1985 in British television

Events

January

  • 1 January –
  • 2 January – Channel 4 begins airing the acclaimed series A Woman of Substance, a miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The series airs over three consecutive nights, and garners the channel an audience of 13.8 million, its largest to date.[2][3]
  • 3–6 January – The UK's last VHF 405-line television transmitters close down with transmissions in 405-lines ending in Scotland on the 4th.
  • 4 January – Channel 4 achieves its highest ever audience as 13.8 million viewers tune in for the final part of the mini-series A Woman of Substance.
  • 7 January – The BBC ends its experiment with afternoon broadcasting and from this date afternoon Pages from Ceefax is shown on BBC1 between the end of lunchtime programmes and the start of children's programmes and on BBC2 Ceefax pages are shown continuously between 9am and 5.25pm apart from when Daytime on Two is in season and when sporting events are being shown.
  • 11 January – BBC2 debuts Victoria Wood as Seen on TV.[4]
  • 18 January – Debut of The Practice, a twice-weekly medical drama intended to become Granada's second soap produced for the ITV network. But viewing figures are not as healthy as had been hoped, and the series first run ends in May. It returns for a second series in 1986 before being axed.
  • 20 January – American television sitcom The Cosby Show is broadcast in the United Kingdom for the first time.
  • 23 January – A debate in the House of Lords is televised for the first time.[5]
  • January – Thames Television makes a deal with international distributors for US production company Lorimar to purchase the UK broadcasting rights for US drama Dallas, thus taking it from the BBC and breaking a gentlemen's agreement between the BBC and ITV not to poach each other's imported shows. Thames have paid £55,000 per episode compared to the £29,000 paid by the BBC. The deal is condemned by both the BBC and other ITV companies, who fear the BBC will poach their imports in retaliation, and push up prices.[6] In response to the Thames deal, the BBC plan to delay transmission of the episodes they already have so that they will clash with the episodes being shown by Thames. Ultimately, however, pressure from several ITV companies (especially Yorkshire Television) to the Independent Broadcasting Authority forces Thames to sell the series back to the BBC at a loss. The controversy leads to the resignation of Thames managing director Bryan Cowgill, who feels the board have not supported him; he leaves the company in July.[7][8]

February

  • 4 February – US detective drama Miami Vice makes its British television debut on BBC1, with the feature-length episode "Brother's Keeper".[9]
  • 12 February – Debut of Television, a thirteen part Granada documentary series narrated by Ian Holm that explores the history of television.
  • 16 February – The first showing on British Television of John Landis’s 1981 Horror/Comedy Classic An American Werewolf In London. It is shown on BBC1.
  • 18 February – BBC1 undergoes a major relaunch. At 5.35 p.m., the legendary mechanical "mirror globe" ident, in use in varying forms since 1969, is seen for the last time in regular rotation on national BBC1. Its replacement, the COW (Computer Originated World, a computer generated globe) debuts at 7pm. On the same day, computer-generated graphics replace magnetic weather maps on all BBC forecasts, and Terry Wogan's eponymous talk show is relaunched as a thrice-weekly live primetime programme. EastEnders launches the following day.
  • 19 February – EastEnders, the BBC1 soap opera, goes on air.[10]

March

April

  • 1 April – Bertha, another stop-motion animated series from Woodland Animations (the team behind Postman Pat), debuts on BBC1.
  • 15 April - TV-AM takes the BBC to the high court after broadcasting an interview with Princess Michael of Kent without their permission; Justice Walton says it is the most scandalous breach of copyright.
  • 28 April – The World Snooker Championship Final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis draws BBC2's highest ever rating of 18.5 million viewers. The final goes on past midnight and this broadcast remains a record for a post-midnight audience in the UK.

May

June

  • 5 June – The first episode of Bulman airs.
  • 12 June – David Dundas, who composed the Channel 4 theme, wins a legal battle to retain all rights to the music, and £1000 a week in royalties.[2]
  • 21 June – Channel 4 airs Europe in Concert, a three-and-a-half-hour sequence of classical performances presented by Peter Sissons.[2]

July

August

  • August – After a series of high-profile football hooliganism and a dispute between the Football League and the broadcasters over revenue, televised league football is missing from British screens until the second half of the season. The Charity Shield and international games are the only matches screened.
  • 1 August – The nuclear war docudrama Threads is repeated on BBC2 as part of the After the Bomb series.[25]
  • 5 August – Central Television launches a new presentation package that sees its moon logo redesigned into a three-dimensional shape.
  • 3 September – BBC1's EastEnders moves from 7.00pm to 7.30pm to avoid clashing with ITV's Emmerdale Farm, which airs in the 7.00pm timeslot on Tuesdays and Thursdays in many ITV regions.
  • 13 August – ITV airs the US intergalactic whodunit Murder in Space. The film is shown without the ending, and a competition held for viewers to identify the murderer(s). The film's concluding 30 minutes are shown a few weeks later, with a studio of contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly solves the mystery. There is a prize of £10,000.
  • 24 August – S4C airs Helfa Drysor, a pilot for a Welsh-language version of Channel 4's Treasure Hunt, with Robin Jones and Sioned Maid taking on the roles of Kenneth Kendall and Anneka Rice. The show is not picked up for a series, making the programme a one-off special.[26]
  • 30 August –
    • Debut of Granada's ill-fated "continuing drama series", Albion Market. The series – set in a market in Salford and intended as a companion for Coronation Street – is panned by critics and suffers from poor ratings. It is axed a year later.
    • The weekday lunchtime Financial Report, broadcast on BBC1 in London and the south east, is broadcast for the final time ahead of the launch of a lunchtime regional news bulletin for viewers in the BBC South East region.
  • 31 August – Scottish Television launches a new computer-generated ident.[27]

September

  • 1 September – Debut of the drama series Howards' Way on BBC1.[28]
  • 2 September – A regional news bulletin is broadcast after the Nine O'Clock News for the first time.[29]
  • 7 September – The American sci-fi adventure series Otherworld makes its British television debut in the HTV region. The series is aired by the Anglia, Border, Central, Grampian and Granada regions from 2 November 1985, with most other companies starting to screen it in 1986 (the exception being Thames/LWT which never aired it).
  • 8 September – BBC1 'closes down' (albeit since 1983 with broadcasts of Pages from Ceefax) on Sunday mornings for the final time as from next year repeats are shown during the adult educational Sunday morning slot's annual summer break.
  • 9 September – Children's BBC premieres on BBC1.[30]
  • 10 September – ITV airs the Wales vs Scotland World Cup qualifier from Cardiff's Ninian Park. The match – played against the backdrop of escalating football hooliganism – is notable for the death of Scotland manager Jock Stein, who collapsed shortly before Scotland secured their place in the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
  • 15 September – ITV airs Murder in Space: The Solution, in which the puzzle of the sci-fi murder mystery is finally solved.
  • 22 September – Channel 4 celebrates 30 years of ITV with an evening of classic ITV programmes.[2]
  • 27 September – EastEnders begins airing on TVNZ in New Zealand, making New Zealand the first country outside the UK to air the series.
  • 28 September – After 20 years ITV's Saturday afternoon sports programme World of Sport is aired for the last time.

October

  • 2 October – The Times reports that Thames Television have paid the BBC £300,000 in compensation to make up for the additional costs it paid for new episodes of Dallas.[31]
  • 3 October – Roland Rat, the puppet rodent who saved an ailing TV-am in 1983 transfers to the BBC. Commenting on the move, he says, "I saved TV-am and now I'm here to save the BBC."[32]
  • 5 October – The first weekend horse racing is shown on Channel 4.
  • 28 October – A documentary in ITV's World in Action series casts doubt on evidence used to convict the Birmingham Six of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.[33]

November

  • 11 November – The 1,000th episode of Emmerdale Farm, which airs the following day, is celebrated with a special lunch attended by Princess Michael of Kent. Not recognising any of the cast members she later admits that she never watches the show.
  • 14 November – A special edition of Tomorrow's World examines how effective the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) might be at destroying any nuclear weapons launched at the United States.[34]

December

Unknown

  • London Weekend Television comes to an agreement with TVS to help to fill its schedules with domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget. This helps TVS to get more of its programmes onto the ITV network.[41]

Debuts

BBC1

BBC2

BBC Alba

  • 17 October – Dòtaman (1985–present)

ITV

Channel 4

The Children's Channel

Sky Channel

Channels

New channels

Date Channel
2 June Mirrorvision
September Home Video Channel
30 October Lifestyle
31 December Bravo (UK TV channel)

Defunct channels

Date Channel
2 June The Entertainment Network

Television shows

Changes of network affiliation

Shows Moved from Moved to
Towser ITV The Children's Channel
The Flintstones BBC1

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

Continuing television shows

1920s

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

1930s

  • The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019)
  • BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Ending this year

Births

Deaths

DateNameAgeCinematic Credibility
18 January Wilfrid Brambell[42] 72 actor
5 April Arthur Negus 82 antiques expert
14 April Noele Gordon 65 actress
7 June Gordon Rollings[43] 59 actor
23 November Leslie Mitchell 80 announcer

See also

References

  1. "BBC One London – 1 January 1985 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  2. "1985 : Off The Telly". Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  3. "Channel 4's 25 year Anniversary" (PDF). Channel 4. 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  4. "Victoria Wood – as Seen on TV – BBC Two England – 11 January 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times. Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk (3190): 94. 1985-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  5. BC Genome Project - BBC1 listings 23 January 1985
  6. David Hewson "Thames deal angers ITV network", The Times, 17 January 1985
  7. David Hewson "Thames TV head leaves in dispute over Dallas", The Times, 12 July 1985
  8. Williams, Steve (October 2005). "Ten into Three: Steve Williams on 10 days that shook ITV". Off The Telly. www.offthetelly.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  9. "Miami Vice – BBC One London – 4 February 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times. Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk (3194): 38. 1985-01-31. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  10. "EastEnders – BBC One London – 19 February 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times. Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk (3196): 50. 1985-02-14. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  11. "The Executioner's Song – BBC Two England – 17 March 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3200): 43. 1985-03-14. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  12. "The Executioner's Song – BBC Two England – 24 March 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3201): 34. 1985-03-21. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  13. "The Day the Universe Changed – BBC One London – 19 March 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3200): 58. 1985-03-14. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  14. "Play School: It's Friday – BBC One London – 29 March 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3201): 67. 1985-03-21. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  15. "The Coppola Connection: Apocalypse Now – BBC Two England – 31 March 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3202): 39. 1985-03-28. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  16. "BBC One London – 8 May 1985 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  17. Ident Central: TSW 1982–1989
  18. "Search Results – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  19. ""Live Aid makes millions for Africa" BBC On This Day". BBC News. 1985-07-13. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  20. "BBC One London – 14 July 1985 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  21. "Blues Night – BBC Two England – 27 July 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3219): 23. 1985-07-25. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  22. "No Limits – BBC Two England – 30 July 1985". BBC Genome. No. 3219. BBC. 1985-07-25. p. 43. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  23. O'Carroll, Lisa (12 December 2005). "The truth behind Real Lives". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  24. "The BBC, the State and Cold War Culture: The Case of Television's The War Game (1965)". English Historical Review vol. CXXI No. 494. Oxford University Press. 2006. JSTOR 4493713.
  25. "BBC One London – 1 August 1985". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  26. "Helfa Drysor". UKGameshows. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  27. Ident Central Scottish Television 1985–1988
  28. "Howards' Way – BBC One London – 1 September 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3224): 28. 1985-08-29. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  29. "Nine O'Clock News – BBC One London – 2 September 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3224): 36. 1985-08-29. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  30. "Who was your favourite? CBBC's 'Broom Cupboard' turns 30, in pictures". Telegraph. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  31. David Hewson "BBC ready to reclaim 'Dallas'", The Times, 2 October 1985
  32. Hewson, David (3 October 1985). "Roland Rat joins Wogan at the BBC". The Times. News International. p. 3.
  33. "Birmingham Pub Bombings". Hansard, vol 105 cc676-9. 20 November 1986. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  34. "Tomorrow's World – BBC One London – 14 November 1985". BBC Genome. No. 3234. BBC. 1985-11-07. p. 75. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  35. "John Lennon: A Journey in the Life – BBC One London – 6 December 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times. Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk (3237): 87. 1985-11-28. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  36. "BBC One London – 25 December 1985". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  37. "Roland's Yuletide Binge – BBC One London – 25 December 1985 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (3240): 64. 1985-12-19. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  38. "Christmas Day TV Listings". Glasgow Herald. 24 December 1985. p. 11. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  39. "BBC One London – 26 December 1985 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  40. "BBC One London – 31 December 1985". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  41. "The History of London Weekend Television, LWT". Ultimate LWT. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  42. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 83. ISBN 9781476625997.
  43. "Gordon Rollings". BFI. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
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