1984 in British television

Events

January

• 4 January – Pat Phoenix leaves Coronation Street for the second and final time as Elsie Tanner goes to live with old flame Bill Gregory in Portugal, having been in the show since its inception in 1960.
• 7 January –
• *Fraggle Rock debuts on British television on ITV, nearly 1 year after airing on television in America. The series is a co-production by British television company Television South, CBC Television, U.S. pay television service HBO and Henson Associates.
• *Daytime Ceefax transmissions are renamed Pages from Ceefax following the decision by Radio Times to begin listing daytime Ceefax broadcasts.
• 9 January – Children's animated series Towser premieres on ABC in Australia several months before airing in its country of origin.
• 16 January – "The Satellite Channel" is renamed "Sky Channel".
• 30 January – The BBC's Panorama documentary strand broadcasts "Maggie's Militant Tendency" which claims links between several Conservative MPs and far-right organisations both in Britain and Europe. Two of the MPs named, Neil Hamilton and Gerald Howarth subsequently sue the BBC for slander. In 1986 after the BBC withdraws from the case Hamilton is awarded £20,000 damages.

  February

• 14 February – An estimated 24 million viewers watch Torvill and Dean win Gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics skating to Ravel's Boléro.

  March

• 10 March – British television debut of US teenage science fiction series Whiz Kids, aired as a Saturday feature by most ITV regions. Exceptions are Ulster which airs the series on Sundays and TVS which airs it at a later date.
• 16 March – Peter Davison's last serial as the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who, 'The Caves of Androzani', finished; Colin Baker became the Sixth Doctor in the same episode.
• 22 March –
• *Colin Baker makes his first full appearance as the Sixth Doctor in the Doctor Who serial "The Twin Dilemma".
• *Horse racing is shown on Channel 4 for the first time.
• 24 March – The Price Is Right makes its British television debut on ITV. The programme is produced for ITV by Central Television in association with Mark Goodson Productions and Talbot Television.
• 26 March - Return of the popular 1950s panel game show What's My Line? after 20 years, with original host Eamonn Andrews in the chair, now on ITV.

  April

• 15 April – Comedian and magician Tommy Cooper dies from a fatal heart attack on live television at the age of 63, during Live From Her Majesty's.

  May

• 10 May–14 June – First run of the five-part BBC Schools French language adventure series La Marée et ses Secrets, which is repeated each year until 1993.

  June

• 4 June – The hit animated series Danger Mouse is broadcast on children's cable network Nickelodeon in the US. It also became the first British cartoon to air on that channel as well as becoming one of the earliest British cartoons to be in syndication in America.
• 7 June – BBC1 airs the first edition of Crimewatch. The first case to be featured on the show is the murder of Colette Aram, which had occurred the previous year. A man is finally charged with the murder in 2009, and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2010 after pleading guilty.
• 23 June – ITV broadcasts the rock concert New Brighton Rock recorded at the event staged in the seaside resort of New Brighton, Merseyside over two days on 21 and 22 May.

  July

• 28–29 July – BBC2 hosts Jazz on a Summer's Day, a weekend of programmes devoted to jazz music.
• 28 July–12 August – BBC Television broadcasts the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Due to the Games taking place in Los Angeles, the BBC stays on air into the night to provide live coverage of the major events.

  August

• 25–26 August – For the second time, BBC2 Rocks Around the Clock.
• 27 August – Technicians at Thames Television walk out on strike over the use of new cameras and editing equipment along with overtime payments for transmission staff. The strike lasts for two weeks but the station is off the air for just one day over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Management and administration staff take over their roles, broadcasting a skeleton service.

  September

• 1 September – The Children's Channel original launched on satellite television.
• 2 September – British television premiere of the two-part US mini-series Lace on ITV.
• 3 September –
• *BBC1's teatime news hour is relaunched and now runs from 6pm until 7pm. A new 30-minute long news programme the Six O'Clock News is launched and this is followed by a longer regional news magazine, which is expanded to 25 minutes.
• *ITV airs the British television premiere of starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.
• 11 September – After making its debut in Australia, Towser finally premieres in the UK on ITV.
• 23 September – British single TV drama play Threads premiered on BBC2.

  October

• 5 October –
• *The very first television programme produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions The Family-Ness begins on BBC1.
• *BBC2 broadcasts an Open University programme at teatime for the final time.
• 6 October – TVTimes Magazine is rebranded back to its original TVTimes name.
• 8 October –
• * BBC2 launches a full afternoon service, consisting primarily of repeats of Dallas and old feature films.
• *The Australian soap Prisoner: Cell Block H makes its British television debut when Yorkshire Television becomes the first ITV region to begin airing the programme in a late night slot. It is followed by all other ITV regions over the following five years.
• *Scottish Television relaunches its regional news programme Scotland Today as a features-led magazine format with the news relegated to brief summaries before and after the programme.
• 9 October – The television series based on the children's books by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry and narrated by Ringo Starr, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is first broadcast on ITV, becoming one of the most successful children's TV programmes of all time since Postman Pat on the BBC three years prior. The programme would move to one future station Cartoon Network in the mid 90s, before returning to terrestrial television in 2003 and moving to its new permanent future station Channel 5 three years later.
• 15 October – Channel 4's output increases by 25%. The weekday schedules now begin at 2.30pm instead of 5:00pm, while weekend airtime starts at 1:00pm rather than 2:00pm.
• 16 October – The Bill, a police TV drama, airs for the first time on ITV. It debuted last year as a pilot show Wooden Top. When the last episode is shown in 2010 it will be the longest-running police procedural in British television history.
• 19 October – Yorkshire Television broadcasts a special documentary on the birth of Prince Harry.
• 23 October – BBC News newsreader Michael Buerk gives a powerful commentary of the famine in Ethiopia which has already claimed thousands of lives and reportedly has the potential to kill as many as 7 million people.

  November

• 3 November – Following the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October, coverage of her funeral is televised by the BBC and ITV.
• 4 November – Channel 4 airs London Weekend Television's four hour drama-documentary The Trial of Richard III.
• 7 November – BBC1 airs season 8 of the US drama series Dallas.
• 21 November – Debut of Alan Seymour's dramatisation of the John Masefield fantasy adventure novel The Box of Delights. The six part series concludes on Christmas Eve.

  December

• 1 December – The Cable Authority comes into existence and on 1 January 1985 it takes on the functions granted to it by the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984, paving the way for fully commercial cable franchise to be awarded on a city-by-city basis.
• 10 December – Channel 4 airs An Evening with Mary Tyler Moore, which episodes of St. Elsewhere and 'The Betty White Show.
• 26 December – Joan Hickson makes her debut as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in BBC1's eponymous television series, with the first part of a three-part adaptation of The Body in the Library. Part two airs on 27 December, and Part three on 28 December.
• 30 December – BBC1 airs the British television premiere of Kramer vs. Kramer'', the Oscar-winning 1979 legal drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

  Unknown

• Telstar TV, the UK's first pirate television station goes on air in Birmingham. The channel broadcasts for about eight weeks on the BBC2 transmitter in the Northfield and Rubery areas of the city, showing a mixture of films and pop videos after BBC2 closes at weekends. It goes unnoticed by the authorities for several weeks much to their embarrassment.

  Debuts

BBC1

• 4 January – Cockles
• 8 January – / The Thorn Birds
• 10 January – The District Nurse
• 11 January – Strangers and Brothers
• 12 January – Diana
• 19 January – The Living Planet
• 27 January – Sharon and Elsie
• 29 January –
• *Ever Decreasing Circles
• * Goodbye Mr. Chips
• *One by One
• 11 February –The Odd Job Man
• 22 February – Moonfleet
• 3 March – Driving Ambition
• 29 March – Missing from Home
• 7 April – The Laughter Show
• 12 May – Automan
• 4 June – Manimal
• 7 June – Crimewatch
• 25 June – Round and Round
• 9 July – The Kids of Degrassi Street
• 1 September – Bob's Full House
• 3 September –
• *North West Tonight
• *Inside Ulster
• *London Plus
• *Six O'Clock News
• 4 September – The Invisible Man
• 4 September – The Lenny Henry Show
• 6 September – The Magnificent Evans
• 12 September – Cold Warrior
• 14 September – Hartbeat
• 15 September – / The Tripods
• 24 September – Beat the Teacher
• 5 October – The Family-Ness
• 14 October – Big Deal
• 18 November – The Prisoner of Zenda
• 21 November – The Box of Delights
• 6 December – The Front Line
• 6 December – The Secret Servant
• 10 December –Hilary
• 21 December – City Lights
• 24 December – The ChuckleHounds
• 26 December – Miss Marple

  BBC2

• 5 January – The Hello Goodbye Man
• 13 January – A Family Man
• 31 January – Alas Smith and Jones
• 6 May – Sharing Time
• 20 June – Leaving
• 11 July – A Winter Harvest
• 10 September – Bootle Saddles
• 12 September – Sea of Faith
• 14 September – Freud
• 23 September – Threads
• 22 October – Lame Ducks
• 29 October –
• *Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee
• *Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery
• 14 November – Oxbridge Blues
• 27 November – The Clairvoyant
• 3 December –The New Statesman
• 17 December – Comrade Dad

  ITV

• 7 January –
• *// Fraggle Rock
• *Child's Play
• 8 January – Love and Marriage
• 9 January –
• *The Jewel in the Crown
• *Chocky
• 19 January – The Steam Video Company
• 13 February – Duty Free
• 22 February – The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
• 26 February – Spitting Image
• 7 March – Fresh Fields
• 10 March – Whiz Kids
• 24 March – The Price Is Right
• 26 March – Charlie
• 2 April – The Kit Curran Radio Show
• 10 April – How Dare You
• 18 April – Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
• 20 April - Through the Keyhole
• 24 April – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• 27 April – The Wind in the Willows
• 28 April – Robin of Sherwood
• 6 May – Surprise Surprise
• 31 May - Scarecrow and Mrs. King
• 6 June – Sorrell and Son
• 9 June – Aspel and Company
• 15 June – Pull the Other One
• 19 June – Singles
• 26 June – The Brief
• 8 July – Weekend Playhouse
• 12 July – Poor Little Rich Girls
• 17 July – The Lonelyhearts Kid
• 26 July – Starstrider
• 27 July –I Thought You'd Gone
• 30 July – V
• 10 August – / Annika
• 31 August – Me and My Girl
• 31 August – Mitch
• 31 August – // Inspector Gadget
• 1 September –
• *Bottle Boys
• *The Saturday Starship
• 2 September – Lace
• 5 September – Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
• 11 September – Towser
• 24 September – Tripper's Day
• 1 October – The Glory Boys
• 8 October – Prisoner Cell Block H Yorkshire region only
• 9 October – Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
• 13 October – Wide Awake Club
• 16 October – The Bill
• 17 October – Rub-a-Dub-Dub
• 5 November – Tickle on the Tum
• 7 November – Chish 'n' Fips
• 7 November – Travelling Man
• 8 November – Stanley Bagshaw
• 9 November – Eh Brian! It's a Whopper
• 21 November – Wil Cwac Cwac
• Unknown –
• *We Love TV

  Channel 4

• 3 January – The Far Pavilions
• 6 January – Dream Stuffing
• 22 March – Channel 4 Racing
• 14 July – They Came from Somewhere Else
• 10 August – Annika
• 10 September – Chance in a Million
• 22 October – Fairly Secret Army

  Channels

New channels

Rebranded channels

Television shows

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• 26 March - What's My Line?

  Continuing television shows

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon

  1930s

• BBC Cricket

  1940s

• Come Dancing

  1950s

• What's My Line?
• Panorama
• What the Papers Say
• The Sky at Night
• Blue Peter
• Grandstand

  1960s

• Coronation Street
• Songs of Praise
• Doctor Who
• World in Action
• Top of the Pops
• Match of the Day
• Crossroads
• Play School
• Mr. and Mrs.
• World of Sport
• Jackanory
• Sportsnight
• Call My Bluff
• The Money Programme
• The Big Match

  1970s

• The Old Grey Whistle Test
• The Two Ronnies
• Pebble Mill at One
• Rainbow
• Emmerdale
• Newsround
• Weekend World
• We Are the Champions
• Last of the Summer Wine
• That's Life!
• Wish You Were Here...?
• Arena
• Jim'll Fix It
• One Man and His Dog
• 3-2-1
• Grange Hill
• Terry and June
• The Book Tower
• Blankety Blank
• The Paul Daniels Magic Show
• Antiques Roadshow
• Question Time

  1980s

• Juliet Bravo
• Cockleshell Bay
• Children in Need
• Finders Keepers
• Freetime
• Game for a Laugh
• Tenko
• That's My Boy
• Razzamatazz
• Bergerac
• Odd One Out
• On Safari
• 'Allo 'Allo!
• Wogan
• Saturday Superstore
• The Tube
• Brookside
• Countdown
• Let's Pretend
• No. 73
• Timewatch
• Right to Reply
• Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
• Inspector Gadget
• Bananaman
• Just Good Friends
• Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
• Breakfast Time
• Dramarama
• Don't Wait Up
• Good Morning Britain
• First Tuesday
• Highway
• Blockbusters
• Ever Decreasing Circles
• Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
• The Trap Door
• James the Cat
• Channel 4 Racing

  Ending this year

• 12 January – Shelley
• 14 January – Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
• 17 February – A Fine Romance
• 29 March – Crown Court
• 2 April – Alphabet Zoo
• 3 April – The Jewel In The Crown
• 14 April – The Saturday Show
• 11 June – Rentaghost
• 19 June – The Young Ones
• 27 July – Sixty Minutes
• 16 October – Towser
• 20 November – Rub-a-Dub-Dub
• 24 November – The Gentle Touch
• 11 December – On Safari
• 20 December – Screen Test
• 21 December – Crackerjack
• 22 December – Punchlines

  Births

• 6 February – Gemma Merna, actress
• 7 March – Rachel Rice, actress and reality show contestant
• 28 March – Nikki Sanderson, actress
• 22 April – Michelle Ryan, actress
• 19 August – Simon Bird, actor
• 27 October – Kelly Osbourne, singer
• 16 November – Gemma Atkinson, actress and model
• 25 December – Georgia Tennant, actress

  Deaths