This is a list of British television related events from 1978.
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January
- 2 January – The first episode of the science fiction series Blake's 7 is broadcast on BBC1.
- 4 January – The first edition of the arts series The South Bank Show is broadcast, presented by Melvyn Bragg and replaces Aquarius.
- 8 January – All Creatures Great and Small debuts on BBC1.
- 15 January – Ski Sunday makes its debut on BBC2.
- 20 January – The first of ITV's occasional An Audience With programmes is aired. The first presenter is Jasper Carrott.
- 21 January
- 27 January – In an interview for Granada Television's World in Action, Leader of the Opposition Margaret Thatcher remarks, "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture".[1] Critics regard the comment as a veiled reference to people of colour, thus pandering to xenophobia and reactionary sentiment. However, she receives 10,000 letters thanking her for raising the subject and the Conservatives gain a lead against Labour in the opinion polls.[2]
February
- 6 February – The BBC broadcasts the inaugural World Darts Championship run by the British Darts Organisation with evening highlights until 10 February.
- 8 February –The first episode of the influential Comprehensive school series Grange Hill is broadcast on BBC1. The Phil Redmond devised teenage drama would become one of the longest-running programmes on British television, lasting until 2008.[3][4]
- 13 February – Anna Ford becomes the first female newscaster on News at Ten.[5]
- 21 February – The supernatural drama series Armchair Thriller makes its debut on ITV. The series consisted of stand-alone serials of which the most popular, Quiet as a Nun, featured the infamous "Nun with No Face" scene.
- 22 February – The Police appear in an advert for Wrigley's chewing gum.
- 24 February – The BBC airs Going Straight. The sitcom is a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the real-life Slade Prison where Porridge had been set. The programme runs for one series.
April
- 3 April – ITV begins showing the courtroom drama series Rumpole of the Bailey, having originally debuted as a one-off drama on the BBC's Play for Today in 1975.
- 6 April – The four-part drama series Law & Order begins on BBC2. Each of the four stories within the series is told from a different perspective, including that of the Detective, the Villain, the Brief and the Prisoner. The series proves to be highly controversial upon its release due to its depiction of a corrupt British law enforcement and legal system.[6]
- 10 April – BBC1 debut the long running children's music quiz show Cheggers Plays Pop, hosted by Keith Chegwin.
- 17 April – The BBC begins broadcasting the World Snooker Championship with daily highlights until the final on 29 April. Previously, they only had highlights of the final on Grandstand with largely further coverage last year.
August
- 30 August - The first edition of Midweek Sports Special is broadcast on ITV.
November
- 6 November – ITV airs the first episode of Edward & Mrs. Simpson, a seven-part British television series that dramatises the events leading to the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII who gave up his throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.
- 10 November – Debut of Carla Lane's family sitcom Butterflies on BBC2, starring Wendy Craig.
- 13 November – The Association of Broadcasting Staffs imposes an overtime ban on its members working in drama, news and current affairs after talks on pay rise stalled. This resulted in blackout of early evening programmes on BBC2, before spreading to other programmes and on BBC1 by 14 December.[11]
- 23 November – 15th anniversary of the first episode of the long-running science-fiction series Doctor Who.
- 27 November – The Times reports that News International will sell 16% of its share in London Weekend Television, reducing its shares from 39.7% to 25%.[12]
- November – ITV starts broadcasting the ORACLE teletext service. It ends on 31 December 1992.
December
- 15 December – Scottish Television technical staff, who are members of the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, imposes an overtime ban over the company's use of freelance staff. This forced STV to go off the air at 4 p.m. that day.[13]
- 21–22 December – BBC1 and BBC2 are forced off the air due to industrial action at the BBC by the ABS union which starts on Thursday 21 December. The following day the radio unions join their BBC Television counterparts, forcing the BBC to merge their four national radio networks into one national radio station, the BBC All Network Radio Service, from 4pm that afternoon. The strike is settled shortly before 10pm on 22 December with the unions and BBC management reaching an agreement at the British government's industrial disputes arbitration service ACAS. BBC1 resumes broadcast at 3pm on Saturday 23 December with BBC2 resuming at 1pm the same afternoon. Threat of disruption to the BBC's festive television schedules is averted. BBC Radio networks resume normal schedules on the morning of Saturday 23 December.[14][15][16][17]
- 25 December
- 26 December – BBC1 screen the network television premiere of William Friedkin's 1971 Oscar winning crime thriller The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider.
- 28 December – ITV airs the final episode of The Sweeney.
- December – A strike forces Yorkshire Television off air throughout the entire Christmas period. The strike commenced on 17 December 1978, with normal service not resumed on Yorkshire Television until 5.45pm on Wednesday 3 January 1979. Many of ITV's Christmas programmes are eventually shown in early 1979 after the dispute has ended, little did anyone know that the seeds for the ITV Strike of 79 were sown.[11]
1920s
- BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1945–2019, 2021–present)
- 22 February – Jenny Frost, singer, dancer, television presenter and model
- 23 March — Joanna Page, actress
- 31 March – Daniel Mays, actor
- 28 April — Lauren Laverne, radio and television presenter and singer
- 29 May — Adam Rickitt, actor
- 10 July — Sarah-Jane Mee, journalist and news and sports presenter
- 11 July — Dustin Demri-Burns, actor, comedian and writer
- 24 July — Joanna Taylor, actress and model
- 19 August — Callum Blue, actor
- 8 November — Jane Danson, actress
- 17 November – Tom Ellis, actor
John Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter (Jonathan Cape, 2000), p. 400.
Peter Wainwright "News International to sell 16% of its shares in London Weekend Television", The Times, 27 November 1978; p.15