1969 in British television

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This is a list of British television related events from 1969.

Events

• 4 January – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix causes complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.
• 19 March – The 385 metre tall Emley Moor transmitting station mast collapses because of icing.
• 29 March – The UK shares the win of the 14th Eurovision Song Contest, in a four-way tie with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Lulu represents the UK, singing "Boom bang-a-bang".
• 21 June
  • Patrick Troughton makes his last regular appearance as the Second Doctor in the concluding moments of Episode 10 of the Doctor Who serial The War Games. It also marks the final time that the series was broadcast in black and white.
  • Showing of the documentary The Royal Family, which attracts more than 30.6 million viewers, an all-time British record for a non-current event programme.^[1][2]
• 3 July – Lulu the elephant runs amok on Blue Peter. The clip is subsequently repeated many times, becoming the archetypal British TV "blooper".
• 20–21 July – A live transmission from the Moon is viewed by 720 million people around the world, with the landing of Apollo 11: at 10:56 p.m. EDT on 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon, broadcast live.^[3]
• 2 September – Release of The Stones in the Park, footage of a Rolling Stones concert given in London's Hyde Park in July and filmed by Granada Television.^[4][5]
• 21 September – Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) premieres on ITV.
• 4 October – The ITV Seven, a programme which shows live coverage of horse racing from racecourses around the UK, is first aired. The programme was an essential part of ITV's Saturday afternoon World of Sport show and continued until a few weeks before World of Sport ended in 1985.
• 5 October – Monty Python's Flying Circus airs its first episode on the BBC.
• 6 October – Chigley becomes the third and final programme of The Trumptonshire Trilogy on BBC1 to be shot in colour before the introduction of regular colour broadcasting on 15 November.
• 3 November – ITV airs the first edition of Coronation Street to be videotaped in colour, though it includes black-and-white inserts and titles. The 29 October episode – featuring a coach trip to the Lake District – had been scheduled for colour shooting, but suitable colour film stock could not be found so it was filmed in black-and-white.
• 15 November – Regular colour broadcasting is introduced to BBC1 and ITV.
• 16 November – The first episode of Clangers (a British stop motion animated television program for children) is broadcast by the BBC.
• 19 November – The Benny Hill Show premieres on Thames Television.
• 21 November – The controversial London Weekend Television comedy Curry and Chips begins airing. The programme is the first LWT comedy to have been broadcast in colour. It is pulled off air after six episodes following a ruling by the IBA that it is racist.^[6]
• 24 November – Date claimed by official Coronation Street archivist Daran Little as the first on which the soap was transmitted in colour.
• Unknown – Sir Charles Curran becomes Director-General of the BBC.

Debuts

BBC1

• 2 January – The Holiday Programme (1969–2007)
• 14 April – The Liver Birds (1969; 1971–1979, 1996)
• 9 September – Nationwide (1969–1983)
• 17 September – Up Pompeii! (1969–1975, 1991)
• 5 October – Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)
• 6 October – The Trumptonshire Trilogy: Chigley (1969)
• 16 November – Clangers (1969–1974, 2015–present)

BBC2

• 14 March – Q (1969–1982)

ITV

• 28 February – On the Buses (1969–1973)
• 21 September
  • The Flaxton Boys (1969–1973)
  • Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969–1970)
  • The Secret Service (1969)
• 19 November – The Benny Hill Show (1969–1989)

Television shows

1940s

• Watch with Mother (1946–1973)
• Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• The Good Old Days (1953–1983)
• Panorama (1953–present)
• Dixon of Dock Green (1955–1976)
• Crackerjack (1955–1984)
• Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)
• This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)
• Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)^[7]
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• Blue Peter (1958–present)
• Grandstand (1958–2007)

1960s

• Coronation Street (1960–present)
• Songs of Praise (1961–present)
• Z-Cars (1962–1978)
• Animal Magic (1962–1983)
• Doctor Who (1963–1989, 2005–present)
• World in Action (1963–1998)
• The Wednesday Play (1964–1970)
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006)
• Match of the Day (1964–present)
• Crossroads (1964–1988, 2001–2003)
• Play School (1964–1988)
• Mr. and Mrs. (1964–1999)
• Not Only... But Also (1965–1970)
• World of Sport (1965–1985)
• Sportsnight (1965–1997)
• All Gas and Gaiters (1966–1971)
• Jackanory (1965–1996, 2006)
• It's a Knockout (1966–1982, 1999–2001)
• The Money Programme (1966–2010)
• Not in Front of the Children (1967–1970)
• Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1967–1971)
• Callan (1967–1972)
• The Golden Shot (1967–1975)
• ITV Playhouse (1967–1982)
• Me Mammy (1968–1971)
• Please Sir! (1968–1972)
• Father, Dear Father (1968–1973)
• Dad's Army (1968–1977)
• Magpie (1968–1980)
• The Big Match (1968–2002)

Ending this year

• 9 February – The Saint (1962–1969)
• 30 April – The Champions (1968–1969)
• 14 May – Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967–1969)
• 21 May – The Avengers (1961–1969)
• 13 November – Softly, Softly (1966–1969)
• 28 November – The Newcomers (1965–1969)
• 29 December – The Trumptonshire Trilogy (1966–1969)
• Unknown
  • Market in Honey Lane (1967–1969)
  • Journey to the Unknown (1968–1969)
  • Strange Report (1968–1969)

Births

• 22 January – Olivia d'Abo, English actress
• January – Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedian, writer and television presenter
• 4 April – Karren Brady, sporting executive, television broadcaster, newspaper columnist, author and novelist
• 27 April – Tess Daly, British television presenter.
• 15 May – Craig Oliver, journalist, television media executive and government special adviser
• 10 June – Jane Hill, journalist and newsreader
• 20 July – Gillian Joseph, newscaster
• 21 August – Julie Etchingham, journalist and newsreader
• 25 September – Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• 2 October – Natasha Little, actress
• 5 October – Andrea McLean, television presenter
• 16 October – Suzanne Virdee, British Newsreader-Midlands Today BBC ONE
• 13 November – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• 19 December – Richard Hammond, British TV presenter

Deaths

• 25 March – Billy Cotton, 69, British entertainer & bandleader (Wakey Wakey Tavern)

References

1. Revoir, Paul (2008-10-07). "The most watched TV shows of all time – and they are all old programmes". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
2. "June anniversaries". The BBC Story. BBC. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
3. "Man takes first steps on the Moon". BBC On This Day. 1969-07-21. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
4. The Stones in the Park at the Internet Movie Database
5. "The Rolling Stones Biography". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone magazine. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
6. "Television Heaven – Curry and Chips". Television Heaven. 26 May 2003. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
7. Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline