2000 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 2000.

Events

January 1 January 2000 Today, the marathon 28-hour live broadcast to celebrate the dawn of the new millennium shown on BBC One, ends at 1:30pm. Launch of Castaway 2000 on BBC One, a reality television show billed as a bold experiment for the new millennium. Thirty-six men, women and children from the British public are placed on Taransay for a year. Taransay is a remote Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides and the group must build a sustainable self-sufficient community. The programme ends on New Year's Day 2001. Channel 4 airs The Biggest Breakfast Ever, an eight-hour overnight millennium special with Johnny Vaughan and Liza Tarbuck. The channel's New Year's Day schedule also includes a contemporary version of Cinderella starring Kathleen Turner. ITV airs the final episode of Gladiators; the ending is dedicated to LWT videotape editor Clayton Parker who died in a car accident at the age of 45 in February 1999. The show is later revived by Sky One in 2008, and then again by the BBC in 2024. 2 January Provisional viewing figures suggest BBC One's millennium coverage was watched by 12.8 million viewers as the New Year was welcomed in at midnight, more than twice the usual audience for New Year television. ITV's coverage was seen by 4.1 million. BBC One airs a millennium special of its garden makeover series Ground Force in which Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh travel to the South African village of Qunu to design and build a garden for the former President Nelson Mandela. Sarah Lancashire returns to Coronation Street as Raquel Watts for a special one-off episode in which she is reunited with husband Curly (Kevin Kennedy). The episode is watched by an average of 17.5 million viewers, peaking at 18.6 million. 3 January The highest rated UK programme of the year so far is recorded, an episode of Coronation Street that gets 18.96 million viewers. The hugely popular and long-running US animated series SpongeBob SquarePants makes its UK debut on Nickelodeon, eight months after it first aired in the US. 6 January – Following a brief return to the series during 1999, Gillian Taylforth leaves her EastEnders role as Kathy Beale. 7 January The long-running BBC children's programme Blue Peter reunites two former presenting teams to dig up the time capsules they buried for the year 2000 in 1971 and 1984. A brand new stop-motion animated series for preschoolers Yoho Ahoy is first broadcast on BBC One. ITV begins airing a new series of Catchphrase, in which Nick Weir takes over as presenter as part of a major revamp of the programme. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel makes its UK debut on Sky One. 10 January – The US political drama The West Wing makes its UK debut on Sky One. 11 January – The US crime drama Third Watch makes its UK debut on Sky One. 12 January A police officer charged over the crash that left television presenter Sheena McDonald in hospital is acquitted following a hearing at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court. Debut of the reality series Shipwrecked on Channel 4. 14 January – Debut of the hidden camera/practical jokes series Trigger Happy TV on Channel 4, starring Dom Joly. 17 January – BBC Two begins airing a four-part adaptation of Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake's series of fantasy novels. The series, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers is launched with a massive publicity campaign, but is panned by critics and loses 40% of its viewership by the third episode. Figures indicate that the first episode is watched by 4.2 million, a healthy audience for a BBC Two programme, but that by the third episode, aired on 31 January, falls to 2.5 million. 18 January ITV sports commentator Steve Smith is reprimanded by the Independent Television Commission for calling a French rugby player a "stroppy little frog" after he throws the ball at an opponent during a World Cup match between France and Fiji in October 1999. Retired Naval Officer Peter Lee becomes the biggest winner to date on ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? after winning £500,000. He is also the first person to have the opportunity to answer the £1 million question which concerns the location of Durham County Cricket Club, but he takes the money after being unsure of the answer. The show would have its first £1 million winner in November. The BBC confirms that Danniella Westbrook will leave EastEnders for the second time in four years, her character, Sam Mitchell having returned to the series only in 1999. 19 January – Former Brookside actress Gabrielle Glaister is to join Coronation Street where she will play Debs Brownlow, the younger sister of Natalie Barnes (Denise Welch). 20 January – Debut of the comedy-drama series At Home with the Braithwaites on ITV. 21 January – Debut of the documentary series The Unforgettable on ITV. 23 January Helen Flanagan takes over the role of Coronation Street character Rosie Webster from Emma Collinge who has played Rosie since she was ten days old. Collinge is leaving the series to devote more time to gymnastics. Debut of the drama series Clocking Off on BBC One. 25 January – Fiona Bruce presents her first episode of Crimewatch on BBC One alongside Nick Ross, following the murder of her predecessor Jill Dando in April last year. 27 January Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show is criticised by the Broadcasting Standards Commission for including a reference to murdered television presenter Jill Dando which would have caused "widespread public offence". Channel 4 says that the item which aired on 26 October 1999, was meant to be a criticism of the high cost of the murder investigation and the ratings war between BBC One and ITV. BBC One airs the final episode of Dinnerladies. 31 January – Carlton Kids ceases broadcasting after 14 months on the air.

February 1 February Greg Dyke takes over as Director-General of the BBC. Carlton World ceases broadcasting after 14 months on the air. Discovery Wings and Discovery Kids launch. They are created for the OnDigital platform as replacements for the two Carlton channels. Discovery Kids broadcasts during the day with Wings taking over for the evening. The two channels are initially exclusive to OnDigital but later launch on other platforms. 3 February – Joe Absolom makes his final EastEnders appearance in a dramatic storyline that sees his character, Matthew Rose get his revenge against Steve Owen after Rose was wrongly convicted of the manslaughter of Owen's girlfriend. 4 February – Debut of the sitcom My Hero on BBC One. 5 February – An episode of Casualty in which the character Amy Howard (played by Rebecca Wheatley) is persuaded to attend a singing audition. The song she performs, Stay with Me Baby is subsequently released as a single by Wheatley who had been a singer prior to her acting career. 7 February – Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke launches his "Cut the Crap" initiative, a drive to cut red tape at the BBC. Staff are issued with yellow cards bearing the phrase "Cut the crap, make it happen" which they are encouraged to brandish at meetings if they feel inertia is getting in the way of creativity. 10 February – Coronation Street confirms that Jane Danson who plays Leanne Battersby will leave the soap later in the year. 11 February – Debut of the romantic drama Reach for the Moon on ITV, starring Lynda Bellingham. 12 February – BBC One airs When Changing Rooms Met Ground Force, a crossover edition of its two popular design and makeover shows, Changing Rooms and Ground Force. 13 February – BBC Two airs Gimme Some Truth, a documentary featuring footage of John Lennon as he recorded his 1971 album Imagine. 15 February – BBC One airs a one-off quiz, A Question of EastEnders to celebrate the soap's 15th anniversary. 18 February – Kevin Pallister leaves Emmerdale as Graham Clark. 19 February – EastEnders celebrates its 15th anniversary on BBC One. 22 February – The final episode of Queer as Folk is broadcast on Channel 4. 23 February The children's drama Hero to Zero makes its debut on BBC One. The documentary series Child of Our Time makes its debut on BBC One. Presented by Robert Winston and co-produced with the Open University, the programme follows the lives of 25 children born at the start of 2000. It would run for 20 years until 2020. 24 February – The Guardian reports that the Australian soap Home and Away will move from ITV to Channel 5 after the latter paid £40 million for the broadcast rights. It is the first time the channel has poached a programme from its rival. 27 February – BBC One airs the first episode of Monarch of the Glen. 28 February – Having decided not to adopt the 1999 ITV generic look, Scottish and Grampian launch a new on-screen logo. February – Menna Richards becomes Controller of BBC Cymru Wales.

March 1 March – Carlton Select closes, with Carlton's two other channels, Carlton Cinema and Carlton Food Network expanding their broadcasting hours in the wake Carlton Select's demise. 2 March – The axe falls on some EastEnders characters, including Ricky Butcher. 4 March – ITV airs The Brit Awards 2000, hosted by Davina McCall. 5 March – Former Take That singer Gary Barlow makes his acting debut in the 150th episode of Heartbeat on ITV, playing a hitchhiker named Mike Shannon. 7 March – Coronation Street confirms that television presenter Naomi Russell will join the series to play factory worker Bobbi Lewis. 11 March – ITV airs The Lookalikes Agency. 12 March – ITV airs the drama Hero of the Hour, starring Ross Kemp. 13 March Debut of The Blind Date, a two-part ITV drama starring Zara Turner. Debut of the long-running daytime series Bargain Hunt on BBC One. 15 March – ITV will scrap its afternoon showing of Home and Away from 27 March after losing the soap to Channel 5, but it will continue to air in the early evening slot. 16 March – The Britt Allcroft Company best known for producing the first five series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends acquires the rights to the long-running children's arts and crafts programme Art Attack and other works from The Media Merchants company run by the host of the series Neil Buchanan and Tim Edmunds. 17 March To mark the re-release of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, FilmFour airs Return of A Clockwork Orange, a documentary discussing the controversy surrounding the film. It is also shown the following day on Channel 4. ITV airs an episode of Catchphrase in which presenter Nick Weir falls down the stairs whilst running on to introduce the show and breaks his left foot. 19 March – Debut of Seeing Red, an ITV drama based on the book of the same name by Coral Atkins and starring Sarah Lancashire and Richard Dillane. 21 March – The network television premiere of Metro on Channel 5, starring Eddie Murphy. 22 March – The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee issues a report calling on ITV to restore News at Ten after finding that the broadcaster has seen a drop in ratings since the programme was dropped in 1999. 24 March – Paul Loughran leaves Emmerdale after six years when his character Butch Dingle dies in a bus crash. 26 March – Debut of Doctors on BBC One. A new daily serial set in a doctors' surgery. The first episode is broadcast at 6:35pm on a Sunday evening, before continuing on weekdays at 12:30pm. 27 March – The BBC announces plans to establish an annual bursary at a college in Falmouth for students wishing to train in broadcast journalism as a "living tribute" to TV presenter Jill Dando. 28 March