1951 in British television

List of years in British television (table)
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This is a list of British television related events from 1951.

Events

January – June

• No events.

July

• 16 July – What's My Line? debuts on the BBC Television Service. It will be one of the top-rated programmes for the rest of the decade and make a star of its host, Eamonn Andrews, who takes over from Gilbert Harding from the second episode.

August

• No events.

September

• No events.

October

• 12 October – The Holme Moss transmitter is opened in Northern England, making the BBC Television Service available to the region for the first time.

November

• 20 November – T. S. Eliot speaks against television in the UK.

December

• No events.

Debuts

• 16 July – What's My Line? (1951–1963)
• 20 October – Sherlock Holmes (1951)

Continuing television shows

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–2024)

1930s

• Picture Page (1936–1939, 1946–1952).
• BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2021–2024)

1940s

• Kaleidoscope (1946–1953)
• Muffin the Mule (1946–1955, 2005–2006)
• Café Continental (1947–1953)
• Television Newsreel (1948–1954)
• Come Dancing (1949–1998)
• How Do You View? (1949–1953)

1950s

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)

Ending this year

• 20 October – Sherlock Holmes (1951)

Births

• 7 January – Helen Worth, born Cathryn Helen Wigglesworth, actress
• 6 February – Kevin Whately, actor
• 15 February – Jane Seymour, born Joyce Frankenberg, actress
• 18 March – Paul Barber, actor
• 13 April – Peter Davison, actor
• 20 April – Louise Jameson, actress
• 11 May – Kay Mellor, born Kay Daniel, scriptwriter and actress
• 13 May – Selina Scott, journalist, newsreader and television presenter
• 4 June – David Yip, actor
• 28 June – Lalla Ward, actress
• 4 September – David Renwick, scriptwriter
• 10 September – Sally Grace, satirist, actress and voice actress
• 30 September – John Lloyd, producer
• 6 November – Nigel Havers, actor
• 15 November – Billy McColl, actor (died 2014)
• 24 November – Margaret Mountford, lawyer, businesswoman and television personality
• 20 December – Peter May, novelist and television dramatist

See also

• 1951 in British music
• 1951 in British radio
• 1951 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1951