List of years in British television

This page indexes the individual year in British television pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

1920s 1926 in British television – John Logie Baird demonstrates the world's first television system. 1927 in British television – The BBC begins broadcasting as the British Broadcasting Corporation under the royal charter. 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 – John Logie Baird 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 1932 in British television – BBC Television begins broadcasting a regular channel, which later becomes BBC One. 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 – Electronically scanned television begins from Alexandra Palace. 1937 in British television – First outside broadcast at the Coronation of King George VI. 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 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. World War II ends on 2 September. 1946 in British television – The BBC resumes broadcasting for the first time since the end of World War II. 1947 in British television – The BBC Television Service broadcasts are temporarily suspended since World War II due to a national fuel crisis. 1948 in British television – The BBC Television Service resumes broadcasting again and begins its coverage of the Olympic Games in London. 1949 in British television – The Sutton Coldfield television transmitter is opened in the Midlands, making it the first part of the UK outside London to receive BBC Television and long-running dancing show Come Dancing 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, making BBC Television available to the region for the first time. 1952 in British television – The funeral of King George VI is televised in the UK. 1953 in British television – The coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sees a vast increase in television set sales. 1954 in British television – The Grove Family, 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 on British television. 1956 in British television – Hancock's Half Hour, regarded as the first modern sitcom which began on BBC Radio, is transferred to BBC television. ITV's Granada and ATV regions go on air during weekdays. The weekend franchise in both areas is operated by ABC Weekend TV. 1957 in British television – The Sky at Night, the longest-running television programme hosted by the same presenter, Patrick Moore, begins on the BBC. ITV's Scottish region goes on air. 1958 in British television – ITV's TWW and Southern regions go on air and Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's programme, is first broadcast by the BBC along with long-running various sport show Grandstand. 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 regions go on air.

1960s 1960 in British television – 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. Coronation Street, Britain's longest-running television soap, debuts on ITV. Nan Winton becomes the first national female newsreader on BBC television. 1961 in British television – ITV's Westward, Border and Grampian regions are established. The Avengers and Points of View debut on British television. 1962 in British television – ITV finally arrives in North West Wales and the Channel Islands with the launch of Wales West and North Television and Channel Television and the satirical show That Was The Week That Was begins to run for only two series. 1963 in British television – The science fiction series Doctor Who is aired for the first time and the satirical show That Was The Week That Was comes to an end after series 2. 1964 in British television – BBC Two goes on the air and long-running football and music shows Top of the Pops and Match of the Day are both launched and Stingray begins on ITV. 1965 in British television – Cigarette 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 – Cathy Come Home, possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television, is presented in BBC One's The Wednesday Play anthology strand. 1967 in British television – BBC Two begins colour broadcasting at the Wimbledon Championships and Patrick McGoohan's cult television series The Prisoner debuts on ITV, along with Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and News at Ten is also launched on ITV. 1968 in British television – 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 begins along with Joe 90. 1969 in British television – Where Were You On the Day War Broke Out? became a documentary TV Programme about when the BBC stopped broadcasting TV and carried on broadcasting radio, Regular colour television broadcasting begins on BBC One and ITV, and British viewers watches footage of the 1969 Moon landing. Popular ground-breaking sketch comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus debuts on BBC One.

1970s 1970 in British television – The BBC Nine O'Clock News 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 BBC Two, as well as The Adventures of Rupert Bear. 1971 in British television – End of ITV's colour strike, Launch of the Old Grey Whistle Test, popular comedy show The Two Ronnies and the popular series Upstairs, Downstairs. 1972 in British television – First Community Cable Television Experiment awarded to Greenwich Cablevision. – Debut of BBC One's Newsround and ITV's Emmerdale Farm, both of which continue to air to the present day, and Rainbow. 1973 in British television – Debuts of Thames Television's critically acclaimed documentary series The World at War, and The Wombles on BBC Two. 1974 in British television – The BBC teletext service Ceefax first goes on air with 30 pages of information, and the Saturday morning children's entertainment series Tiswas is launched by ATV. 1975 in British television – The popular sitcom Fawlty Towers first appears along with The Good Life, Space 1999 and Paddington Bear on British television screens, as well as the police drama The Sweeney. 1975 also sees the first transmission of a James Bond film on British television. 1976 in British television – The Multicoloured Swap Shop opens on the BBC, Punk group the Sex Pistols cause a storm of controversy and outrage in the UK by swearing well before the watershed on the regional Thames Television news programme Today, hosted by Bill Grundy 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, an Anglo-Italian television miniseries dramatizing the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels debuts on British television. The series stars Robert Powell as Jesus. 1978 in British television – Anna Ford becomes the first female news reader on ITN and the first of ITV's An Audience with is aired, presented by Jasper Carrott. 1979 in British television – Technicians at Thames Television 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, Ceefax begins subtitles for some programmes, Robin Day presents the first edition of Question Time and Terry Wogan presents the first edition of Blankety Blank.

1980s 1980 in British television – Launch of Newsnight, the first televising of Watchdog, Family Fortunes and Play Your Cards Right both debut on ITV and the first BBC Children in Need telethon. 1981 in British television – Viewers watch the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, Only Fools and Horses and Postman Pat both debut on BBC One. Danger Mouse debuts on ITV. ATV, Southern, and Westward go off air after losing their broadcasting franchises – they are replaced on 1 January 1982 by Central, TVS and TSW respectively. 1982 in British television – Channel 4, Britain's fourth terrestrial channel, goes on air, along with the first airing of its first and long running teatime game show Countdown and first animated Christmas special The Snowman; S4C, a Welsh-language version is also launched. "The Satellite Channel", the channel which later became Sky One, also goes on air. 1983 in British television – BBC One and ITV launch their respective breakfast television services. Children's ITV is also launched. 1983 also sees Bob Holness presenting the first edition of Blockbusters on ITV. 1984 in British television – Thames Television goes off the air for one day when technical staff walk out on strike, BBC One airs the first edition of Crimewatch and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends debuts on ITV 12 years before moving to satellite channels Cartoon Network and Nick Jr. 1985 in British television – EastEnders debuts along with Howards' Way, Bertha and Telly Addicts on BBC One, The 17-hour Live Aid concert takes place in both London and Philadelphia, The last 405-line transmitters are switched off in the UK and Children's BBC is also launched. 1986 in British television – BBC One begins a full daytime schedule service for the first time with Australian soap Neighbours making its UK debut as part of the schedule, while Yorkshire becomes the first ITV region to begin broadcasting 24 hours a day. 1986 also sees Neighbours make its British television debut along with Pingu, Casualty and Catchphrase.