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 Clash of the Titans and the 1979 Sylvester Stallone sequel Rocky II on BBC1. 2 January – A special edition of Tomorrow's World travels back a century to discover the latest developments in science and technology from 1886. 4 January – Televised football returns to British television after the contractual dispute from the previous year is resolved. 6 January Debut of the children's animated series and second programme in the trilogy to be produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, Jimbo and the Jet-Set on BBC1, while Children's ITV premieres Telebugs. A regional news bulletin is broadcast after the Nine O'Clock News for the first time. It had originally been planned to appear the previous September to coincide with last year's relaunch of the Nine O'Clock News.The mystery of the delayed launch for the new BBC regional news slot 8 January – BBC1 begins showing the popular culture and video game themed quiz show First Class. Hosted by Debbie Greenwood it is notable for competitors playing the Atari arcade game Paperboy. 9 January Rowan Atkinson returns as Edmund Blackadder in the BBC1 comedy series Blackadder II, moving forward in time to the Elizabethan era. It also features Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett) and Miranda Richardson ("Queenie"). BBC2 launches the follow-up series to the acclaimed political satire Yes Minister with Yes, Prime Minister. 10 January – Debut of the comedy-drama mystery series Lovejoy on BBC1, starring Ian McShane as the titular roguish antiques dealer, based on the novels by Jonathan Gash and adapted for television by Ian La Frenais. Despite being a moderate rating success it is not brought back until 6 January 1991, following a five-year gap between the first and second series. 12 January – Debut of the high-tech game show Catchphrase on ITV, presented by Roy Walker. 14 January – Debut of the private detective series Boon on ITV, starring Michael Elphick. 17 January – Central Weekend begins broadcasting in ITV's Central region hosted by Sue Jay, Andy Craig and Roger Cook, while BBC1 airs a feature-length episode of US soap Dynasty that sets up the storyline ready for the spin-off series Dynasty II: The Colbys which begins on 24 January. 19 January – Debut of the Screen Two film The Silent Twins, a drama based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twin sisters known as the "Silent Twins" because they refuse to speak to anyone but each other. 21 January – Debut of children's wildlife magazine programme The Really Wild Show on BBC1. 24 January – The US soap Dynasty II: The Colbys makes its UK debut on BBC1. 25 January Channel 4 begins showing the first full series of the comedy and music show Saturday Live, with regular appearances by Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Chris Barrie, Craig Ferguson and Julian Clary. Channel 4 broadcasts the Super Bowl XX live from the Louisiana Superdome. 28 January – NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger spacecraft disintegrates. BBC1 breaks the news during Newsround, while ITV interrupts the live broadcast of Splash, and Channel 4 make their news reports after both Countdown and the American sitcom Bewitched. BBC1 hands over the news coverage over to BBC2 once Newsround has ended, in order to air both Grange Hill and Fax!. The latter channel then broadcasts a special edition of Newsnight (dropping both Fast Forward and The Adventure Game, with No Limits being spared, due to the programme being broadcast at 6pm, against the news on BBC1). ITV later makes a news update before the third episode of Boon. 31 January – Channel 4 begins showing Season 4 of the US comedy series Cheers, which introduces Woody Harrelson to the long running show.

February 4 February – Thorn EMI sells its stake in Swindon Cable to British Telecom and the new owners axe Focus on Swindon and other local programming and replaces it with bought-in content. 8 February – The game show Every Second Counts makes its debut on BBC1, presented by Paul Daniels. 19 February – BBC1 airs Round Britain Whizz, an edition of the science documentary series Q.E.D. The 30-minute programme consists of a sped up flight around the coastline of Great Britain with guest appearances from geologists and TV personalities including Patrick Moore, David Bellamy and Terry Wogan telling the viewer about the geology and natural history of certain areas. 26 February – Channel 4 airs its first terrestrial television showing of Terry Gilliam's 1981 British fantasy adventure Time Bandits, starring Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Michael Palin and David Warner. February – For the first time in the UK, animated graphics are seen during teletext transmissions. They are broadcast on Channel 4. This is made possible by transmitting 4-Tel On View from a disc rather than live.

March 4 March – Channel 4 screens the network premiere of John Boorman's 1981 King Arthur fantasy film Excalibur, starring Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren. 5 March – Two months after the BBC finally resolved a deal with Lorimar Television distributors Worldvision Enterprises, a year after Thames bought the UK rights for ITV before handing it back to the BBCThe Times. P3. Dallas to return in March. Thames Television will pay BBC £300K. January 15, 1986., BBC1 finally starts airing season 9 of the US drama series Dallas beginning with a feature-length episode. This season is often referred to as the so-called "Dream Year" of the character Pam Ewing. 10 March The first advert for a sanitary towel is broadcast on British television on Channel 4. James the Cat, created by Kate Canning and narrated by Bergerac actor Sean Arnold, makes its debut on Children's ITV – although closing credits indicate it was produced in 1984. James the Cat had previously appeared in Canning's Flower Stories in 1975. 23 March – The television play Shergar, telling the story of the theft of the racehorse Shergar, is aired as part of BBC2's Screen Two anthology series. The film stars Stephen Rea and Gary Waldhorn. 26 March – Debut of the SuperTed public information film designed to teach children road safety. 27 March – Following the launch the previous Autumn of in-vision continuity for children's programmes on the BBC, for the first time, in-vision presentation is introduced to holiday weekday morning children's programmes. The Easter period's ten programmes are presented by Roland Rat and are called Roland Rat's Easter Extravaganza.BBC Programme Index – BBC1 listings 27th March 1986 30 March – BBC 2 airs its twin-striped 2 ident for the final time between 5.45 and 9.10pm. The TWO ident makes its debut between 7.15 and 10pm and is used until 16 February 1991. 31 March – The network television premiere of the 1982 romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman on ITV, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger.

April 1 April All commercial activities of the BBC are now handled by BBC Enterprises Ltd. As part of the BBC's Drugwatch campaign, BBC1 airs It's Not Just Zammo, a Newsround special presented by John Craven and Nick Ross that seeks to warn younger viewers about the dangers of using drugs. The programme follows a recent drug abuse storyline in Grange Hill involving the character Zammo McGuire (Lee MacDonald) and features the launch of a version of the anti-drugs song "Just Say No", recorded by members of the Grange Hill cast. The song goes on to reach the top ten of the UK Singles Chart while members of the cast are invited to the White House to meet First Lady Nancy Reagan who founded the Just Say No campaign. 2 April – The first in-vision teletext service is seen on ITV when Central launches its Jobfinder service.Central Continuity and Adverts + closedown 31 March 1986 It broadcasts for one hour after the end of the day's programming. Many other regions launch their own Jobfinder service later in the 1980s. 3 April The children's animated series The Raggy Dolls makes its debut on ITV, narrated by Neil Innes. BBC1's Top of the Pops introduces its new theme tune "The Wizard" by Paul Hardcastle, which will be used until 1991. 5 April – ITV begins showing the final series of Robin of Sherwood, with Jason Connery starring as a new Robin Hood. 8 April – Miami Vice returns to BBC1 for its second season with the episode Phil the Shill, starring the singer Phil Collins. However, the majority of the episodes are shown out of order on the BBC with the feature-length opening season episode not broadcast until July 1987. 11 April – The music show The Chart Show makes its debut on Channel 4. 12 April – The network television premiere of John Carpenter's 1982 science-fiction horror remake film The Thing on ITV, starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, T. K. Carter and Richard Dysart. 17 April – Last edition of the snooker series Pot Black as a peak time series on BBC2 which was won by Jimmy White. The series was axed due to more snooker tournaments filling the season calendar and by then snooker was one of the most watched sports in the UK. It will return five years later as a daytime series. 20 April – The game between Hearts and Aberdeen is the first football league match in Scotland to be televised live, broadcast by Scottish Television. 25 April – BBC1 shows the very first Comic Relief. Pre-recorded at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, it features comedians such as Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson and Billy Connolly, with music from Kate Bush as well as Cliff Richard, appearing alongside the cast of The Young Ones. April – Ahead of the launch of Super Channel, negotiations which result in the merger of Super Channel and Music Channel Ltd begin. This will result in Music Box moving from being a stand-alone channel to being a segment within Super Channel when it launches next year.A Hot Star for Superchannel

May 1 May The sitcom Bread makes its debut on BBC1. Tim Roth stars in a new four–part drama miniseries King of the Ghetto on BBC2. 3 May – The Saturday morning children's series Get Fresh makes its debut on ITV, presented by Gareth Jones. 8 May – Television and radio broadcasts coverage of the local elections for the first time. The BBC airs coverage until around 2.30am. ITV's coverage is not a networked ITN special but is instead produced by individual companies. 9 May – BBC1 airs "Video Jukebox", a special extended edition of its Omnibus arts programme telling the story of the music video. It is presented by John Peel and John Walters. 11 May – Spitting Images "The Chicken Song" reaches No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, holding the position for three weeks. 14 May – The network television premiere of the 1982 science-fiction sequel Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on ITV, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and Ricardo Montalbán. 21 May – Debut of A Very Peculiar Practice on BBC2. 23 May – The final edition of Pebble Mill at One is broadcast on BBC1 after 14 years on the air. It ends ahead of the launch in the Autumn of a full daytime service on BBC1 which will see it being replaced by a new lunchtime news bulletin, the One O'Clock News. The series would return in 1991. 24 May – ITV London shows the network premiere of John Landis' 1980 musical comedy film The Blues Brothers, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. It is later shown on Central on 5 July and Granada on 7 November. 26 May – The hit US comedy series Moonlighting makes its UK debut on BBC1, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. It begins with the feature-length pilot and the rest of the series is shown on BBC2 from 29 May. 31 May–29 June – The BBC and ITV provide coverage of the 1986 FIFA World Cup.