This is a list of
British television related events from 1968.
Lost in space debut was 19 August 1968 on Thames TV
Events
January
1 January – The
colour television licence is introduced when a £5 "colour supplement" is added to the £5 monochrome licence fee, therefore making the cost of a colour licence £10.
5 January – Gardeners' World is broadcast for the first time. The programme will pass its 50th series.
4 February – Cult series The Prisoner finishes its first run on British television.
5 February – BBC2's Newsroom becomes the first news programme in the UK to be broadcast in colour.[2]
12 February – Children's stop-motion animation The Herbs debuts on BBC1, the first programme under a different production to Gordon Murray Puppets to be filmed in colour.
March
4 March –
TWW closes. The station has lost its franchise in the previous ITV licensing awards and decided to close 10 weeks early, selling its remaining airtime to
HTV for £500,000, however Harlech is not ready to commence transmissions and to fill the gap an
interim service, staffed by former TWW staff, is provided until Harlech's launch on 20 May.
6 April – The 13th
Eurovision Song Contest is held at the
Royal Albert Hall in London. Spain wins the contest with the song "
La, la, la", performed in Spanish by
Massiel after Spanish authorities refuse to allow
Joan Manuel Serrat to perform it in Catalan. This year marks the first time the event is broadcast in colour, with several European countries transmitting it in colour. Because BBC1 does not yet broadcast in colour, BBC2 airs an encore edition of the show in colour the following day.
20 April –
Conservative MP
Enoch Powell makes his infamous
Rivers of Blood speech about
immigration and anti-
discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom.[3] The speech is made at the Midland Hotel in
Birmingham to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre at 2:30pm. The Birmingham-based television company
ATV has seen an advance copy of the speech this morning and its news editor has ordered a television crew to go to the venue where they film sections of the speech. The speech provokes great outcry among the British public, making Powell simultaneously one of the most popular and loathed politicians in the country and leading to his rapid dismissal from the
Shadow Cabinet by Conservative party leader
Edward Heath.
20 May – Harlech (which becomes
HTV in 1970) starts its dual service for Wales and the West of England, replacing the interim
ITSWW which has itself replaced
TWW in March.
June
14 June – BBC1 launch the children's show The Basil Brush Show, featuring mischievous puppet fox Basil.
July
9 July – American time-travel series The Time Tunnel debuts on BBC1.
28 July – Final day on air for
ABC which has broadcast to the North and Midlands regions during weekends. The 1968 contract round sees the end of weekend franchises in these regions. It is also the last day on air for
ATV London which loses its weekend franchise to the newly formed
London Weekend Television.
29 July –
Granada and
ATV broadcast seven days a week to the North-West and Midlands respectively. The North is split into two regions with Granada broadcasting to the North-West and
Yorkshire Television broadcasting to the Yorkshire region. It is also the last day on air for
Rediffusion, London in the London area.
29 and 30 July – ITV shows test cricket for the only time, and only part-networked, when the last two days of the
Headingley Test against
Australia coincide with the launch of
Yorkshire Television. The morning session is the first thing shown on
Thames Television, ahead its official opening later that day.[4]
30 July
Thames Television goes on air, having taken over the London weekday franchise from
Rediffusion, London. Thames is a new joint venture between the respective parent companies of ABC (ABPC, known for the ABC cinema chain) and Rediffusion (British Electric Traction), the ABPC having been awarded the controlling 51% stake in the new London weekday broadcaster but with profits shared equally. Thames's evening news program Today, presented by
Eamonn Andrews, features Jamaican
Barbara Blake Hannah as the first black news presenter on British television.[5]
Children's magazine programme Magpie premieres on ITV.
2 August –
London Weekend Television takes over the London weekend franchise from
ATV. Going on air initially as London Weekend Television, it later adopts the name London Weekend before reverting to its original name (often abbreviated to LWT) in 1978.
3 August –
ITV technicians' strike immediately after the 1968 franchise changes.[6] causing a national stoppage.[7] The individual companies are off the air for several weeks and an emergency service is established. The
ITV Emergency National Service is presented by management personnel with no regional variations, the first time that a uniform presentation practice has been adopted across all regions.[8] The strike ends on 18 August.
7 September – The new ITV company
London Weekend Television wins the rights to show the
Gillette Cup final between
Warwickshire and
Sussex. This coverage is only partially networked, with other regions cutting off their coverage earlier,[10] but coverage of the finish - shown principally in the London and
Southern areas - is faded out with six minutes to go to make way for advertising and then
David Frost's programme.[11]
9 September – Translated French children's puppet series Hector's House debuts on BBC1.
21 September – TVTimes becomes a national publication, as previously some
ITV companies have produced their own listings magazines.
29 September – Joe 90, the science-fiction Supermarionation series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson debuts on ITV.
October
12–27 October – The BBC and ITV provide coverage of the
1968 Olympic Games. The BBC's coverage is extensive, with live coverage into the night and a daily breakfast programme Good Morning Mexico. This is also the first time the Games are broadcast in colour, albeit only on BBC2 which simulcasts the majority of BBC1's coverage. This is also the first time that ITV shows the
Olympic Games.
November
2 November – BBC1 debuts Zokko!, the first British Saturday morning live children's magazine programme.
This is a list of
British television related events from 1968.
Lost in space debut was 19 August 1968 on Thames TV
Events
January
1 January – The
colour television licence is introduced when a £5 "colour supplement" is added to the £5 monochrome licence fee, therefore making the cost of a colour licence £10.
5 January – Gardeners' World is broadcast for the first time. The programme will pass its 50th series.
4 February – Cult series The Prisoner finishes its first run on British television.
5 February – BBC2's Newsroom becomes the first news programme in the UK to be broadcast in colour.[2]
12 February – Children's stop-motion animation The Herbs debuts on BBC1, the first programme under a different production to Gordon Murray Puppets to be filmed in colour.
March
4 March –
TWW closes. The station has lost its franchise in the previous ITV licensing awards and decided to close 10 weeks early, selling its remaining airtime to
HTV for £500,000, however Harlech is not ready to commence transmissions and to fill the gap an
interim service, staffed by former TWW staff, is provided until Harlech's launch on 20 May.
6 April – The 13th
Eurovision Song Contest is held at the
Royal Albert Hall in London. Spain wins the contest with the song "
La, la, la", performed in Spanish by
Massiel after Spanish authorities refuse to allow
Joan Manuel Serrat to perform it in Catalan. This year marks the first time the event is broadcast in colour, with several European countries transmitting it in colour. Because BBC1 does not yet broadcast in colour, BBC2 airs an encore edition of the show in colour the following day.
20 April –
Conservative MP
Enoch Powell makes his infamous
Rivers of Blood speech about
immigration and anti-
discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom.[3] The speech is made at the Midland Hotel in
Birmingham to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre at 2:30pm. The Birmingham-based television company
ATV has seen an advance copy of the speech this morning and its news editor has ordered a television crew to go to the venue where they film sections of the speech. The speech provokes great outcry among the British public, making Powell simultaneously one of the most popular and loathed politicians in the country and leading to his rapid dismissal from the
Shadow Cabinet by Conservative party leader
Edward Heath.
20 May – Harlech (which becomes
HTV in 1970) starts its dual service for Wales and the West of England, replacing the interim
ITSWW which has itself replaced
TWW in March.
June
14 June – BBC1 launch the children's show The Basil Brush Show, featuring mischievous puppet fox Basil.
July
9 July – American time-travel series The Time Tunnel debuts on BBC1.
28 July – Final day on air for
ABC which has broadcast to the North and Midlands regions during weekends. The 1968 contract round sees the end of weekend franchises in these regions. It is also the last day on air for
ATV London which loses its weekend franchise to the newly formed
London Weekend Television.
29 July –
Granada and
ATV broadcast seven days a week to the North-West and Midlands respectively. The North is split into two regions with Granada broadcasting to the North-West and
Yorkshire Television broadcasting to the Yorkshire region. It is also the last day on air for
Rediffusion, London in the London area.
29 and 30 July – ITV shows test cricket for the only time, and only part-networked, when the last two days of the
Headingley Test against
Australia coincide with the launch of
Yorkshire Television. The morning session is the first thing shown on
Thames Television, ahead its official opening later that day.[4]
30 July
Thames Television goes on air, having taken over the London weekday franchise from
Rediffusion, London. Thames is a new joint venture between the respective parent companies of ABC (ABPC, known for the ABC cinema chain) and Rediffusion (British Electric Traction), the ABPC having been awarded the controlling 51% stake in the new London weekday broadcaster but with profits shared equally. Thames's evening news program Today, presented by
Eamonn Andrews, features Jamaican
Barbara Blake Hannah as the first black news presenter on British television.[5]
Children's magazine programme Magpie premieres on ITV.
2 August –
London Weekend Television takes over the London weekend franchise from
ATV. Going on air initially as London Weekend Television, it later adopts the name London Weekend before reverting to its original name (often abbreviated to LWT) in 1978.
3 August –
ITV technicians' strike immediately after the 1968 franchise changes.[6] causing a national stoppage.[7] The individual companies are off the air for several weeks and an emergency service is established. The
ITV Emergency National Service is presented by management personnel with no regional variations, the first time that a uniform presentation practice has been adopted across all regions.[8] The strike ends on 18 August.
7 September – The new ITV company
London Weekend Television wins the rights to show the
Gillette Cup final between
Warwickshire and
Sussex. This coverage is only partially networked, with other regions cutting off their coverage earlier,[10] but coverage of the finish - shown principally in the London and
Southern areas - is faded out with six minutes to go to make way for advertising and then
David Frost's programme.[11]
9 September – Translated French children's puppet series Hector's House debuts on BBC1.
21 September – TVTimes becomes a national publication, as previously some
ITV companies have produced their own listings magazines.
29 September – Joe 90, the science-fiction Supermarionation series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson debuts on ITV.
October
12–27 October – The BBC and ITV provide coverage of the
1968 Olympic Games. The BBC's coverage is extensive, with live coverage into the night and a daily breakfast programme Good Morning Mexico. This is also the first time the Games are broadcast in colour, albeit only on BBC2 which simulcasts the majority of BBC1's coverage. This is also the first time that ITV shows the
Olympic Games.
November
2 November – BBC1 debuts Zokko!, the first British Saturday morning live children's magazine programme.