1981 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1981.

List of years in British television (table)
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Events

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January

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  • 1 January – The Channel Four Television Company is established in preparation for the launch of Channel 4.[1]
  • 5 January
    • Debut of the BBC1 soap Triangle,[2] a twice-weekly series set aboard a North Sea ferry and filmed on location using outside broadcast cameras.[3] The website TVARK describes the programme as being chiefly remembered as "some of the most mockable British television ever produced" owing to its clichéd storylines and stilted dialogue as well as being notable for its troubled production. It is axed after three series in 1983.[4]
    • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the television version of Douglas Adams' radio comedy of the same name, makes its debut on BBC2.[5]
  • 20 January – BBC2 airs live coverage of the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States.[6]
  • 22 January – The US sitcom Benson makes its UK debut on ITV.

February

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  • 5 February – BBC1 begins showing the American cartoon series Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.
  • 10 February – Alan Rogers' cutout animation series Pigeon Street makes its debut on BBC1.[7] The series runs until December before repeats on BBC1 and BBC2 throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
  • 13 February – Arthur Marshall makes his debut on the BBC2 game show Call My Bluff after the death of Patrick Campbell the previous November.
  • 27 February – ITV shows the pilot episode of Magnum P.I. starring Tom Selleck; the first series does not commence until 23 May.

March

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  • 12 March – Debut of the sitcom Sorry on BBC1, starring Ronnie Corbett.
  • 21 March – After an unprecedented seven years starring in Doctor Who, Tom Baker makes his final appearance as the Fourth Doctor in Part 4 of Logopolis. Peter Davison makes his first appearance as the Fifth Doctor at the conclusion of that story.
  • 29 March – BBC1 airs highlights of the first London Marathon under the International Athletics strand.[8] Live coverage of the event begins the following year.[9]
  • March – TV-am purchases a former car showroom in Camden as its headquarters. The building is subsequently renovated to create the Breakfast Television Centre.[10]

April

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June

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  • 2 June – The music series Razzamatazz makes its debut on ITV; it will run for 6 years.

July

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August

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  • 1 August – This week's issue of the Radio Times is not published due to a printing dispute.
  • 11 August – TSW takes over Westward Television but continues to use the Westward name until 1 January 1982.
  • 27 August – Moira Stuart, aged 31, is appointed as the BBC's first black newsreader.
  • 31 August – The network television premiere of Richard Donner's 1975 supernatural horror film The Omen on ITV, starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. The following morning, newspapers report numerous complaints of viewers being horrified after the showing of the movie.[13]
  • August – Southern sells its studios to TVS but continues to use them until its franchise runs out at the end of the year.

September

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October

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  • 3 October – TVTimes is rebranded as TVTimes Magazine, the premise for the change of name being that it now contains more than television listings.
  • 8 October – ITV airs the network television premiere of Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster thriller Jaws, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. The film is watched by an estimated 23 million viewers, making it the most watched film of the year.
  • 11 October – See Hear is launched on BBC1, initially as a series of 20 programmes. Broadcast with open subtitles It is presented in sign, thereby becoming the first regular television programme for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United Kingdom.[17]
  • 12 October – Brideshead Revisited, a television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel of the same name, makes its debut on ITV, starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews.
  • 18 October
  • 23 October – The last ever teatime block of Open University programmes is transmitted on BBC2 today. From the 1982 season, only a single Open University programme is aired, at 5:10pm ahead of the start of BBC2's evening programmes.
  • October – Scottish Television becomes the first ITV station to operate a regional ORACLE teletext service, containing over 60 pages of local news, sport and information.[18]

November

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  • November – BBC2 starts its weekdays at the earlier time of 3:55pm.
  • 2 November
    • The TV licence increases in price from £34 to £46 for a colour TV and £12 to £15 for black and white.
    • ITV debuts the popular children's series Marmalade Atkins, starring Charlotte Coleman as the teenage rebel.
  • 12 November – Noele Gordon, eight times winner of the TVTimes award for best actress, leaves Crossroads after playing Meg Richardson since the series began in 1964, having been sacked from the show.

December

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Unknown

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  • Radio Rental Cable Television launches the UK's first pay-per-view movie channel 'Cinematel' for cable viewers in Swindon. The channel later expands to Chatham, Kent. As well as showing movies, the channel also broadcasts some local programming, including one-off documentaries and a live news-magazine programme called Scene in Swindon launches. Also provided is a local teletext service with pages about film information, horoscopes, recipes, local bus times and job vacancies.

Debuts

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BBC1

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BBC2

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Channels

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New channels

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Date Channel
9 September Starview

Television shows

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Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

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Continuing television shows

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1920s

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

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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1970s

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1980s

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Ending this year

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Births

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Deaths

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Date Name Age Cinematic Credibility
1 January Victor Carin 47 actor and screenwriter
12 January Isobel Elsom 87 actress
16 January Bernard Lee 73 actor
27 January Roger Burford 76 screenwriter (Maigret)
26 February Gerald Cross 69 actor
Roger Tonge 35
28 February Talbot Rothwell 64 screenwriter
4 March Ian Engelmann 47 television producer
5 March Totti Truman Taylor 65 actress
8 April Eric Rogers 59 theme tune composer
15 April Blake Butler 56 actor
24 May Jack Warner 85 actor
13 June Joan Benham 63 actress
18 June Richard Goolden 75 actor
27 August Peter Eckersley 45 television producer
30 August Rita Webb 77 actress
4 September David Peel 61 actor
11 September Harold Bennett 82 actor
21 September Nigel Patrick 69 actor
24 September John Ruddock 84 actor
25 October Eric Woodburn 87 actor
27 October Val Gielgud 81 pioneer director of broadcast drama
30 October Terry Bishop 69 television director
7 November Arthur Lovegrove 68 actor
3 December Joey Deacon 61 author and television personality
17 December George Moon 72 actor

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Channel 4's 25 year Anniversary" (PDF). Channel 4. 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Triangle". 1 January 1981. p. 43. Retrieved 27 January 2019 – via BBC Genome.
  3. ^ "The Sunday Post: Soap on the Box". BBC Genome Blog. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Soaps | British". TVARK. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  5. ^ "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy – BBC Two England – 5 January 1981 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  6. ^ "The President's Inauguration – BBC Two England – 20 January 1981". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Pigeon Street – BBC One London – 10 February 1981 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  8. ^ "International Athletics – BBC One – 29 March 1981". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  9. ^ "London's Marathon – BBC One – 9 May 1982". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  10. ^ "TV-am Studios". Ian White. 2005.
  11. ^ "BBC Two England – 17 May 1981 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  12. ^ "1981: Charles and Diana marry". On This Day. BBC. 1981-07-29. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
  13. ^ "Satanic Panic: When British TV Viewers were Traumatised by The Omen".
  14. ^ "News After Noon – BBC One London – 7 September 1981 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  15. ^ Jason, David (2017). Only Fools and Stories. Arrow: Arrow. p. 95. ISBN 9781784758790.
  16. ^ "Subscription tv by cable". Wireless World. November 1981.
  17. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC One 11 October 1981
  18. ^ Saunders, Jim (12 October 1981). "Turn to the Oracle to be kept in the picture". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  19. ^ "What the Papers Say in pictures". The Guardian. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
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