1967 in British television

Events

January

• 3 January – Trumpton is the second programme on BBC1 to be shot in colour.
• 7 January – Debut of The Forsyte Saga, a blockbuster BBC dramatisation in 26 50-minutes episodes, and the first British television program ever to be sold to the USSR.

  February

• 28 February – National and regional newspapers carry advertisements from the Independent Television Authority requesting applicants for various new ITV contracts, one of which is Programme Contractor for Yorkshire Area – All Week. Ten formal bids are received by the closing date.

  March

• No events.

  April

• 8 April – The United Kingdom wins the 12th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. The winning song is "Puppet on a String" performed by Sandie Shaw.

  May

• No events.

  June

• 12 June – The 1967 franchise round sees a number of changes being made to the ITV regional map, which will take effect from May to August 1968:
• *Any split weekday/weekend licences are removed in all regions, except London.
• *The London split is moved from Friday/Saturday to Friday at 7pm.
• *The North of England region is split into the North West and Yorkshire.
• *Granada, the existing weekday contractor for the North of England region, is given a seven-day licence for the new North West of England region.
• *Lord Thomson of Fleet is required to divest himself of most of his holding in Scottish Television.
• *A new company, Telefusion Yorkshire, later renamed Yorkshire Television, is given the licence to broadcast in the newly created Yorkshire region.
• *ATV wins the new seven-day Midlands licence, replacing ABC at the weekend.
• *ABC and Rediffusion, London are asked to form a joint company to take the London weekday franchise previously held by Rediffusion alone; the result, Thames Television, is 51% controlled by ABC.
• *The London Television Consortium, put together by David Frost wins the London weekend contract, which now includes Friday evenings from 7pm. They go on air as London Weekend Television.
• *Most controversially, TWW loses its franchise for Wales and the West of England to Harlech Television, which later becomes known as HTV on the arrival of UHF.
• 25 June – The Our World program airs to over 30 countries featuring performers from the represented countries; the segment for the United Kingdom features The Beatles performing "All You Need Is Love", with guests Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher, Graham Nash, Hunter Davies and others.

  July

• 1 July – BBC2 becomes Europe's first colour TV broadcaster. The colour service is launched with live coverage from the Wimbledon Championships.
• 2 July – The BBC's colour Test Card F, featuring Carole Hersee, is broadcast for the first time.
• 3 July – News at Ten premieres on ITV. It airs nightly on weeknights until 1999 before being axed. It is then reintroduced in 2001, axed again in 2004 and brought back for a second time in 2008.

  August

• No events.

  September

• 29 September
• *The Prisoner has its UK premiere on ATV and Grampian Television. The world premiere of the series occurs on 5 September when the series debuts on CTV in Canada.
• *Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons debuts on ITV

  October

• 13 October – Omnibus, an arts documentary series, begins.
• 23 October – Service Information is broadcast by the BBC for the first time. The bulletins are broadcast three times each weekday on BBC2.

  November

• No events.

  December

• 2 December – Colour television is officially launched on BBC2.
• 22 December – Dante's Inferno, Ken Russell's television film about Dante Gabriel Rossetti is shown in the Omnibus series.
• 25 December - Final edition of The Sooty Show shown on BBC TV after being cancelled by Paul Fox, the controller of BBC One. Part of the reason for the cancellation is due to his decision to clear out long-running television programmes on the channel to make way for new shows.
• 26 December
• *The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour airs on BBC1 in the UK.
• *Do Not Adjust Your Set premieres on ITV.

  Debuts

BBC1

• 2 January – Sword of Honour
• 3 January – The Trumptonshire Trilogy: Trumpton
• 6 January – The Whitehall Worrier
• 7 January – The Forsyte Saga
• 15 January – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• 22 January – Great Expectations
• 24 February – The World of Wodehouse
• 4 April – Dee Time
• 9 April – St. Ives
• 2 May – The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim
• 8 May – Mickey Dunne
• 21 May – The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
• 26 May – Not in Front of the Children
• 28 May – Champion House
• 12 June – Ask the Family
• 20 June – Misleading Cases
• 5 July – Rainbow City
• 1 August – Sorry I'm Single
• 4 August – Boy Meets Girl
• 28 August – The Queen's Traitor
• 10 September – Pride and Prejudice
• 30 September – The Talk of the Town
• 3 October – A Series of Bird's
• 22 October – Les Misérables
• 27 November – The Very Merry Widow

  BBC2

• 30 January – Before the Fringe
• 4 February – Girl in a Black Bikini
• 18 March – The Paradise Makers
• 28 March – The Revenue Men
• 27 April – Witch Hunt
• 3 June – This Way for Murder
• 12 June – Three of a Kind
• 22 July – Kenilworth
• 19 August – Angel Pavement
• 29 August – The Big M
• 16 September – The White Rabbit
• 28 October – Wuthering Heights
• 16 November – A Hundred Years of Humphrey Hastings
• 2 December – Vanity Fair
• 10 December – The Charlie Drake Show

  ITV

• 2 January – Turn Out the Lights
• 6 January –
• * Uncle Charles
• * Mr. Aitch 1967)
• 11 February – Who Is Sylvia?
• 15 February – At Last the 1948 Show
• 17 February – Mr. Rose
• 18 February – Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
• 24 February – My Man Joe
• 30 March – Seven Deadly Virtues
• 1 April – Vacant Lot
• 3 April – Market in Honey Lane
• 18 April – The Golden Age
• 23 April – Spindoe
• 16 May – Half Hour Story
• 19 May – The Fellows
• 27 May – Trapped
• 6 June – Hancock's
• 27 June – Sam and Janet
• 29 June – Sanctuary
• 1 July – The Golden Shot
• 3 July – News at Ten
• 6 July –
• * Danger Island
• * Send Foster
• 8 July – Callan
• 9 July – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• 18 July – Escape
• 19 August – Haunted
• 22 September – Baker's Half-Dozen
• 25 September –
• * ITV Playhouse
• * Sexton Blake
• 26 September – The Gamblers
• 27 September – The Flower of Gloster
• 28 September – Mystery Hall
• 29 September –
• *Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
• * Inheritance
• *Man in a Suitcase
• *The Prisoner
• 7 October – Sat'day While Sunday
• 29 October – The Pilgrim's Progress
• 14 November – No – That's Me Over Here!
• 8 December – City '68
• 26 December – Do Not Adjust Your Set''

  Television shows

Changes of network affiliation

Continuing television shows

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon

  1930s

• BBC Cricket

  1940s

• Watch with Mother
• Come Dancing

  1950s

• Andy Pandy
• The Good Old Days
• Panorama
• Take Your Pick
• Double Your Money
• Dixon of Dock Green
• Crackerjack
• Opportunity Knocks
• This Week
• Armchair Theatre
• What the Papers Say
• The Sky at Night
• Blue Peter
• Grandstand

  1960s

• Coronation Street
• The Avengers
• Songs of Praise
• The Saint
• Z-Cars
• Animal Magic
• Doctor Who
• World in Action
• The Wednesday Play
• Top of the Pops
• Match of the Day
• Crossroads
• Play School
• Mr. and Mrs.
• The Newcomers
• Not Only... But Also
• World of Sport
• Call My Bluff
• Softly, Softly
• The Trumptonshire Trilogy
• All Gas and Gaiters
• Jackanory
• It's a Knockout
• The Money Programme

  Ending this year

• Sunday Night at the London Palladium
• Emergency - Ward 10
• Hugh and I
• The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
• Batfink

  Births

• 2 January – Ruth Gemmell, actress
• 7 January – Mark Lamarr, British comedian/TV and radio presenter
• 14 January – Emily Watson, English actress
• 15 January – Paul J. Medford, actor
• 21 January – Tony Hirst, actor
• 16 February – Matthew Cottle, actor
• 21 February – Neil Oliver, archaeologist, historian, author and broadcaster
• 4 March – Tim Vine, actor and comedian
• 11 March – John Barrowman, Scottish-born actor
• 21 March – Adrian Chiles, television presenter
• 22 March – Joanne Malin, broadcaster and television presenter
• 2 April – Helen Chamberlain, television presenter
• 25 April – Tim Davie, BBC television executive
• 26 April – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, actress
• 4 May
• *Anna Botting, journalist and newsreader
• *Kate Garraway, journalist and television presenter
• 18 July – Paul Cornell, British television writer
• 19 July – Rageh Omaar, broadcaster
• 22 July – Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
• 26 July – Jason Statham, actor
• 19 August – Lucy Briers, actress
• 1 September – Steve Pemberton, English comedy writer and performer
• 18 September – Tara Fitzgerald, English actress
• 21 September
• *Susie Dent, British lexicographer on Countdown.
• *Christopher Price, television presenter
• 16 October – Davina McCall, British TV presenter and UK Big Brother host
• 14 November – Letitia Dean, British actress
• 15 November – Becky Anderson, journalist and newsreader
• Unknown – Miranda Sawyer, journalist and broadcaster

  Death

• 30 May – Claude Rains, 77, actor