2 January – A special edition of Tomorrow's World travels back a century to discover the latest developments in science and technology from 1886.[2]
4 January – Televised football returns to British television after the contractual dispute from the previous year is resolved.
6 January – Debut of the children's animated series and second programme in the trilogy to be produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, Jimbo and the Jet-Set on BBC1.
BBC2 launches the follow-up series to the acclaimed political satire Yes Minister with Yes, Prime Minister.
10 January – Debut of the comedy-drama mystery series Lovejoy on BBC1, starring Ian McShane as the titular roguish antiques dealer, based on the novels by Jonathan Gash and adapted for television by Ian La Frenais. Despite being a moderate rating success it was not brought back until 6 January 1991, following a five-year gap between the first and second series.
12 January – Debut of the high-tech game show Catchphrase on ITV, presented by Roy Walker.
14 January – Debut of the private detective series Boon on ITV, starring Michael Elphick.
17 January – BBC1 airs a feature-length episode of US soap Dynasty that sets up the storyline ready for the spin-off series Dynasty II: The Colbys which begins on 24 January.[3]
19 January – Debut of the Screen Two film The Silent Twins, a drama based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twin sisters known as the "Silent Twins" because they refuse to speak to anyone but each other.[4]
4 February – Thorn EMI sells its stake in Swindon Cable to British Telecom and the new owners axe Focus on Swindon and other local programming and replaces it with bought-in content.
19 February – BBC1 airs Round Britain Whizz, an edition of the science documentary series Q.E.D..[6] The 30-minute programme consists of a sped up flight around the coastline of Great Britain with guest appearances from geologists and TV personalities including Patrick Moore, David Bellamy and Terry Wogan telling the viewer about the geology and natural history of certain areas.
February – For the first time in the UK, animated graphics are seen during teletext transmissions. They are broadcast on Channel 4. This is made possible by transmitting 4-Tel On View from a disc rather than live.
5 March – BBC1 starts airing season 9 of the US drama series Dallas beginning with a feature-length episode.[7] This season is often referred to as the so-called "Dream Year" of the character Pam Ewing.
10 March – The first advert for a sanitary towel is broadcast on British television on Channel 4.[8]
23 March – The television play Shergar, telling the story of the theft of the racehorse Shergar, is aired as part of BBC2's Screen Two anthology series. The film stars Stephen Rea and Gary Waldhorn.[9]
26 March – Debut of the SuperTed public information film designed to teach children road safety.
27 March – Following the launch the previous Autumn of in-vision continuity for children's programmes on the BBC, for the first time, in-vision presentation is introduced to holiday weekday morning children's programmes. The Easter period's ten programmes are presented by Roland Rat and are called Roland Rat's Easter Extravaganza.[10]
30 March – BBC2 launches the TWO ident which is used until 16 February 1991.
All commercial activities of the BBC are now handled by BBC Enterprises Ltd.
As part of the BBC's Drugwatch campaign, BBC1 airs It's Not Just Zammo, a Newsround special presented by John Craven and Nick Ross that seeks to warn younger viewers about the dangers of using drugs. The programme follows a recent drug abuse storyline in Grange Hill involving the character Zammo McGuire (Lee MacDonald) and features the launch of a version of the anti-drugs song "Just Say No", recorded by members of the Grange Hill cast. The song goes on to reach the top ten of the UK Singles Chart while members of the cast are invited to the White House to meet First Lady Nancy Reagan who founded the Just Say No campaign.[11][12][13]
2 April – The first in-vision teletext service is seen on ITV when Central launches its Jobfinder service.[14] It broadcasts for one hour after the end of the day's programming. Many other regions launch their own Jobfinder service later in the 1980s.
8 April – Miami Vice returns to BBC1 for its second season with the episode Phil the Shill, starring the singer Phil Collins. However, the majority of the episodes are shown out of order on the BBC with the feature-length opening season episode not broadcast until July 1987.
11 April – The music show The Chart Show makes its debut on Channel 4.
3 May – The Saturday morning children's series Get Fresh makes its debut on ITV, presented by Gareth Jones.
9 May – BBC1 airs "Video Jukebox", a special extended edition of its Omnibus arts programme telling the story of the music video. It is presented by John Peel and John Walters.[17]
23 May – The final edition of Pebble Mill at One is broadcast on BBC1 after 14 years on the air. It ends ahead of the launch in the Autumn of a full daytime service on BBC1 which will see it being replaced by a new lunchtime news bulletin, the One O'Clock News. The series would return in 1991.
26 May – The hit US comedy series Moonlighting makes its UK debut on BBC1, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. It begins with the feature-length pilot and the rest of the series is shown on BBC2 from 29 May.
31 May–29 June – The BBC and ITV provide coverage of the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
May – Ealing Cable launches Indra Dhnush, a subscription-based Asian service devoted to Hindi films and television programmes with some material in other Indian languages for 16 hours a day.
18 July – The Crystal Palace transmitter becomes the first in the world to transmit stereophonic sound using the NICAM digital sound system when it broadcasts the First Night of the Proms in stereo.
24 July – BBC1 airs the opening ceremony from the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh which includes a 45-minute display produced by the BBC that celebrates the Spirit of Youth.[25]
24 July–2 August – The BBC airs the 1986 Commonwealth Games and for the first time they are shown live and in full with around ten hours of live coverage each day.
31 July – Debut of the long-running science series Equinox on Channel 4.
The police procedural series The Bill makes its Australian television debut on ABC.
9 August – The Yorkshire ITV region becomes the first UK terrestrial channel to broadcast 24 hours a day, simulcasting the cable and satellite music video channel Music Box throughout the night. The other ITV regions gradually switch to 24-hour television over the next two years.
16 August – The FA Charity Shield is shown live in its entirety for the first time when ITV provides coverage of the match involving Everton and Liverpool.
21 August – Channel 4 announces the introduction of its red triangle to "indicate certain late-night feature films for which special discretion may be required".[8]
24 August – Granada's "continuing drama series" Albion Market airs its 100th and final episode. The show is cancelled after less than a year on air due to poor ratings and negative reviews.
26 August – In Emmerdale Farm, original character Pat Sugden dies after rolling her car down a hillside to avoid a flock of sheep.
29 August – After 16 years, London Weekend Television drops its river-based logo and launches a new ident.[27]
30 August – BBC1 begins a run of films making their debut on British television, under the banner of Saturday Night at the Movies. The first in the run is Harold Becker's 1981 drama Taps, starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise.[28]
31 August
Debut of Alan Bleasdale's four-part World War I drama The Monocled Mutineer on BBC1, starring Paul McGann. [29] The series causes some controversy when some right-wing newspapers cite it as an example of what they believe to be a left-wing bias of the BBC.[30]
1 September – The sitcom Brush Strokes makes its debut on BBC1.
2 September – Ahead of the launch of all-day television on BBC1, the weekly magazine programme for Asian women, Gharbar, transfers back to BBC2. It moves to a new day and new slot, 9am on Tuesdays.
Debut of the long-running medical drama Casualty on BBC1.[33] Although an immediate success with viewers, the show attracts controversy because of its portrayal of an under-funded National Health Service, which is seen as a criticism of Margaret Thatcher's government.[34]
The network television premiere of Stanley Donen's 1980 science-fiction thriller Saturn 3 on BBC1.[35]
9 September – The last ever non-stop all-day BBC2 Ceefax transmission takes place.
13 September – The network television premiere of the 1983 horror film sequel Psycho II on ITV, with Anthony Perkins reprising his role as Norman Bates.
14 September – Matthew Parris succeeds Brian Walden as presenter of Weekend World.
15 September – BBC1 screen the network television premiere of the 1982 action film First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.
19 September
Central revives New Faces. Styled as New Faces of '86, it is presented by Marti Caine, a winner from the previous version.
From that day, Channel 4 shows a red triangle at the start of and during films with adult themes. The first use of the warning is for the film Themroc, aired at 11:30pm. After lobbying from newspapers and pressure groups, this method of identifying such material was phased out within a year.
20 September – The network television premiere of Gordon Carroll's helicopter action thriller Blue Thunder on BBC1 and shown censored with profanities redubbed for television.[36]
20–21 September – For the third and final time, BBC2 goes Rock Around the Clock.[37]
24 September – The children's series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends returns for it's second series on ITV with Ringo Starr returning as the narrator. The upcoming episodes will also introduce new characters including Trevor, Bill and Ben, Donald and Douglas, Daisy, Diesel, Duck, Boco and Harold.
12 October – "Every Loser Wins", performed by the actor Nick Berry, begins a three-week run at the top of the UK Singles Chart after featuring in recent episodes of EastEnders. The song was an instant hit upon its release and went on to win its writers an Ivor Novello Award.
13 October – Debut of the popular and long-running fashion series The Clothes Show on BBC1, hosted by the designer Jeff Banks.
14 October – BBC2 begins regular late afternoon programming by showing a film during the second half of the gap between the end of Daytime on Two and the start of the evening's programmes.
16 October – The first two-hander episode of EastEnders, featuring Den and Angie Watts (Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson), is broadcast on BBC1. The episode, in which Angie tells Den she has six months to live after he tells her he wants a divorce, was an experiment as the two-hander format had not been tried in a British soap before, but is well received by viewers and critics.
17 October – BBC2 broadcasts a teatime news summary with subtitles for the last time. For the past three years this bulletin which had been broadcast at around 5:25pm, had been the first programme of the day (apart from educational programmes and sports coverage).
18 October
Channel 4 starts weekend morning broadcasting with weekend transmissions now beginning at around 9:25am. Programming had previously started at 1pm.[8]
20 October – Following considerable criticism, including from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, Scottish Television reverses its 1984 changes to Scotland Today and the programme once again becomes a news broadcast with the feature elements transferred to a new lunchtime programme called Live at One Thirty.
22 October – BBC1 starts airing season 10 of the US drama series Dallas beginning with a feature-length episode.
24 October
Ahead of the launch of the BBC's daytime television service, Pages from Ceefax is shown during the day on BBC1 for the final time.[42]
News After Noon is broadcast for the final time. The bulletin is replaced by a revamped lunchtime news programme One O'clock News.
The weekday mid-afternoon regional news summary is broadcast on BBC1 for the final time. From Monday, it is broadcast on BBC2.
27 October
BBC One starts a full daytime television service. Before that day, excluding special events coverage, BBC One had closed down at times during weekday mornings and afternoons, broadcasting trade test transmissions and from May 1983, Pages From Ceefax. BBC Two also expands its broadcasting hours, providing a full afternoon service for the first time but it wasn't until the end of the decade that BBC Two was on air all day every day.
As part of the new service, the Australian soap Neighbours makes its UK debut on BBC1, a year after it was first aired in its homeland. It is shown twice daily, at 1:25pm and a repeat of the previous episode at 10am.
2 November – To mark the 50th anniversary of the start of television broadcasting, TV50, in which BBC2's entire evening output for the next week is used to show programmes from the BBC's archives.
10 November – Breakfast Time is relaunched with a more formal news and current affairs format.
13 November – Self-employed hod-carrier Michael Lush is killed during his first rehearsal for a live stunt planned for BBC1's The Late, Late Breakfast Show. The stunt, called "Hang 'em High", involved bungee jumping from an exploding box suspended from a 120ft-high crane. The carabiner clip attaching his bungee rope to the crane sprang loose from its eyebolt during the jump and he died instantly of multiple injuries. The 15 November edition is cancelled after presenter Noel Edmonds resigns, saying he does not "have the heart to carry on".[43]
15 November – The network television premiere of Michael Crichton's science fiction crime drama Looker on BBC1.[44]
Doctor Who concludes its The Trial of a Time Lord story-arc with part 2 of The Ultimate Foe.[46] This would mark the final appearance of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor before he was abruptly fired from the role.
7 December – Jack Rosenthal's original two-hour TV movie of London's Burning, directed by Les Blair, is broadcast on ITV. It returns for a full series in February 1988.
Six weeks after launching its daytime service, the BBC starts broadcasting hourly news summaries. Morning bulletins are shown on BBC1 and early afternoon bulletins (at 2pm, 3pm and 3:50pm) are shown on BBC2. Each bulletin is followed by a weather forecast.
11 December – The IBA announces that BSB has been awarded a fifteen-year franchise to operate a satellite television service in the UK.[48]
15 December – Channel 4 airs Soap Aid in which cast members of Coronation Street and Brookside raise funds to help those affected by the famine in Ethiopia.[8]
ITV airs a 30-minute Christmas special of Rainbow with the Rainbow Christmas Show (aka The Colours of the Rainbow) which is the highest ever rated episode of the show. It was thought that Rainbow would end following this episode, but Thames renewed the contract after good ratings and would continue until 1992 when Thames lost its licence to broadcast.
The network television premiere of the 1982 comedy film sequel Airplane II on ITV.
28 December – BBC1 begins a season of films starring Dustin Hoffman, starting with the network television premiere of the 1982 romantic comedy Tootsie.[52]
