1946 in British television

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This is a list of British television related events from 1946.

British television broadcasts resumed this year. They had been suspended during World War II, for fear that the signals would help German bombers.

Events[]

January – May[]

• No events.

June[]

• 1 June – The first television licence is introduced in the United Kingdom, costing £2.^[1][2]
• 7 June – The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting again. The first words heard are "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". The Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premier that had been the last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, is reshown after Bligh's introduction.^[3]
• June – BBC Wimbledon returns. It was the longest running pre-war programme since it debuted in 1927. It brings back the longest tennis tournament after the end of World War II and the reintroduction of the BBC Television Service.

July[]

• 7 July – The BBC's children's programme For the Children returns, one of the few pre-war programmes to resume after the reintroduction of the BBC Television Service.

August[]

• 4 August – Children's puppet "Muffin the Mule" makes his first appearance in an episode of For The Children. He is so popular he is given his own show later in the year on a new service Watch with Mother.

September[]

• No events.

October[]

• 19 October – The first live televised post-war football match is broadcast by the BBC. Twenty minutes of Barnet's home game against Wealdstone were televised in the first half and thirty five minutes of the second half before it became too dark.^[4]
• 22 October – Telecrime, the first television crime series from the 1930s, returns for the final run on the BBC Television Service, retitled Telecrimes.

November[]

• 29 November – Pinwright's Progress, British television's first sitcom, is broadcast for the first time on the BBC Television Service.

December[]

• 31 December – The BBC ends the day's television broadcasting with Seeing the New Year In.^[5]

Debuts[]

• Madeline (1941–1949)

• 5 May – (1939-1965, 1974-1981)
• 4 August – Muffin the Mule (1946–1955, 2005–2006)
• 2 November – Kaleidoscope (1946–1953)
• 29 November – Pinwright's Progress (1946–1947)

Television shows returning after the war[]

1920s[]

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

1930s[]

• Picture Page (1936–1939, 1946–1952).
• For the Children (1937–1939, 1946–1950)
• Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946)
• The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019)
• BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

Ending this year[]

• Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946)

Births[]

• 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress, Doctor Who (died 2011)
• 5 February – Charlotte Rampling, English actress
• 7 February – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (died 2011)
• 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor
• 18 February – Michael Buerk, journalist and news presenter
• 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• 21 February – Alan Rickman, English actor (died 2016)^[6]
• 21 March – Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor
• 28 March – Tricia Ingrams, journalist and television presenter (died 1996)
• 5 April – Jane Asher, actress
• 11 April – Bob Harris, radio and television presenter
• 18 April – Hayley Mills, actress
• 19 April – Tim Curry, English actor, vocalist and composer
• May – Jock Brown, football commentator
• 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress
• 10 May – Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian
• 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, actor (died 2017)
• 15 June – Noddy Holder, English singer (Slade)
• 5 July – Gwyneth Powell, English actress
• 14 July – Sue Lawley, broadcaster
• 26 August – Alison Steadman, actress
• 19 September – Michael Elphick, actor (died 2002)
• 25 September – Felicity Kendal, actress
• 28 September – Helen Shapiro, singer and actor
• 29 September – Patricia Hodge, English actress
• 10 October – Chris Tarrant, broadcaster and television presenter
• 14 October – Katy Manning, English actress
• 17 October – Vicki Hodge, English actress
• 22 October – Kelvin MacKenzie, media executive
• 31 October – Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor
• 18 November – Andrea Allan, Scottish actress
• 20 December – Lesley Judd, English actress and television presenter
• 23 December – John Sullivan, English scriptwriter (died 2011)
• 27 December – Janet Street-Porter, English broadcast journalist

Deaths[]

• 14 June – John Logie Baird, 57, engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system.

See also[]

• 1946 in British music
• 1946 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1946

References[]