Overview of the events of 1979 in British television
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This is a list of British television related events from 1979.
Events
January
- 2 January
- 3 January – The children's series The Book Tower makes its debut on ITV, featuring dramatizations of books as well as interviews with authors.
- 3 January – ITV programming resumes in the Yorkshire Television region at 5.45pm, with the station off air for the previous 17 days due to industrial action.
- 6 January – The US police series CHiPs makes its debut on ITV.
- 16 January – David Attenborough's innovative nature documentary Life on Earth debuts on BBC2.
- 18 January – The long-running game show Blankety Blank makes its debut on BBC1, presented by Terry Wogan.
- 28 January – Thomas & Sarah, a spin-off of Upstairs, Downstairs, makes its debut on ITV. It runs for only one series.
February
March
- 3 March
- 10 March – The US sitcom Mork and Mindy makes its UK debut on ITV, starring Robin Williams.
- 16 March
- 19 March – Richard Beckinsale, best known for The Lovers, Rising Damp, Porridge and its spin-off Going Straight and Bloomers, dies of a congenital heart defect at the age of 31 or 32.
- 24 March – Tales of the Unexpected, an Anglia series based on the short stories of Roald Dahl, makes its debut on ITV.
April
May
- 3–4 May – BBC1 and ITV air coverage of the 1979 General Election which is won by the Conservatives and sees Margaret Thatcher become the first female Prime Minister of the UK.[1] The election sees both the Conservatives and Labour include plans for a fourth channel in their election manifestos. Labour favours an Open Broadcasting Authority community service aimed at minority groups while the Conservatives plan is for the channel to be given to ITV, but expresses a preference for a fourth channel to be an independent entity.[2] Both parties also pledge to launch a separate Welsh language television service for Wales.[3]
- 21 May – John Craven's Newsround goes on its Summer break as it has done since its launch in 1972. When it returns on 10 September, it will run all year round.
June
July
August
- 6 August
- Technicians at Thames go on strike following a long-running dispute.[4]
- Debut of the motorcross game show Kick Start on BBC1.
- A Picture of Tom Keating is rebroadcast with a new sequence covering Keating's trial in February.
- 10 August – The whole of the ITV network, except Channel Television, is affected by a technicians strike for eleven weeks.
- 25 August – BBC1 show the 1966 Batman movie. This is the first UK wide broadcast after previously being shown on only a select few ITV regions.
- 27 August – Lord Mountbatten of Burma is murdered by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb. His death sets a record audience for a news bulletin as 26 million viewers watch the coverage on BBC1. Strike action at ITN has led to the record viewing figures.
September
- 2 September – Subtitling of programmes on Ceefax begins.
- 3 September – Battle of the Planets, the US adaptation of the popular Japanese science-fiction animated series Gatchaman, makes its debut on BBC1. It is shown until 1985.
- 7 September – BBC1 begin showing the US children's series The Red Hand Gang.
- 10 September – The first episode of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy airs on BBC2 with Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
- 25 September – Robin Day presents the first edition of the long-running political debate programme Question Time on BBC1 with the panellists Michael Foot, Edna O'Brien, Teddy Taylor and Derek Worlock. It continues to air into the 2020s.
- 27 September – Debut of the short-lived sitcom Bloomers on BBC2, starring Richard Beckinsale in his final TV appearance.
- 30 September – BBC1 launch the massively popular sitcom To the Manor Born, starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles. The final episode of the series, shown on 11 November, is watched by 23.95 million viewers, the all-time highest figure for a recorded programme in the UK.[5]
- September – Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw outlines plans for a fourth channel.[6] However, he backs away from establishing a Welsh language channel for Wales, instead favouring a continuation of the status quo whereby Welsh language content is aired by BBC Wales and HTV.[3]
October
November
- 16 November – The Japanese martial arts fantasy series Monkey makes its debut on BBC2 with dubbed English dialogue.
December
Unknown
Debuts
BBC1
BBC2
- 16 January – Life on Earth (1979)
- 17 January – The Innes Book of Records (1979–1981)
- 15 March – Malice Aforethought (1979)
- 18 April – Matilda's England (1979)
- 22 May – Crime and Punishment (1979)
- 24 June
- Big Jim and the Figaro Club (1979–1981)
- Turning Year Tales (1979)
- 2 September – Diary of a Nobody (1979)
- 6 September – Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack (1979)
- 10 September – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
- 26 September – The Camerons (1979)
- 27 September – Bloomers (1979)
- 16 October – Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982)
- 28 October – Friday Night, Saturday Morning (1979–1982)
- 4 November – Testament of Youth (1979)
- 15 November – Kelly Monteith (1979–1984)
- 16 November – Monkey (1978–1980)
ITV
- 2 January
- 3 January – The Book Tower (1979–1989)
- 6 January
- CHiPs (1977–1983)
- Dick Turpin (1979–1982)
- Dick Barton - Special Agent (1979)
- 8 January
- The Ken Dodd Laughter Show (1979)
- Feet First (1979)
- Danger UXB (1979)
- 11 January – The Jim Davidson Show (1979–1982)
- 14 January – Thomas & Sarah (1979)
- 17 January – Take My Wife (1979)
- 2 February – Flambards (1979)
- 21 February – Park Ranger (1979)
- 23 February – House of Caradus (1979)
- 25 February – Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981 ITV, 1987–1989, 2019 BBC)
- 27 February – How's Your Father? (1979–1980)
- 10 March – Mork & Mindy (1978–1982)
- 11 March – Agony (1979–1981)
- 22 March – The Secret Hospital (1979) (documentary)
- 24 March – Tales of the Unexpected (1979–1985, 1987–1988)
- 2 April –Chalk and Cheese (1979)
- 7 April
- Kidnapped (1979)
- Lovely Couple (1979)
- 15 April – End of Part One (1979–1980)
- 23 April
- 28 April – After Julius (1979)
- 21 May – In Loving Memory (1979–1986)
- 22 May – Thundercloud (1979)
- 3 June – The Danedyke Mystery (1979)
- 10 June – The Mallens (1979-1980)
- 9 July – Spooner's Patch (1979–1982)
- 10 July – Sapphire & Steel (1979–1982)
- 11 July – Murder at the Wedding (1979)
- 12 July – Shelley (1979–1984, 1988–1992)
- 27 July
- 28 July – The Cannon and Ball Show (1979–1988)
- 29 July
- Screenplay (1979–1981)
- Tropic (1979)
- 8 August – Border Country (1979)
- 12 August – Sally Ann (1979)
- 24 October – Quatermass (1979)
- 29 October
- Only When I Laugh (1979–1982)
- Minder (1979–1994, 2009)
- 10 November – Two People (1979)
- 11 November
- 21 November – The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game (1979–1980)
- 1 December – The Allan Stewart Tapes (1979)
- 23 December – Cribb (1979–1981)
- 31 December – The Ravelled Thread (1979)
- Unknown
BBC Scotland
Television shows
Changes of network affiliation
Returning this year after a break of one year or longer
Continuing television shows
1920s
- BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Ending this year
Births
- 8 January – Tomasz Schafernaker, Polish-born weather presenter
- 23 January – Dawn O'Porter, Scottish fashion designer and journalist
- 2 February – Christine Bleakley, television presenter
- 13 February – Lucy Brown, actress
- 10 March – Laura Rogers, actress
- 20 March – Freema Agyeman, actress
- 12 April – Paul Nicholls, actor
- 29 April – Jo O'Meara, singer, dancer and actress
- 10 May – Lara Lewington, weather and television presenter
- 20 May – Rick Edwards, television presenter
- 27 May – Jeff Brazier, television presenter and reality show contestant
- 12 June – Jodie Prenger, actress and singer
- 27 July – Julia Haworth, actress
- 9 November – Caroline Flack, television presenter and actress (died 2020)
- 19 November – Katherine Kelly, actress
- 29 November – Simon Amstell, comedian and television presenter
- Unknown
Deaths
See also
References
- ^ ""Election victory for Margaret Thatcher" BBC On This Day". BBC News. 1979-05-04. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
- ^ Hastings, David (18 November 2007). "Launch of a Revolution – C4/S4C". Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- ^ a b Hancock, Dafydd. "A channel for Wales". EMC Seefour. Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009.
- ^ Aylett, Glenn. "Talk of Thames: Strike Out". Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
- ^ "Britain's Most Watched TV – the 1980s". British Film Institute. 2006-09-04. Archived from the original on 2005-11-22. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
- ^ "Channel 4's 25 year Anniversary" (PDF). Channel 4. 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- ^ "The Tuesday Film: Gawain and the Green Knight – BBC One London – 18 December 1979 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- ^ "What the Papers Say in pictures". The Guardian. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
- ^ "Malcolm Hulke". randomhouse.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ^ "Did spy writer's disappearance mirror his fiction?", John O'Groat Journal and Caithness Courier, 3 January 2013 Archived 15 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2 April 2015
- ^ John Parker (ed), Who's Who in the Theatre 15th edition, Pitman Publishing 1972.
External links
- List of 1979 British television series at IMDb