1964 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1964.

List of years in British television (table)
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Events

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January

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February

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  • 9 February – Launch of BBC Wales TV.
  • 18 February – BBC1's comedy series Steptoe and Son becomes one of the most popular programmes on television, watched by an audience of 21.54 million viewers.

March

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April

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  • 1 April – The Bressay transmitting station in the Shetland Islands comes into service, making the islands the last area of the United Kingdom to get a television transmitter.
  • 6 April – Associated-Rediffusion changes its name to Rediffusion, London.
  • 20 April – The scheduled opening night of BBC2, the UK's third television channel, is disrupted by power cuts in London, and all that can be screened is announcer Gerald Priestland delivering apologies from Alexandra Palace.[5][6] The existing BBC TV channel is renamed BBC1.
  • 21 April – Play School is first broadcast on BBC2. The launch schedule, abandoned on the previous day, is shown in full that evening.
  • 26 April – News Review, a summary of the week's news with subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, is broadcast for the first time as part of the launch of BBC2.
  • 29 April – ITV launches in the south west, broadcasting as Westward Television.
  • 30 April – Television sets manufactured as of this date are required to receive UHF channels.
  • 5 May – The documentary film Seven Up! is broadcast on ITV, showing the lives of fourteen school children. Subsequent films in the series see them interviewed every seven years.
  • 12 May – ITV London region starts showing the US science fiction horror anthology series The Twilight Zone.
  • 13 May – The character Martha Longhurst dies of a heart attack in the snug of The Rovers Return on Coronation Street.
  • 30 May – The 26-part documentary series The Great War covering events in World War I begins airing on the BBC.

June

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  • No events.

July

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August

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  • 4 August – The first portable televisions go on sale.
  • 22 August – The first Match of the Day airs on BBC2.[7] The following episodes move to BBC1.

September

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  • 18 September – Doctor Who goes to air on NZBC in New Zealand making it the first country outside of the United Kingdom to broadcast the long-running science fiction series. It will first air in the region of Christchurch from 18 September to 11 December 1964, then in Auckland from 30 October 1964 to 29 January 1965, Wellington from 6 November 1964 to 5 February 1965 and Dunedin from 5 March to 28 May 1965.
  • 28 September – In the Midlands, BBC1 airs the first edition of its local news programme, Midlands Today.[8]

October

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November

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December

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Undated

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  • Some 90% of British households now own a television, compared to around 25% in 1953 and 65% in 1959.[12]

New channels

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Date Channel
20 April BBC2

Debuts

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BBC Television Service/BBC TV/BBC1

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BBC2

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Television shows

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Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

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  • 13 October – Danger Man (1960–1961, 1964–1968)

Continuing television shows

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1920s

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  • BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–2024)

1930s

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  • Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present)
  • The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
  • BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

1940s

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1950s

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1960s

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Ending this year

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Births

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Deaths

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Top of the Pops – BBC Television – 1 January 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  2. ^ Simpson, Jeff (2002). Top of the Pops: 1964–2002. BBC Worldwide. p. 1955. ISBN 978-0-563-53476-1. Archived from the original on 2022-03-26. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  3. ^ "Top of the Pops – BBC Studios (Rusholme)". www.manchesterbeat.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  4. ^ "BBC Two England – 4 January 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  5. ^ "BBC Two England – 20 April 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  6. ^ "BBC2 Opening Night". British TV History. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  7. ^ "Match of the Day – BBC Two England – 22 August 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  8. ^ Young, Graham (27 September 2014). "BBC Midlands Today celebrates 50 year anniversary". Birmingham Mail. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  9. ^ Webb, Alban. "The Invention of General Election Broadcasting: 1960–". History of the BBC. BBC. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  10. ^ "The Wednesday Play: A Crack in the Ice – BBC One London – 28 October 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Culloden – BBC One London – 15 December 1964 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  12. ^ Lambert, Tim. "Britain Since 1948". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  13. ^ Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline
  14. ^ "What the Papers Say in pictures". The Guardian. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  15. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 153. ISBN 9781476625997. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Robert Wilson – The Voice of Scotland Volume One" Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Beltona Record Company, accessed 27 October 2010
  17. ^ "Charles Samuel Franklin". Graces Guide. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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