play ITV Play was a short-lived 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc. The ITV Play name continued as a strand on the main ITV Network until December 2007. It was launched as a standalone channel on Freeview ...

and the

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

Channel both launch,

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

is appointed as chief executive of ITV,

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...

is seriously injured while driving a jet-powered car for a piece for ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', ''

'' axe weekly episodes before revival by Christmas and ''

'' is also axed along with ''

'' and the traditional Saturday morning children's live programmes due to viewer shortages. 2006 also sees ''

The Slammer ''The Slammer'' (also known as ''The Slammer Returns'' for its final two series) is a children's talent show sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One and CBBC from 22 September 2006 until 26 July 2014. Set in a fictional prison called HM Slammer, ...

'' begin on

as well as ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their prof ...

'' on ITV. *

2007 in British television This is a summary of the year 2007 in British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC One BBC Two BBC Three BBC Four ITV (1/2/3/4/CIT ...

– A series of

scandals A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

involving allegations of phone-in segments of television programmes and quiz channels conning viewers, The BBC launches

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

, The town of

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

becomes the first place in the UK to lose their

analogue television Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog s ...

signals and start the

digital switchover The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

and

is defunct and rebranded as ITV Bingo. 2007 also sees the debuts of ''

Golden Balls ''Golden Balls'' was a British daytime game show that was presented by Jasper Carrott. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 18 June 2007 to 18 December 2009. Gameplay Round 1 At the back of the studio is the "Golden Bank," a giant contra ...

'', ''

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotel ...

'' and ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloqui ...

'' on

along with the

Halloween-themed game show '' Trapped!'', ''

Shaun the Sheep ''Shaun the Sheep'' is a British stop-motion television series and a spin-off of the '' Wallace and Gromit'' franchise. The title character is Shaun (previously featured as the sheep named "Shaun" in the 1995 short film '' A Close Shave'' and t ...

'' and the '' Prank Patrol'' on

, '' In the Night Garden...'' on

and ''

Gavin & Stacey ''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, South Wales. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters Gavin and Stacey and the writers ...

'' and '' Outnumbered'' on

. *

2008 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2008 related to British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC One *1 January – ''Sense and Sen ...

– Weekly comparison between overweight and underweight people programme ''

Supersize vs Superskinny ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' is a British television programme on Channel 4 that featured information about dieting and extreme eating lifestyles. One of the main show features was a weekly comparison between an overweight person, and an un ...

'' appears,

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

officially launches while

ITV HD ITV1 HD is a British free-to-air high-definition public broadcast television network operated by ITV plc, the company which is contracted to provide 13 ITV1 services across the UK. ITV1 HD simulcasts them in high-definition (excluding former Ch ...

launches a full service and ITV's '' News at Ten'' returns for its third run after being axed again four years previously. ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 until 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager ...

'' also debuts on E4 along with the '' Big Brother'' zombie miniseries '' Dead Set''. ''

'' moves from BBC One to Channel 5 after Channel 5 secures the broadcasting rights to the Australian soap. *

2009 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2009 related to British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of ...

– This year sees many changes at ITV as the company encounters financial troubles and The ''

'' returns after 3 years of absence along with ''

''. 2009 also sees

in Oxfordshire and Southampton defunct after only 10 years of localized airing and ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpor ...

'' begins on

, '' Timmy Time'' begins on

and ''

Divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numbe ...

'', '' The Chase'' and '' The Cube'' all begin on

as well.

2010s

2010 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2010 related to British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 Five Other ch ...

– A series of US-style head-to-head party leaders' debates are broadcast across UK television ahead of the 2010 general election, the first such debates to be held in the run up to a UK election. ITV's breakfast television service

is axed after seventeen years on air, and replaced by '' Daybreak''. ''

'' celebrates its 50th year on air with a live episode, while ''

'' marks its 25th anniversary. The ITV period drama ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States o ...

'' makes its television debut. *

2011 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2011 related to British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration o ...

– Viewers watch the

Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship si ...

, and the first broadcast of '' Mrs. Brown's Boys'' on

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British v ...

become the first group to win ''

''.

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

begins rerunning old editions of ''

'' on Thursday evenings, starting from April 1976. *

2012 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2012 related to British television. Events January February February–March March April May May–June June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ...

– Spring of this year sees ''

'' come to an end with the 1,693rd edition, when

Anne Robinson Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was the host of BBC game show '' The Weakest Link'' (2000–2017). She presented the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' from June 2021 to Jul ...

retires from the show to concentrate on Brand newer series of ''

'',

celebrates 10 years of being separated from

, Spring 2012 also sees ''

'' ending on ITV with a huge finale after 10 or 11 years of broadcast, as well as the ''

'' celebrating their 15th actual anniversary on the BBC. The events of the

begin airing with the opening ceremony in

as well as the debut of '' Tipping Point'' from July of this year. The

Digital Switchover The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

is completed in October as the final analogue transmitters are switched off in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. In Scotland, the sentencing phase of the trial of David Gilroy is the first in the United Kingdom to be filmed for broadcast. *

2013 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2013 related to British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 Channel 5 Ot ...

–

launches in high-definition for the first time years after

did, ''

'' becomes the first ongoing British TV programme to reach and celebrate its 60th anniversary since ''BBC Wimbledon'' in 1987 ''

'' in 1998 and ''BBC Cricket'' in 1999,

also launches in HD for the first time,

will celebrate its 30th anniversary by airing an ''Old Skool'' weekend and ''

'' celebrates its 50th anniversary by airing a special episode all across both Britain and the globe. Spring 2013 also sees the BBC Television centre's old building close with all the BBC services in London moving to the new one next door known as the

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The ma ...

along with the debut of ''

Gogglebox ''Gogglebox'' is a British reality television series created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander and Tim Harcourt, and broadcast on Channel 4. The series documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for thei ...

'' and ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

'' on

and

. *

2014 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2014 related to British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Most watched television Top 20 Most Watched Br ...

– 50th anniversary of the first edition of ''

''. Although an edition was aired on New Year's Eve 2013, the anniversary itself goes unmarked by the BBC because of the programme's association with the late

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and '' Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well kno ...

. The first episode of

's controversial documentary series ''

Benefits Street ''Benefits Street'' is a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 4. It was first aired on 6 January 2014, and ran for five episodes. The show was filmed by documenting the lives of several residents of James Turner Street, Winson Green, ...

'' attracts several hundred viewer complaints.

celebrates its 50th anniversary along with ''

''. ITV axes its breakfast television programme '' Daybreak'' after nearly four years on air, replacing it with '' Good Morning Britain''. *

2015 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2015 related to British television. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Most watched television ...

– 10th anniversary of the 2005 relaunch of ''

'', The rebooted series of ''

'' will feature voiceovers from names including

Jane Horrocks Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in th ...

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...

and Fearne Cotton, it is revealed, EastEnders concludes the Who Killed Lucy Beale? storyline by revealing her younger brother Bobby Beale as her killer live in a special flashback episode to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, '' Thunderbirds'' celebrates its 50th anniversary with the debut of animated reboot '' Thunderbirds Are Go'',

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer. Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of '' I, Claudius'', King Richard I ...

and

Dave Lamb David Alexander Lamb (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor, comedian, narrator and presenter. He is best known for his narration work on '' Come Dine with Me'' as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially co ...

. The

CBBC channel CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7– ...

will also air a 60-minute programme celebrating thirty years of ''The Broom Cupboard'', the studio from which

continuity presenters

Andi Peters Andi Eleazu Peters (born 29 July 1970) is a British television presenter, producer, journalist and voice actor, currently employed by ITV and known for presenting Children's BBC, roles on breakfast TV shows ''Live & Kicking'', ''GMTV'', '' Goo ...

Philip Schofield Phillip Bryan Schofield (born 1 April 1962) is an English television presenter who works for ITV. He is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2002–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2014, 2018–present) alongside Holl ...

Zoë Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show '' Live & ...

and Edd the Duck,

Louisa Johnson Louisa Johnson (born 11 January 1998), also known mononymously as Louisa, is a British singer. In 2015, she won the twelfth series of ''The X Factor''. She subsequently released her winner's single " Forever Young", which peaked at number nin ...

becomes the youngest ever contestant to win ''

'' and launch of YourTV on Freeview and YouView, Fox UK's first free-to-air channel and which is targeted at women. The vintage-film and nostalgia television channel

Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage-film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 h ...

is launched. *

2016 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2016 related to Television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 Ch ...

– The BBC announces a deal with

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

that enables it to broadcast coverage of the Summer and Winter Olympics up to and including the

2024 Summer Olympic Games ) , nations = TBA , athletes = 10,500 ''(quota limit)'' , events = 329 in 32 sports (48 disciplines) , opening = 26 July 2024 , closing = 11 August 2024 , opened_by = , stadium = Stade de France Jardins du Trocadéro and River Seine , summer ...

, The agreement covers television, radio and online coverage, Channel 5, 5* and

5USA 5USA is a British free-to-air television channel. It is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia and is a sister channel of Channel 5, 5Action, 5Star and 5Select. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as Five US and was the second digital ter ...

get a new look on 11 February as their stencil logos for their channels get their very first airing. 5* is also rebranded as 5Star on the same day,

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

closes after thirteen years on air to become an online only channel, '' Casualty'' celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special feature-length episode. 2016 also sees the debut of a new 3pm slot game show ''

Tenable ''Tenable'' is a British game show, presented by Warwick Davis and Sally Lindsay, airing on ITV since 14 November 2016. On each episode, five contestants attempt to win up to £125,000 by filling in lists of 10 items each. A celebrity version ...

'' on ITV after the axing of two other 3pm slot game shows ''

1000 Heartbeats ''1000 Heartbeats'' is a British daytime game show that aired on ITV which ran from 23 February 2015 to 15 January 2016, hosted by Vernon Kay. Format Wearing an electronic heart-rate counter and standing on a lighted circular platform known as ...

'' and '' Rebound''. *

2017 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2017 relating to Television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 ...

– The Saturday evening National Lottery Draw stops being shown on

and is now only seen on the

, the Corporation having taken the decision to stop broadcasting the draw live on BBC One after agreeing a news, '' Impossible'' debuts on the same channel, Channel 5, the ''

'' and '' Robot Wars'' all celebrate their 20th anniversaries, '' In the Night Garden...'', ''

'' and ''

'' all celebrate their 10th anniversaries. ITV launches its pay-per-view service ITV Box Office, Wimbledon Tennis celebrates 90 years of coverage on the BBC during Wimbledon Tennis' 140th anniversary and

and ''

'' all celebrate their 35th anniversaries. *

2018 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2018 relating to television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Top 10 most-watched television br ...

– BBC One airs the first of two editions of the latest version of ''

The Generation Game ''The Generation Game'' is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes. The game There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's m ...

'', which is presented by Mel and Sue along with airing The Queen's Birthday Party, a concert from London's Royal Albert Hall celebrating the 92nd birthday of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. Spring 2018 also sees The National Lottery results being broadcast on ITV for the first time after more than two decades on the BBC, with the results appearing as a 90-second summary as part of an advert break. September 2018 sees '' The Circle'' debut on Channel 4.

Series 11 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

of ''

'' sees

Jodie Whittaker Jodie Whittaker (born 17 June 1982) is an English actress who is best known for portraying the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2017–2022) and as Beth Latimer in ''Broadchurch'' (2013–2017). She came to prominence ...

star as the

Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, st ...

; she becomes the first woman to play the role of The Doctor. *

2019 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2019 relating to television in the United Kingdom Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the Mechanic ...

– The ''Doctor Who'' seasonal special is moved from Christmas Day to New Year's Day.

BBC Two Scotland BBC Two Scotland ( gd, BBC Dhà Alba) was the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Scotland. It was broadcast via digital television and was the sister Scottish channel of BBC One Scotland and Gaelic-language BBC Alba. Unlike BBC One Scotland, ...

closes and is replaced by a new

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...

channel. ''

The Jeremy Kyle Show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' is a British tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle and produced by ITV Studios. It premiered on the ITV network on 4 July 2005, and ran for seventeen series until its cancellation on 10 May 2019. It was the most ...

'' is axed by ITV due to the death of a guest. The BBC One current affairs programme '' This Week'' is shown for the last time after sixteen years on air, and replaced by ''

Brexitcast ''Brexitcast'' is a British political talkshow and television programme produced by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC News. It was launched on 5 June 2017 following the success of ''Electioncast'', a podcast that had covered that year's general electio ...

''.

opens its new national headquarters in Leeds.

2020s

2020 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2020 relating to television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 ...

– Many popular TV shows, such as '' Through the Keyhole'' and '' Take Me Out'' are axed. The production of many TV shows is halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. ITV announces that the 2020 series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' will be staged at

Gwrych Castle Gwrych Castle ( cy, Castell Gwrych meaning "hedged castle") (Originally spelt as 'Gwrŷch') is a Grade I listed 19th-century country house near Abergele in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The castle and 236 acre estate are owned by a charity, ...

in North Wales due to travel restrictions imposed because of COVID. After the UK government axes funding for free television licences for over-75s the BBC are forced to start charging for them again from 1 August. Channel 4's ''

Alternative Christmas Message The alternative Christmas message is a message broadcast by Channel 4 since 1993, as a sometimes humorous and sometimes serious alternative to the traditional Royal Christmas Message. Background Beginning in 1993, Channel 4 broadcast an "alterna ...

'' causes controversy after it is delivered by a deepfake version of

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

and airs at the same time as the real

Christmas Message The King's Christmas Message (also known as The Queen's Christmas Message in the reign of a female monarch, formally as His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech, and informally as the Royal Christmas Message) is a broadcast made by the sovereign of t ...

. ''

'' ends on TV two days prior to it ending on the radio. The Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 paves the way for television cameras to be allowed to film the sentencing phase of criminal trials in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

. *

2021 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2021 relating to television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 Ch ...

– All major television networks cover the

Death and funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, which occurs on 9 April, with the BBC receiving a record number of complaints (109,741) after it clears its schedule to provide rolling news coverage.

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ...

launches in June, with

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

joining as one of its presenters. The recording and release of many TV programmes are delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' takes place in Wales for a second year, but is forced off air for a number of days without a clear winner following damage caused by Storm Arwen;

launches the TPTV Encore catch-up service. 2021 also sees a two new game shows on

called ''Lightning'' and ''Unbeatable'' after the axing of BBC One's '' Impossible''. The recording and release of some TV programmes are expected to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. *

2022 in British television This is a list of events that took place in 2022 relating to television in the United Kingdom. Events January February March April May June July August September October November December Debuts BBC ITV Channel 4 Ch ...

–

is relaunched as a television channel, six years after becoming an

online service An online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider (music, movies), a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, ...

, while later in the year,

BBC Director-General The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then the ...

Tim Davie announces plans to move

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and the

CBBC Channel CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7– ...

online.

News UK News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

launches the talkTV news channel.

begins a daily broadcast of the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

, 25 years after it was last aired daily by BBC television.

hospital drama ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', and ...

'' comes to an end after 23 years, while Channel 5 announces it will stop showing ''

'', with the soap's final episode airing in July;

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

then picks up the series, announcing it will return in 2023. The

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the Platinum jubilee, 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the Un ...

is celebrated on television, including BBC One soap ''

'', where the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

and

Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the eldest son and heir of the British monarch. The current title-holder is Catherine, wife of William, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Duchesses of Cornwall Until her husband' ...

make a cameo appearance. On 8 September, the death of Queen Elizabeth II is announced. All major television networks provide coverage of events following her death, while her funeral is broadcast by over 50 UK television channels and watched by a cumulative audience of 28 million. The

proclamation of accession of Charles III Charles III acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom and the thrones of the other Commonwealth realms upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, on the afternoon of 8 September 2022. Royal succession in the realms occurs immediately upon ...

also becomes the first such ceremony to be televised. The

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

trials of Ben Oliver and

Jemma Mitchell Jemma Mitchell (born 22 July 1984) is an Australian-born English former osteopath who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2021 murder of her friend, Mee Kuen Chong (known as Deborah). Mitchell killed Chong at the latter's home in Wemble ...

become the first criminal cases in England and Wales to have their sentencing phase broadcast on television after the Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 is enacted. * 2023 in British television – The BBC News channel airs the final edition of '' The Papers'', its nightly review of the following morning's newspaper headlines. From the following day, discussion of newspaper headlines will form part of its news content.

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media an ...

broadcasts coverage of the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI, The government confirms Channel 4 has been saved from privatisation and ''

'' becomes the first ongoing British TV programme to reach and celebrate its 70th anniversary since ''BBC Wimbledon'' in 1997 and ''

'' in 2008.

Timelines of television by history

Television channels

Timeline of the BBC This is a timeline of the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation (and its predecessor, the British Broadcasting Company). 1920s * 1922 ** 18 October – The British Broadcasting Company is formed. ** 14 November – Following the c ...

Timeline of the BBC Television Service This is a timeline of the history of the BBC Television Service, from events preceding its launch in 1936 until its renaming as BBC One in 1964 upon the launch of BBC Two. 1920s *1929 **November – The BBC and John Logie Baird begin daily exper ...

** Timeline of BBC One ** Timeline of BBC Two ** Timeline of non-flagship BBC television channels *

Timeline of ITV This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV (originally known as Independent Television). 1950s * 1954 ** 30 July – The Television Act 1954 paves the way for the launch of commercial television in the UK and the ...

Timeline of ABC Weekend TV This is a timeline of the history of the British television company ABC Weekend TV, one of the first four contractors of the Independent Television network. 1950s * 1954 ** 26 October – The Independent Television Authority (ITA) awards franch ...

** Timeline of Anglia Television **

Timeline of ATV This is a timeline of the history of the former British television broadcaster ATV. It provided the ITV service for London at weekends and the Midlands on weekdays from 1955 to 1968, and for the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. 1950s * 1954 ...

** Timeline of Border Television ** Timeline of Carlton Television **

Timeline of Central Independent Television This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Central Independent Television (now known as ITV Central). It has provided the ITV service for the Midlands since 1982. 1980s * 1980 ** 28 December – The Independent Broadcasting Au ...

Timeline of Channel Television This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Channel Television (now known as ITV Channel Television). It provides the ITV service for the Channel Islands. 1960s *1960 ** Channel Television is awarded the contract to provide IT ...

** Timeline of Grampian Television **

Timeline of Granada Television This is a timeline of the history of Granada Television (now known as ITV Granada), and of the television interests of its former owner Granada plc. Granada Television has provided the ITV service for North West England since 1968, and previousl ...

** Timeline of HTV West **

Timeline of London Weekend Television This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster London Weekend Television (now known as ITV London at weekend). It has provided the ITV weekend service for London since 1968. 1960s * 1967 ** LWT is awarded the London weekend franch ...

** Timeline of Meridian Broadcasting ** Timeline of Scottish Television ** Timeline of Southern Television **

Timeline of Thames Television This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Thames Television and its predecessor Associated-Rediffusion. Between them, they provided the ITV weekday service for London from 1955 to 1992, after which Thames continued as an indep ...

and Associated-Rediffusion ** Timeline of TSW and Westward ** Timeline of TV-am ** Timeline of TVS ** Timeline of Tyne Tees Television ** Timeline of Ulster Television ** Timeline of Westcountry Television ** Timeline of Yorkshire Television * Timeline of Channel 4 * Timeline of Channel 5 * Timeline of Sky Limited * Timeline of UKTV

Nations

* Timeline of ITV in Wales * Timeline of television in Northern Ireland * Timeline of television in Scotland *

Timeline of television in Wales This is a timeline of the history of television in Wales. It does not include events that affect the whole UK. 1950s * 1952 ** 15 August – Television becomes available in Wales for the first time following the switching on of the Wenvoe transmi ...

Cities

* Timeline of television in London

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Timelines of television by history

Television channels

Nations

Cities

See also