1958 in British television

List of years in British television (table)
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This is a list of British television related events from 1958.

Events[]

January[]

• 14 January – TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England, goes on the air.

February[]

• 13 February – A by-election is covered on UK television for the first time when Granada broadcasts coverage of the 1958 Rochdale by-election;^[1] broadcast presenter Ludovic Kennedy takes second place for the Liberals, considerably increasing their share of the vote.
• 17 February – Pope Pius XII designates St. Clare of Assisi as the patron saint of television.^[2] Thereafter, placing her icon on a television set is said to improve reception.
• 18 February – Footage of the annual Shrove Tuesday Atherstone Ball Game is shown on television for the first time.^[3]

March[]

• 31 March – Debut of the BBC's serial Starr and Company, set in an engineering firm. The programme is aired for nine months.^[4][5]

April[]

• 14 April — The newly magnetic videotape machine Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus or VERA for short, is given a live demonstration on air in Panorama where Richard Dimbleby seated by a clock, talks for a couple of minutes about the new method of vision recording with an instant playback. The tape is then wound back and replayed. The picture is slightly watery, but reasonably watchable, and instant playback is something completely new.^[6]

May[]

• 5 May – First experimental transmissions of a 625-line television service.

June[]

• No events.

July[]

• No events.

August[]

• 30 August – Southern Television, the ITV franchise for the South of England, goes on the air.

September[]

• No events.

October[]

• 11 October – The long running Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand debuts on the BBC Television Service. It airs until 2007.
• 16 October – Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's TV programme, debuts on the BBC Television Service. It continues to air into the 2020s.
• 28 October – The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time.

November[]

• 30 November – During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre play Underground on the ITV network, actor Gareth Jones has a fatal heart attack between two of his scenes while in make-up.

December[]

• No events.

Debuts[]

BBC Television Service/BBC TV[]

• 1 January – Big Guns (1958)
• 4 January – Saturday Playhouse (1958-1961)
• 2 February – Monitor (1958-1965)
• 24 January – Pride and Prejudice (1958)
• 12 February – More Than Robbery (1958)
• March – Starr and Company (1958)
• 7 March – The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1958)
• 11 April – (1958-1959)
• 22 April – Railway Roundabout (1958-1962)
• 7 May – White Heather Club (1958–1968)
• 13 May – (1958)
• 17 May – (1958)
• 1 June – The Adventures of Ben Gunn (1958)
• 14 June – The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–1978)
• 24 June – The Firm of Girdlestone (1958)
• 5 July – (1958)
• 16 August – Charlesworth at Large (1958)
• 6 September – (1958)
• 12 September – Champion Road (1958)
• 14 September – Little Women (1958)
• 29 September – Leave It to Todhunter (1958)
• 11 October – Grandstand (1958–2007)
• 16 October – Blue Peter (1958–present)
• 4 November – (1958)
• 7 November – Our Mutual Friend (1958–1959)
• 10 November – Solo for Canary (1958)
• 11 November – Charlie Drake (1958–1960)
• 4 December – Private Investigator (1958–1959)
• 22 December – Quatermass and the Pit (1958–1959)

ITV[]

• 8 January – Ivanhoe (1958–1959)
• 4 February – (1958)
• 21 February – Sword of Freedom (1958–1961)
• 18 March – (1958-1960)
• 23 March – (1958)
• 30 March – Time Out for Peggy (1958)
• 26 April – (1958)
• 30 June – My Wife and I (1958)
• 6 July – Dial 999 (1958-1959)
• 13 September – Oh Boy! (1958–1959)
• 13 September – Mary Britten, M.D. (1958)
• 14 September – The Invisible Man (1958–1959)
• 19 September – The Larkins (1958–1964)
• 20 September – The Adventures of William Tell (1958–1959)
• 26 September – Educating Archie (1958–1959)
• 6 October – Cannonball (1958–1959)
• 12 October – After Hours (1958–1959)
• 6 December – (1958–1959)
• Unknown
  • Gwlad y Gan (1958–1964)
  • Torchy the Battery Boy (1958–1959)

Continuing television shows[]

1920s[]

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

1930s[]

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

1940s[]

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

1950s[]

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• All Your Own (1952–1961)
• Rag, Tag and Bobtail (1953–1965)
• The Good Old Days (1953–1983)
• Panorama (1953–present)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1960)
• Picture Book (1955–1965)
• Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–1967, 1973–1974)
• Take Your Pick (1955–1968, 1992–1998)
• Double Your Money (1955–1968)
• Dixon of Dock Green (1955–1976)
• Crackerjack (1955–1984, 2020–present)
• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961)
• Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)
• This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)
• Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)^[7]
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• The Army Game (1957–1961)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957–1997)

Ending this year[]

• The Flower Pot Men (1952–1958, 2001–2002)
• The Woodentops (1955–1958)
• Educated Evans (1957–1958)
• Living It Up (1957–1958)
• Six-Five Special (1957–1958)

Births[]

• 10 January – Caroline Langrishe, actress
• 24 January – Jools Holland, British musician
• 29 January – Linda Smith, comedian (died 2006)
• 11 February – Michael Jackson, British broadcast executive
• 20 February – James Wilby, British actor
• 3 March – Miranda Richardson, English actress
• 7 March – Rik Mayall, comedian and actor (died 2014)
• 14 March – Francine Stock, radio and television presenter and author
• 21 March – Gary Oldman, English actor
• 14 April – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director
• 3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born comedian, author, and radio presenter
• 17 May – Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedian and actor
• 18 May – Toyah Willcox, actress and singer
• 22 May – Denise Welch, actress and television presenter
• 6 July – Jennifer Saunders, British comedian
• 24 July – Joe McGann, actor
• 31 July – Sue Jenkins, actress
• 29 August – Lenny Henry, British entertainer
• 30 August – Muriel Gray, Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist
• 13 September – Bobby Davro, actor and comedian
• 18 September – Linda Lusardi, British model, actress, and television presenter
• 21 September
  • Simon Mayo, British radio presenter
  • Penny Smith, television presenter
• 25 October – Simon Gipps-Kent, actor (died 1987)
• 31 October – Debbie McGee, television, radio and stage performer
• 6 December – Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator

Deaths[]

• 30 November ��� Gareth Jones, actor

See also[]

• 1958 in British music
• 1958 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1958

References[]