This is a list of British television related events from 2004.
Events
January 1 January – Emmerdale airs an hour long episode in which the village is hit by a storm, which includes Tricia Dingle, played by Sheree Murphy, being crushed by a falling chimney. 2 January – The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca-Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts in its BBC One Top of the Pops show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting junk food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers. 3 January – CD:UK broadcasts its first episode in 16:9 widescreen. 4 January – ITV introduces a sixth weekly episode of Emmerdale airing on Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm. The episode is dropped in 2008 to allow for one-hour episodes on Tuesdays. Debut of the Channel 4 reality series Shattered in which ten contestants are challenged with going without sleep for seven days while their actions are constantly monitored. Over the seven days the ten housemates must undergo daily performance testing and a variety of challenges, while competing for a potential prize fund of £100,000, which is reduced by £1,000 every time a contestant closes their eyes for more than ten seconds. The series, and the remaining prize money of £97,000, is won by Clare Southern on 10 January. It is subsequently branded as "misconceived and dangerous" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, although Channel 4 says that sleep experts were consulted when putting together the series and that care was taken with the selection of participants. 5 January – BBC One introduces the "Massai" ident that features nine native Maasai tribesmen dancing in the centre. CITV introduces a first weekly episode of The Sleepover Club. Beat the Nation makes its debut on Channel 4 as a new daytime quiz show replacing Fifteen to One which ended last December, hosted by The Goodies duo Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. 9 January – The BBC announces that the Kilroy talk show will be taken off air while the Corporation investigates negative comments its presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk made about Arabic people in the previous weekend's Sunday Express. 10 January – The first edition of ITV's new Saturday morning children's programme Ministry of Mayhem is broadcast on ITV (later CITV). 13 January – Acclaimed US medical drama Nip/Tuck makes its British television debut on Sky One, attracting an audience of 1 million. The series had been heavily publicised on terrestrial television prior to its broadcast. 15 January – BBC Four begins a six-part adaptation of the Alan Clark Diaries, starring John Hurt and Jenny Agutter. The series concludes on 17 February, and is later repeated on BBC Two. 16 January – Robert Kilroy-Silk resigns as a BBC One talk show host after 17 years following the controversy over comments he made about Arabs. 21 January – CITV airs the premiere of the Japanese-American TV series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog game series, Sonic X. 25 January – The fourth and final series of The Story Makers premieres on CBeebies. 28 January – The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to strongly condemn the BBC's handling of the David Kelly affair and to exonerate the government. The Director-General of the BBC, Greg Dyke, chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media in general condemns the report as a whitewash. 29 January – Mark Byford becomes acting Director-General of the BBC following Greg Dyke's resignation. 30 January – ITV's News at Ten ends for a second time, with its replacement, the News at 10:30, launching the following Monday. January – SMG sells its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings to EMAP for £90 million in anticipation of consolidation in the radio market.
February 2 February – ITV plc is formed from the merger of Carlton and Granada. The new company controls 90% of the ITV network. The News at 10:30 debuts on ITV1. On the same day, ITV News is revamped with a new studio making extensive use of computer graphics that is nicknamed the 'Theatre of News', whilst regional news programmes adopt a new generic presentation package. SMG's sells its stake in GMTV to ITV plc for £31 million. 4 February – ITV announces the comedian Bradley Walsh is to join Coronation Street as the nephew of factory owner Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs). The news comes as it is announced that five actors will leave the soap over the next twelve months—Adam Rickitt (Nick Tilsley), Susie Blake (Bev Unwin), Iain Rogerson (Harry Flagg), Katherine Hunt (Angela Harris) and Thomas Craig (Tommy Harris). Beverley Callard (Liz McDonald) and Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby) are also set to return to the series in the summer. UKTV announces plans to rebrand all their UK prefix channels as UKTV. UK Horizons will also be replaced by UKTV Documentary and UKTV People from 8 March. Five confirms that The Terry and Gaby Show will be axed when it finishes its current run on 26 March. 5 February – Five actors from Coronation Street are axed by new producer Tony Wood. Adam Rickitt (Nick Tilsley), Susie Blake (Bev Unwin), Iain Rogerson (Harry Flagg), Katherine Hunt (Angela Harris) and Thomas Craig (Tommy Harris) will all leave when their contracts come to an end. 9 February – Kerry McFadden wins the third series of ITV1's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. 13 February – Sky One airs the inaugural EuroMillions draw at 9pm, the first time a National Lottery draw has been aired on commercial television. 15 February – Debut of ITV's How to Holiday, presented by Jenni Falconer and Dominic Littlewood. The programme has both presenters visiting the same location, with Falconer travelling in luxury while Littlewood travels on a budget. Debut of Five's Back to Reality, a reality television programme featuring 12 contestants from other reality shows (such as Big Brother, The Salon and Pop Idol) spending three weeks in a purpose-built house, competing to become "Britain's most popular reality star". Deriving many of its ideas from other shows, the programme receives poor ratings and a solicitor's letter from Endemol because of its perceived similarity to Celebrity Big Brother. 16 February – BBC Network news titles are relaunched in the style of BBC News 24, which were introduced in December 2003. 27 February – Reports emerge of discussions between Channel 4 and Five aimed at a merger between the two channels. 29 February – Transmission date of the final edition of London Tonight to be produced by the London News Network. After this date its news operation is absorbed into ITN.
March 5 March – Major James Hewitt wins Five's Back to Reality. 7 March – An edition of ITV London's The Week is the final London News Network produced programme to be aired. 8 March – All 'UK' prefix TV channels are rebranded to UKTV. For example, UK Bright Ideas is rebranded UKTV Bright Ideas, and UK History becomes UKTV History. As part of the changes, UK Horizons ceases broadcasting and is split into two new channels, UKTV Documentaries and UKTV People. Brooke Kinsella, who plays Kelly Taylor in EastEnders, announces she will be leaving the soap after two and a half years, departing in the summer. 11 March – Five soap Family Affairs is to become the first British television series to allow viewers to decide a storyline, with them being asked to vote by phone on the outcome of a love triangle, and whether Yasmin (Ebony Thomas) or Geri (Anna Acton) will end up with Marc (Michael Wildman). 13 March – Charles Ngandwe, performing as Paul Robeson, wins the fifteenth series of Stars in Their Eyes. The edition is also the last to be presented by Matthew Kelly, who had announced the previous day that he would be leaving the series. The role of presenter is taken over by Cat Deeley. 14 March – Channel 4 airs the documentary He's Starsky, I'm Hutch, a programme which prompts actor David Soul to write an open letter to the channel complaining about the way he was portrayed in the film. Soul had co-operated with the documentary, but felt it betrayed because it had concentrated too much on the negative aspects of his life. 18 March – FremantleMedia confirms plans to bring the popular US TV series The Apprentice to the UK. 21 March – "An Apple a Day", an episode of Last of the Summer Wine aired on BBC One in which Billy Hardcastle does not appear. 22 March – Christopher Eccleston is announced as the ninth actor to play The Doctor in Doctor Who. A new 13-episode series is filmed in Cardiff later in the year and make its debut in 2005. 27 March – Following two years, The Story Makers airs the last ever episode. 29 March – BBC Two Controller Jane Root will leave her role to take up a position with the Discovery Network in the United States, it is reported. March – Launch of the Islam Channel. A new pay television service on digital terrestrial television, Top Up TV, launches. It offers ten channels, each of which broadcasts on a part-time basis.
April 1 April – It is reported that ITV have axed On the Ball after losing the broadcast rights to screen Premiership highlights. It will disappear from the schedule at the end of the current season. BBC One airs Pat and Mo, an EastEnders spin-off episode featuring Pat Butcher and Mo Harris during the 1950s. 2 April – Michael Grade is appointed as new BBC chairman, taking over the role from Gavyn Davies, who stepped down in the wake of the Hutton Report. 3 April – Debut of Come and Have a Go If You Think You're Smart Enough on BBC One, a live interactive quiz show hosted by Nicky Campbell. 7 April – Former Bad Girls actress Debra Stephenson is to join Coronation Street as new character Frankie Baldwin. She will be seen onscreen from June. 12 April – Magdalen College, Oxford wins the 2003–04 series of University Challenge, beating Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 190–160. 13 April – BBC Two airs the television debut of Hawking, a drama about the life and work of theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, and which stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. 15 April – ITV announces plans for Vote for Me, a Pop Idol-style contest to find a Parliamentary candidate. The series will be presented by Jonathan Maitland. 19 April – Tots TV begins screenings on CBeebies and BBC Two, as part of a broadcast deal between the BBC and Carlton, who distributed the series. 60 Minute Makeover debuts on ITV1. 20 April – BBC Two celebrates 40 years on air by broadcasting Happy Birthday BBC Two. 21 April – After commenting on a UEFA Champions League match on ITV1, football pundit and ex-manager Ron Atkinson makes a racist slur. Although transmission in the UK has finished, the comment is broadcast live to the Middle East and Atkinson resigns immediately. 23 April ITV unveils plans for The X Factor, a new music talent contest developed by Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell that will see a panel of judges mentoring acts and competing against each other to have their act chosen as the winner. The last episode of Catchphrase is broadcast on ITV1, after a run of 18 years. The show would be later revived in 2013. 24 April – Computer programmer and quiz expert Pat Gibson becomes the fourth contestant to win the £1 million prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. 26 April – Michael Parkinson is to take his Parkinson chat show to ITV after the network poached him from the BBC, it is reported. Parkinson's decision to make the move was also influenced by BBC plans to move his show to a different time slot to make way for the return of Match of the Day. His final BBC show is recorded on 29 April for transmission on 8 May.