The US sitcom Friends becomes available to Netflix viewers in the UK and Ireland as the web television provider makes all ten series available for streaming to its customers.[6]
2
PBS in the United States begins simulcasting the BBC News programmes Beyond 100 Days and World News Today.[7]
ITV News at Ten is forced off the air as the studio is evacuated due to a fire alarm.[10]
4
Figures indicate that The Great Christmas Bake Off, aired on Christmas Day 2017, was watched by an audience of 4.8 million, giving Channel 4 their largest Christmas Day viewership since modern records began in 2002.[11]
Debut of Derry Girls, a new six-part comedy from Channel 4 set in Derry, Northern Ireland. The broadcaster issued a "Derry glossary" ahead of the start of the series in order to help viewers understand some of the lingo used by the characters.[12]
Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford will present a weekly chat show for Channel 5, it is reported. The programme, scheduled to begin later in the year, has been provisionally titled What a Week with Eamonn & Ruth.[16]
Culture Secretary Matt Hancock urges the BBC to respond to allegations of pay inequality.[22] His comments come on the same day that the Equality and Human Rights Commission signals its intention to write to the BBC over the gender pay gap controversy and after the resignation of Carrie Gracie.[23]
Figures indicate that the opening episode of Blue Planet II had the highest viewing audience of 2017, with 14 million tuning in to BBC One to watch the programme.[25]
Debut of the four-part drama serial Kiri on Channel 4. The opening episode is well received by television critics, but attracts criticism from some social workers because of what they perceive as the programme's negative portrayal of their profession.[27]
Ski Sunday Celebrates 40 years of TV's skiing coverage.
17
Sunrise begins broadcasting from Studio 6 at Sky Studios. The new studio includes a virtual space to allow for segments away from the desk area, along with the weather.
The BBC announces plans for a classical music season, which will include Our Classical Century, a BBC Four series featuring major classical performances of the past one hundred years.[33]
27
The day's edition of Blind Date features the game show's first gay contestant, a former Mr Gay UK, choosing from three other men with whom to go on a date.[34]
Reality television star June Bernicoff announces she will not be returning to Channel 4's Gogglebox following the death late last year of her husband Leon.[37]
30
A report prepared by the auditors PwC finds there is "no evidence of gender bias regarding pay decisions at the BBC, prompting a raft of angry criticism from women employed by the broadcaster.[38]
Professional dancer Brendan Cole announces he is leaving Strictly Come Dancing after being with the series since its outset. Cole says that the decision over his departure was made by the BBC and not himself.[39]
31
While giving evidence to the House of Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee, former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie says the BBC cannot be trusted on equal pay, and accuses BBC management of lying to and briefing against her.[40]
Media reports suggest the revived series of The Generation Game will be shorter than originally envisaged, with two rather than four episodes. The programme is being presented by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.[46]
21st Century Fox pledges to maintain the independence of Sky News for five years if it is given the go-ahead for its £11.7million takeover of the news channel. However, Fox wouldn't guarantee funding for the service beyond the five-year period.[49]
BT and Sky have agreed a £4.4bn three-year deal to show live Premiership football matches from 2019 to 2022, but the amount falls short of the £5.1bn deal struck in 2015.[51]
15
BBC News Online reports that BBC One is planning a new Saturday evening talent show titled The Greatest Dancer, and that will see the singer Cheryl acting as a mentor to contestants. A pilot filmed a few days earlier, but not scheduled for broadcast, features Alesha Dixon and Jordan Banjo as presenters, but it is thought unlikely they would present the series.[52]
16
A HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) tax tribunal rules against former BBC Look North presenter Christa Ackroyd, who has been engaged in a long-running legal battle with HMRC over the nature of her employment contract with the BBC. She is one of a number of BBC presenters employed through contracts with personal service companies, and faces a £420,000 tax bill after losing the case.[53]
18
Joanna Lumley presents the 2018 BAFTA Film Awards, having taken over the role from Stephen Fry. Jennifer Lawrence's curt dismissal of Lumley's gushing introduction that precedes Lawrence presenting an award provokes criticism of both actresses on social media, and calls for Fry to return next year.[54]
20
Channel 4 airs the documentary Working with Weinstein in which fresh allegations of inappropriate behaviour are made against the film producer Harvey Weinstein.[55]
The government confirms that the annual cost of a television licence will rise by £3.50 from £147 to £150.50 on 1 April.[57]
The High Court orders Channel 5 to pay a couple £10,000 each in damages for distress caused by the broadcast of footage of them being evicted from their home. The footage was taken for the documentary series Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!, and was shown as many as thirty five times, but the couple had not given their permission for it to be aired. The court rules that the couple's privacy outweighed Channel 5's freedom of expression.[58]
Guests on the day's edition of This Morning include the recently ousted leader of the UK Independence PartyHenry Bolton and his girlfriend Jo Marney whose controversial SMS messages about Prince Harry's fiancé Meghan Markle led to Bolton's political downfall.[59]
23
BBC Four broadcasts a special one-off live edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test to mark thirty years since the original series came to an end. The three-hour programme is presented by Bob Harris.[60]
Danny Miller, who plays gay character Aaron Dingle in ITV's Emmerdale, criticises Twitter for its response to complaints he made about homophobic tweets he received in relation to the soap.[61]
Comedian Stephen Fry reveals that he is recovering from surgery for prostate cancer, having been undergone the operation in January.[62]
Brighton hairdresser and Gogglebox star Chris Butland-Steed announces he is leaving the series to pursue a career in television.[63]
24
Take Me Out celebrates its 100th episode with an anniversary special.
BBC One airs the episode of Call the Midwife in which Nurse Barbara Hereward (played by Charlotte Ritchie) is killed off alongside her on-screen husband Tom Hereward (Jack Ashton) and her best friend Phyllis (Linda Bassett). Ritchie's departure from the series is not announced prior to the episode's broadcast.[70][71]
Coronation Street is to tackle the subject of male rape in a storyline involving the character David Platt (played by Jack P. Shepherd) who becomes a victim of the crime after being drugged and raped by a friend.[73]
In the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in which the involvement of Russian intelligence is suspected, John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, says he will be making no more appearances on the Russian state sponsored television channel Russia Today, declaring that its coverage "goes beyond objective journalism" and saying that it is "right" that Labour MPs do not appear on it.[77]
Debut of The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story, a three-part documentary series in which film-maker Gillian Pachter re-examines the Ruth Ellis case.[81]
15
BBC One confirms it will screen the Oscar-winning film The Silent Child on Good Friday (30 March).[82]
BBC Two's Newsnight airs an item about Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's response to the Salisbury poisoning showing a graphic of Corbyn next to images of Moscow as a backdrop. The item leads to criticism from newspaper columnist Owen Jones and others that the image was photoshopped in an attempt to make Corbyn look like a Soviet stooge, allegations subsequently rejected by the BBC.[83]
17
BBC Two announces it will axe Robot Wars for the second time due to a lack of making new action toys until Hexbug reintroduced production rather late, the series having been revived in 2016.[84]
Channel 4 airs a documentary about Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis company that worked on the Leave.EU campaign for the EU referendum, and for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Undercover reporters, talking to executives from the firm, discover the use of bribes, honey traps, fake news campaigns and operations with ex-spies to swing election campaigns around the world.[86] An emergency court order is requested to raid the Cambridge Analytica offices.[87]
Ant McPartlin has stepped down from his presenting roles while he seeks further treatment following his arrest for drink driving. ITV also announces that the 24 March edition of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway will not be aired, while McPartlin will have no involvement in the remaining two episodes of the series (due to air on 31 March and 7 April).[88] On 21 March it is confirmed that Declan Donnelly will present the shows on his own.[89]
The actress and campaigner Brooke Kinsella, whose brother Ben Kinsella was a victim of knife crime, praises EastEnders for a planned storyline involving the issue. Kinsella, who played the character Kelly Taylor for three years in the early 2000s, and who established the Ben Kinsella Trust following her brother's death, was consulted for the plot, and has worked with scriptwriters to make the story as authentic as possible. The storyline will see Shakil Kazemi (played by Shaheen Jafargholi) and Keegan Baker (played by Zack Morris) attacked, and follow the consequences and repercussions of the attack.[91]
BBC One airs Sport Relief 2018. For this year Sport Relief has decided not to show appeal films featuring celebrities visiting developing countries, following complaints they are akin to "poverty tourism".[92] By the end of its broadcast the event has raised £38,195,278 for charitable causes.[93]
Suzuki axes its TV advertising campaign featuring Ant and Dec after drink driving charges are brought against Ant McPartlin.[94]
ITV have applied to allow weekend tours of the Coronation Street set in Stretford, following the success of the temporary tour at the programme's former set in 2014 and 2015.[95]
ITV announces that Ant McPartlin will be featured in the final two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway but within pre-recorded whodunnit sketch, Saturday Knight Takeaway.
The UK Government announces that it will continue providing £6.72m of funding for S4C until 2020, with the aim of S4C being funded wholly from the licence fee from 2022.[98] This will see S4C's funding being decided as part of the licence fee settlement, for 10-year periods.[99]
31
Declan Donnelly presents his first solo edition of Saturday Night Takeaway; overnight viewing figures indicate it to have had an audience of 7.7 million viewers with a 39% share of the overall viewership.[100]
After Have I Got News for You team captain Ian Hislop says that women politicians are "more reticent" to guest host the programme, MP Nadine Dorries, who has previously appeared as a panelist, describes the programme as being "too vicious" for most female guests. She also says the programme does not "lend itself to women feeling comfortable", and that she has turned down a number of requests to appear on it.[102]
The final episode in the current series of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway sees Declan Donnelly present the programme from Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. The episode is seen by fewer viewers than Donnelly's first solo edition, with an average 6.9 million tuning in, down by almost one million on the previous week.[105]
The National Lottery results are broadcast on ITV for the first time after more than two decades on the BBC, with the results appearing as a 90-second summary as part of an ad break during Britain's Got Talent.[107]
The BBC withdraws the 2011 series Human Planet from distribution because of a second editorial breach, involving a scene depicting a hunter harpooning a whale, which the BBC feels is not accurate.[112]
Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas, whose wife died suddenly from cancer in late 2017, says he is leaving the broadcaster to focus on his son.[113]
30
Series 13 of Only Connect is won by the Escapologists.
Music channel VH1 takes on a general entertainment focus, matching the American network, though due to the American VH1's programmes being licensed to other networks or broadcasters, it carries content from Channel 5 and MTV. This change co-insides with a move from Sky's music channel section of its programme guide to its entertainment section.
Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, revealed plans for a ballet version of the BBC Two series.[119]
6
The BBC announces that Andrew Marr is to undergo surgery to remove a kidney tumour, and will be absent from the airwaves while he recovers.[120]
10
It is reported that Barbara Windsor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in April 2014; her husband says that her condition has begun to deteriorate.[121]
Episodes of Coronation Street will be synchronised for viewers in New Zealand from 11 June. Up to now New Zealand has been eighteen months behind the United Kingdom. A two-hour special will be aired to recap storylines over the time period to facilitate the catch-up.[122]
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.[126][127] In the UK the event is broadcast by the BBC, ITV and Sky News.[128] It is subsequently confirmed as the UK's biggest television event of the year so far, with 18 million viewers tuning into watch proceedings. This audience includes 13.1 million who watched BBC One's coverage and 3.6 million who tuned in to watch the wedding on ITV.[129]
23
Hollywood actor Richard Gere will star in MotherFatherSon, a BBC Two series about a media tycoon, making his first television appearance in three decades.[130]
The semi-final of series 12 of Britain's Got Talent is forced off air for fifteen minutes as a result of a technical glitch caused by adverse weather conditions.[132]
Comedian Lee Ridley, also known as Lost Voice Guy wins series 12 of Britain's Got Talent.[135]
4
ITV2 launches series four of Love Island, with the opening edition giving the channel almost three million viewers, its highest ever audience and a figure that beats all other programmes being aired in the same timeslot.[136]
5
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Matt Hancock gives the green light to 21st Century Fox's plans to take full control of Sky plc, but on the condition it divests itself of Sky News.[137]
7
Louis Walsh announces he is leaving his role as a judge on The X Factor after thirteen years with the show.[138]
8
It is announced that Home, a comedy written by Rufus Jones and about a Syrian refugee who enters the UK as an illegal immigrant, will air on Channel 4.[139]
The BBC and ITV begin airing coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, with ITV screening the opening ceremony and inaugural match. The opening ceremony features a performance by Robbie Williams, while the first match, Russia vs Saudi Arabia, results in a 5–0 win for Russia.[144][145]
17
The BBC announces that David Dimbleby will leave Question Time at the end of the year after 25 years as its presenter. His final edition of the programme will be on 13 December.[146]
18
UKTV confirms it will begin rerunning episodes of EastEnders on the Drama channel from early August, starting with the first episode from February 1985.[147]
21
Following the death of former Love Island contestant Sophie Gradon, ITV2 airs a short tribute to her before the evening's edition of the reality show.[148]
The BBC confirms that Jeremy Vine will leave his role as presenter of Points of View after fronting the programme for ten years.[150]
2
After footage of series 11 of Doctor Who appeared on the California-based website Tapatalk, the BBC has asked the state's Federal Court to compel Tapatalk to disclose records that could identify the source of the leak.[151]
3
Ofcom have received 2,525 complaints from viewers about the 1 July edition of Love Island in which a contestant was shown a misleading video about her boyfriend. The watchdog says it will assess the material against the broadcasting code before deciding whether or not to launch an investigation.[152] Ofcom subsequently finds that the footage was not in breach of its regulations and on 16 July says that it will not be launching an investigation.[153]
ITV airs the 2018 FIFA World Cupknockout stage match between England and Colombia, which results in a 1–1 draw and sees England beat Colombia 4–3 on penalties, giving them a place in the quarter-finals. Overnight viewing figures indicate the match's climax was watched by 23.6 million viewers, making it the most watched television event since the 2012 London Olympics.[154]
BBC One airs a special episode of EastEnders featuring the funeral of knife crime victim Shakil Kazemi (played by Shaheen Jafargholi) in which real-life knife crime stories are also included, with parents of victims speaking about their loved ones.[156]
BBC One airs the World Cup quarter-final match between England and Sweden that results in a 2–0 win for England and puts them through to the first World Cup semi-final since 1990. Overnight figures indicate the match is seen by an average audience of 15.8 million viewers, rising to 19.9 million by the end of the game.[158]
BBC News reports that Channel 4 is expected to sign a five-year deal to show highlights of Formula One and live coverage of the British Grand Prix until 2024. Sky Sports signed exclusive deal to broadcast live Formula 1 coverage from 2019 to 2024 in 2016.[159]
21st Century Fox launches a new £24.5bn bid for Sky, topping one made for £22bn by rival broadcaster Comcast in February.[161]
ITV airs the World Cup semi-final match between England and Croatia and sees England exit the competition. Overnight figures indicate the match is seen by an average audience of 24.3 million viewers, rising to 26.5 million by the end of the game. This makes it the highest rated programme on British television since the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.[162]
12
The BBC announces cut-backs to BBC Parliament. The channel will now close down in the weeks when no UK parliamentary bodies are in session and all programmes made especially for the channel will end.[163]
Love Island contestant Samira Mighty becomes the second person to voluntarily leave the 2018 series, doing so because her partner was voted out the previous week.[164]
13
The creators of BBC Scotland's Still Game announce that the sitcom will end after twenty one years, with the next series being the last.[165]
Following a hearing at the High Court, Sir Cliff Richard wins his privacy case over BBC News coverage of a police raid on his home. Mr Justice Mann awards him £210,000 in damages, stating that the BBC had infringed his privacy in a "serious and sensationalist way".[170][171]
Former Emmerdale actress and Minster FM breakfast programme presenter Roxanne Pallett is airlifted to hospital after being involved in a car crash while taking part in a stock car race at Hunmanby Raceway in North Yorkshire. She was racing fellow breakfast programme presenter Ben Fry at the time the incident occurred, and crashed into a concrete wall.[172][173]
19
Comcast abandons its bid to buy 21st Century Fox in order to concentrate on its bid for Sky.[174]
22
The UKTV channels are removed from Virgin Media. The companies had not been able to agree terms to allow the ten channels and their +1 and HD offshoots to continue to be available on the platform.[175]
Following a review of children's programming that identified a number of shortfalls, including a lack of programming for older children, Ofcom has urged ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to improve their children's programming.[177]
Former BBC sports commentator John Motson will come out of retirement to become a presenter on Talksport, it is reported, beginning his new role in August.[178]
ITV3 has commissioned The Comedy Years, a four-part series that will look at four specific years in comedy history – 1979, 1984, 1998, and 2003. The series, scheduled to air in 2019, will feature archive footage, pop culture and explore the social history of the years.[180]
Newsnight apologises for showing footage of Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram instead of Imran Khan during an article about the latter's political career.[182]
The BBC agrees to pay Sir Cliff Richard £850,000 towards his legal costs after its application to appeal against the ruling of his privacy case was rejected.[183]
Ofcom scraps the further rollout of local TV channels amid concerns a number of existing channels have struggled to attract both financial support and viewers. Thirty local channels have been established since 2013, with a further thirteen planned, which Ofcom has now halted.[185]
Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer win series four of Love Island.[186] Overnight viewing figures indicate the programme to have had an audience of 3.6 million, beating figures for BBC One, BBC Two and ITV in the same timeslot.[187] The pair subsequently announce plans for marriage in 2019.[188]
Ofcom rules that a 2016 edition of the BBC's Panorama programme investigating allegations of abuse at a secure training unit broke anonymity rules by naming a teenage boy during the film. Although given a pseudonym, the name of the boy, whose identity was meant to be kept anonymous, was heard during the film. The BBC argued it was a "genuine error", but Ofcom ruled the mistake had happened because programme makers had "failed to check and review its content sufficiently".[193]
Data collected for the Office for National Statistics' annual Internet Access and Use report indicates an increase in the use of commercial video streaming services, with almost half of adults having streamed content via a service such as Netflix or Amazon Video.[195]
BBC Two airs one-off edition of the 1990s comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me featuring new material, and old and new characters.[199]
15
The BBC announces that it will not appeal against the ruling over its news coverage of a raid on Cliff Richard's house in 2014.[200]
17
Ewan McGregor reads Patricia Hegarty's Everybody's Welcome for CBeebies, becoming the latest celebrity to read a story for the channel.[201]
21
Ofcom says it has received 1,048 complaints about the use of the word "nigger" by a contestant on the twenty-second series of Celebrity Big Brother. The incident occurred during a conversation between Rodrigo Alves and another contestant, and was shown on the second day of the series.[202] Alves is removed from the Big Brother house on 25 August following a second incident.[203]
Head of the London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton criticises Love Island for reinforcing what she describes as "offensive" stereotypes that discourage young women from joining the service. Her comments refer to a "fireman challenge" that required male contestants to strip to their underwear and pretend to save a drowning woman.[204]
23
A rant about Brexit by EastEnders actor Danny Dyer on an edition of Good Evening Britain is named TV moment of the year at the Edinburgh Television Festival Awards.[205]
Peter Gwyn, the executive producer of University Challenge says the programme will focus on posing "gender neutral" questions after a viewer complained questions are skewed towards men.[207]
Ofcom says it has received over 3,000 complaints about the previous day's edition of Loose Women during which Kim Woodburn walked off the programme in tears following a row with Coleen Nolan. The pair had previously clashed as contestants on Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, and Woodburn had been invited onto the programme in hopes of a reconciliation with Nolan.[211] By the following day the number of complaints has doubled to 7,000, with Nolan expressing regret for what happened, calling the incident "ugly, upsetting and unpleasant".[212]
31
The BBC confirms plans for Ariana Grande at the BBC, a one-hour special presented by Davina McCall that will see Ariana Grande talking about her life and career and performing some of her hits. The programme will be part of BBC One's autumn schedule.[213]
Celebrity Big Brother contestant Ryan Thomas is given a formal warning by bosses on the programme for "punching" fellow housemate Roxanne Pallett after he was seen to approach her and make contact with her using his fist. Ofcom have received more than 11,000 complaints from viewers about the incident.[214]
Channel 5 confirms that Roxanne Pallett has left Celebrity Big Brother following the "punch" incident with Ryan Thomas.[216]
2
BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show moves to the later timeslot of 10.00am as part of a shake up of the channel's Sunday morning schedule.[217]
3
ITVBe launches its British pre-school programming block LittleBe.[218]
British children's TV show, Thomas & Friends, serves its third major franchise reboot, with one half of its 22nd series seeing Thomas travelling across the globe.
5
The BBC confirms that series eleven of Doctor Who will begin on 7 October, the first time it has aired in a Sunday timeslot.[219]
6
As part of its Crime and Punishment season ITV airs Ross Kemp and the Armed Police, a one-off documentary in which Ross Kemp accompanies armed police officers as they deal with the rising problem of inner-city gun violence.[220][221]
Coleen Nolan announces she has cancelled all her work commitments, including appearances on Loose Women "until further notice" following her row with Kim Woodburn on an edition of the programme the previous week.[222]
Celebrities Go Dating presenter Nadia Essex is fired from the role after trolling on Twitter.[225]
Made in Chelsea participant Louise Thompson apologises after breaching Advertising Standards Authority rules when she failed to make it clear that her promotion of a beauty product on social media was advertising.[226]
13
The BBC says it has solved a software issue that causes "streaming lag", whereby live television is delayed by several seconds when viewed online. The issue particularly came to light during coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[227]
BBC Two's Newsnight airs an interview in which Kirsty Wark questions RT's editor Margarita Simonyan after the latter spoke to two Russians suspected of the Salisbury poisoning. Simonyan hangs up on Wark after being asked whether RT is a propaganda tool for the Russian government.[228]
Big Brother contestant Ellis Hillon is removed from the programme following an investigation into an offensive tweet she posted in 2014 on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and that contained a racial slur.[233]
The UK government, and major broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and Sky give their backing to a Creative Diversity Network (CDN) scheme to double the number of people with disabilities working in the television industry by 2020.[237]
Sky has recommended its shareholders accept a takeover bid from Comcast over one put forward by Fox after the former outbid the latter. The £30bn bid was submitted in a rare blind auction organised by the UK's Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and marks the end of an eight-year uncertainty about Sky's future direction.[239]
The BBC One thriller Bodyguard concludes with a cliffhanger episode. Overnight viewing figures indicate the programme to have been watched by an average 10.4 million viewers, peaking at 11 million in the final five minutes. In terms of viewership, the series is also the most successful BBC drama for a decade.[240]
24
The first episode of series 11 of Doctor Who receives its premiere in Sheffield two weeks before its television debut. The episode is set in the city.[241]
Ofcom says it will launch an inquiry into Celebrity Big Brother after receiving over 25,000 complaints about Roxanne Pallett's allegation she was physically abused by Ryan Thomas.[242]
It is reported that a dance teacher who runs a class for larger people called Strictly Curved has been ordered to change the name of her business by the BBC amid concerns it could mislead people into believing it is associated with the series Strictly Come Dancing.[243] She subsequently confirms plans to change the name of the business after saying she cannot afford to fight any potential legal action from the BBC.[244]
ITV confirms that Emmerdale character Kim Tate is returning for a special week of episodes from 8 October 2018. Claire King will reprise her role as Kim Tate for this first time after nearly 20 years away.[245]
25
The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) announces it has started including viewers using PCs and mobile devices when compiling audience figures. The result means an increase in viewership for television programmes. For example, ITV2's Love Island would have received a million more viewers than shown by official figures, with 3.9 million tuning in each day.[246]
VH1 announces that next moth it will complete its transition to a general entertainment format with the introduction of VH1 US programs, including Love & Hip Hop: Miami and Ru Paul's Drag Race. However music programmes will continue in non-prime timeslots.[248]
26
21st Century Fox announces it will sell its 39% stake in Sky UK to Comcast, ending Rupert Murdoch's three-decade association with the broadcaster.[249]
27
BBC Two receives a new set of idents. The Curve idents replace the '2' logo in various ident sets since 1991.[250]
28
To mark BBC Music Day, railway stations around the country play a number of prerecorded announcements made by the singer Kylie Minogue.[251]
BBC One airs a special edition of Bargain Hunt recorded for BBC Music Day featuring members of the bands Happy Mondays and Pulp. It is reported that the end of the programme had to be re-recorded after it was discovered one of the participants had broken the rules.[252]
October
Date
Event
1
Sharon Osbourne pulls out of series fifteen of The X Factor after deciding she was not needed. Although not a judge for the 2018 series, she had been scheduled to appear in the show's live editions.[253]
2
As part of plans to revamp its daytime schedule BBC One announces that Flog It! will be axed after seventeen years.[254]
ITV's This Morning receives a special BAFTA award to celebrate its 30th anniversary.[255] The programme's 30th anniversary occurs on 3 October, with that day's edition resurrecting the floating weather map in Liverpool's Albert Dock. The weather is presented by Alison Hammond, who accidentally pushes a man dressed as a sailor off the map and into the water.[256]
Plans are announced for the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror to include an interactive episode in its fifth series, the outcome of which will be decided by viewers.[257]
7
BBC One airs the Doctor Who series eleven opener "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", Jodie Whittaker's debut episode as the Thirteenth Doctor. Figures suggest an audience of 8.2 million, giving the series its best audience for a series launch for a decade.[258] Consolidated figures released by BARB on 16 October indicate it had an audience of 10.9 million, making it the highest rated series opener since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005.[259]
8
Alex Hobern, playing as a 25-year-old woman called Kate, wins the first series of Channel 4's social media based game show The Circle.[260]
9
Producers of Hollyoaks confirm that Rick Astley will make a cameo appearance in a forthcoming episode of the Channel 4 soap.[261]
10
The BBC announces it has reversed planned cuts to the output of BBC Parliament, but warns of possible future cuts to other services in order to save £500m before 2021–22.[262]
Debut of ITV's three-part drama Butterfly which deals with the subject of a couple coming to terms with their "son's" wish to become a girl.[269]
21
The Doctor Who episode "Rosa" is one of few episodes in the programme's history not to end with the traditional closing theme music, instead having its closing credits played out with the track "Rise Up" by Andra Day.[270]
Former England manager Glenn Hoddle is taken ill shortly after appearing on BT Sport as a football pundit.[274] He is treated in hospital, and it is subsequently confirmed that he has suffered a heart attack.[275]
While reporting on the aftermath of the death of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash, BBC sports editor Dan Roan is overheard making what many believed to be distasteful remarks about the nature of Srivaddhanaprabha's relationship with a member of his staff who also died in the crash.[278] Roan later apologises for the remarks, claiming they were "made in a private, off-air conversation with a colleague".[279]
Evan Davis presents his final Newsnight after four years as its lead presenter.
31
Channel 4 announces it has chosen Leeds in West Yorkshire as the location of its new national headquarters, although it will still retain a headquarters in London. Operations will also be established in Bristol and Glasgow under plans for the broadcaster to boost the amount it spends on programming outside London.[282]
The X Factor cancels its public vote after viewers complain of poor sound quality on the evening's edition of the show, with voting taking place the following day instead.[284]
Businessman and Leave.EU donor Arron Banks, who was scheduled to be a panelist on the 15 November edition of Question Time, is dropped from the edition following controversy over previous television appearances, and criticism from politicians because he is the subject of a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged offences committed during the 2016 EU referendum.[286]
8
Figures released by TV Licensing indicate there are 7,161 UK households watching television with a black-and-white licenses, a decline from 212,000 in 2000.[287]
ITV confirms that Emmerdale character Mandy Dingle is returning for a special storyline in January 2019. Lisa Riley will reprise her role as Mandy Dingle for the first time after 17 years away.[289]
15
The BBC announces that the 2018 Doctor Who Christmas special will air on New Year's Day 2019, the first time the Christmas special has not aired on Christmas Day since the series returned to television screens in 2005.[290]
16
Children in Need 2018 is aired on BBC television, with £50.6m donated during the course of its broadcast. This brings the collective total raised by Children in Need to £1bn.[291]
The Doctor Who episode "The Witchfinders" is released to Amazon Prime subscribers three days before its BBC One broadcast, when the streaming service accidentally uploads it to the slot for the previous episode, "Kerblam!", instead of that episode.[295]
The BBC announces Sunday 9 December as the date for its televised Brexit debate, and in doing so sparks a political row. Theresa May has given her backing to the BBC debate, while Jeremy Corbyn had previously said he favoured appearing on ITV.[300]
BBC One unveils their Christmas short film/Ident campaign following the evening's edition of Strictly Come Dancing. "Wonderland" follows the story of a mother and son, played by Caroline O'Hara and Micky Satiar, spending time together during the holiday season. Filmed at Cromer Pier, the short was made by BBC Creative and Rogue Films, directed by Sam Brown and concepted by Edward Usher and Xander Hart.[302]
2
Jodie Whittaker is announced as the latest celebrity to read a CBeebies Bedtime Story. In an episode to air later in the month, she will read Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts.[303][304]
The BBC scraps plans to hold a Brexit debate between Prime Minister Theresa May and Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn after failing to reach an agreement on the proposed format of the debate, which the Labour Party had criticised as a "mish-mash, with a lop-sided panel of other politicians and public figures".[306] Both the BBC and ITV had scheduled Brexit debates for the evening of Sunday 9 December, each billed as featuring May and Corbyn even though it would be physically impossible for them to participate in both.[307]
ITV scraps its plans for a Brexit debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn on 9 December, making the announcement two days after the BBC decided not to hold its own Brexit debate scheduled for the same evening.[309]
A report from the National Audit Office reveals that plans to expand the EastEnders set will cost £27m more than previously estimated. In 2015 it was forecast the scheme would cost £59.7m, but the cost of the project is now put at £86.7m.[314]
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker is criticised by cricket presenter Jonathan Agnew for expressing his political views about Brexit on Twitter. Agnew argues that as "the face of BBC Sport" Lineker should "observe BBC editorial guidelines".[318]
Media regulator Ofcom has ruled that news channel RT broke impartiality rules on seven programmes following the Salisbury poisoning. Ofcom says the rule breaches took place between 17 March and 26 April.[325] In response to the decision, the Russia media regulator says that it will check the content of BBC World News and the BBC's websites for impartiality.[326]
23
BBC Four airs After the Screaming Stops, a 90-minute documentary about the 2017 reunion of 1980s pop band Bros. The documentary is initially watched by fewer than 250,000 viewers, but later becomes one of the 2018 Christmas television highlights thanks to its popularity on BBC iPlayer.[327]
26
Overnight viewing figures for Christmas Day indicate The Queen's Speech to be the programme with the largest audience of the day, with a combined audience of 6.4 million viewers. The figures also suggest the largest audience for a programme broadcast on a single channel is for Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show on BBC One with 6.1 million viewers. The top five also include three other BBC One programmes, the Christmas specials of Strictly Come Dancing and Call the Midwife, and the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book.[328]
28
The BBC confirms that its long-running film review series The Film Programme will not return for a new series in 2019.[329]
Those from the world of television to receive recognition in the 2019 New Year Honours include actor Michael Palin who receives a Knighthood, model, actress and television presenter Twiggy Lawson who becomes a Dame, and conservationist Chris Packham who receives a CBE.[330]
31
British premiere on Sky Arts of English comedy sketch Dinner for One with Freddie Frinton, recorded in English in 1963 by Norddeutscher Rundfunk before an audience in Hamburg and regularly repeated on New Year's Eve in Germany and elsewhere, but not previously seen in its entirety on British television.[331]
Top 10 most-watched television broadcasts of this year
BARB consolidated 7-day viewing figures
The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) used this method of measurement until August 2018. Viewing figures details include +1 and HD channels. Highest rated single episode, instalment or match per channel.[333]
The final episode of the first series. Aikens (Matt Stokoe) abducts Budd (Richard Madden) and fits him inside a suicide vest. The police then are called by Budd and refuse to believe his version of events as they believe he is involved in the conspiracy due to his links to Apsted (Tom Brooke). Budd suspects MI5 is watching him and gives false information regarding the information of the kompromat. The security service then sends Longcross (Michael Schaeffer) to retrieve it, who is then arrested by the police on site. Budd's innocence is then proven after he leads the police to his flat and Vicky (Sophie Rundle) discovers the kompromat and blank rounds from his firearm. Budd then discovers that Craddock (Pippa Haywood) is the police insider for Aikens. She then confesses to providing Aikens information regarding Montague's (Keeley Hawes) whereabouts which led to her assassination and chose Budd to be her PPO as his background made him the perfect fall guy. Nadia (Anjli Mohindra) is later interviewed again and is revealed to have lied about Longcross's e-fit and is the builder of the explosive devices and led to the attack on the school of Budd's children.
Holly Willoughby makes her debut as co-presenter alongside Declan Donnelly whilst Ant McPartlin is on a break marking the first time the series is not presented by Donnelly and McPartlin in the show's history. The launch programme receives the highest ratings for an opener in the show's 16-year history. The series includes a line-up of celebrities including actor John Barrowman, singer Fleur East, quizzer Anne Hegerty and football manager Harry Redknapp.
The final of the twelfth series, which was won by comedian Lost Voice Guy, beating pianist Robert White and reggae singer Donchez Dacres. Performers from Tina : The Musical also performed.
The first episode of the ninth series breaking with tradition and focusing on biscuits. County Tyrone recreation officer, Imelda McCarron, is eliminated whilst London software project manager, Manon Lagrève, is crowned the first star baker of the series.
^"Janice Willett Kay". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Newsquest Media Group. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2019.