ITV announces that it will move its Sunday episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street. From the week beginning on 12 January, Coronation Street will have an additional Friday episode, while Emmerdale will air for an hour on Tuesdays. Dancing on Ice would move to a Sunday night slot.[1]
11 January
ITV News at 10.30 is shown for the last time. News at Ten then replaces it from Mondays to Thursdays, and ITV Late News on Fridays.
14 January
News at Ten returns to ITV with Sir Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham.[2] The programme will air four nights a week from Mondays to Thursdays, with an 11.00pm bulletin on Fridays.[3]
16 January
Actress Leslie Ash wins a record £5 million out of court settlement from Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust after contracting a hospital acquired bug that left her partially paralysed while undergoing hospital treatment in 2004.[4]
22 January
BBC Three has its identity relaunched, showcasing new shows such as Lily Allen and Friends.
23 January
Konnie Huq presents her last episode of Blue Peter after over ten years, having become the longest-running female presenter and third longest-running overall in the shows' 50-year history.
31 January
"Pretty Baby....", a unique episode of the soap opera EastEnders is broadcast, consisting of just one character (Dot Branning) with a single monologue in the form of a taped message to her husband. This 'one-hander' is a first in UK soap history.[5]
All the UKTV network channels such as UKTV Gold switch to widescreen.
February[]
Date
Event
6 February
The BBC announces that children's drama Grange Hill is to be axed after exactly 30 years on air.[6]
7 February
In an address to the Royal Television Society, the comedian Lenny Henry criticises the lack of ethnic diversity in the media.[7]
BBC One airs the debut episode of Ashes to Ashes, a spin-off series of Life on Mars.[8]
8 February
After 22 years Neighbours is shown on BBC One for the last time.
11 February
Australian soap opera Neighbours debuts in its new home on Five.
12 February
The BBC Three "Blobs" are played out for the last time at 4 am. A new set of idents debuted the same day, this is the channels first ever rebrand since launching in early 2003.
18 February
Natasha Kaplinsky makes her Five News debut as Britain's highest paid newsreader, on a reported annual salary of £1 million.[9]
It is announced that music video channel The Hits will be replaced by 4Music later in the year.
25 February
BBC One soap EastEnders is reprimanded by Ofcom for the level of violence in an episode aired in November 2007 which saw a gang attack on a pub. The scenes, which showed a sustained level of violence, were deemed to be inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience.[10]
27 February
Launch of the black entertainment channel BET International.
28 February
James Nathan wins the 2008 series of MasterChef.[11]
March[]
Date
Event
3 March
Christ Church, Oxford wins the 2007–08 series of University Challenge, beating the University of Sheffield 220–170.
7 March
The MS Society criticises a recent The Bill plotline as "grossly irresponsible" after it featured a multiple sclerosis patient being told about a fictional treatment for the condition.[12]
10 March
A blanket ban on filming in and around Stormont Castle is lifted when the restrictions on the presence of cameras in the building are lifted, thus allowing proceedings in the Northern Ireland Assembly to be televised.[13]
ITV2 signs a deal with social networking site Bebo, allowing some of the channel's content to be aired free online.[14]
12 March
Overnight viewing figures indicate that the debut episode of the US TV series Bionic Woman, which aired on ITV2 on 11 March was watched by 2.2 million viewers, giving the channel its largest audience to date.[15]
15 March
Launch of BBC One's I'd Do Anything, a search for actors to appear in the West End musical Oliver!. Three boys will be chosen to play Oliver Twist and an actress to play the role of Nancy.[16]
16 March
Suzanne Shaw and skating partner Matt Evers win the third series of Dancing on Ice.[17]
19 March
BBC Four attracts its highest ever ratings after broadcasting the one-off drama The Curse of Steptoe, with 1.41 million viewers.
21 March
Dirty Sexy Money makes its debut airing in the UK and proves to be a popular hit for Channel 4.
24 March (Easter Monday)
BBC Four broadcasts a revived, special two-hour-long episode of the 1960s satire The Frost Report.[18]
26 March
American Hit Dramedy, Desperate Housewives finally makes its Fourth season debut. The show was due to start in the first two weeks of January, but this was shelved due to the WGA Strike.
April[]
Date
Event
1 April
Patsy Palmer returns to EastEnders as Bianca Jackson nine years after leaving the series.
15 April
ITV has decided to drop the second episode of the nine-part US supernatural drama Pushing Daisies because it only has scheduling space to show eight episodes before the start of Euro 2008. The second episode was the only one considered not crucial to the storyline, but it will be shown when the series is repeated.[19]
21 April
BBC News has a major relaunch with BBC News 24 becoming BBC News and BBC World becoming BBC World News. All the news programmes on BBC One and BBC Two have also had new looks including all regional news programmes.
26 April
A report in The Sun suggests seven characters will be axed from Coronation Street over the coming months. Those leaving include five members of the , who run the street's kebab shop, and Jack Ellis and Matthew Crompton, who play bookies Harry and Dan Mason.[20]
28 April
Five Life is renamed to Fiver.
May[]
Date
Event
6 May
Freesat officially launches. ITV HD launches its full service.
19 May
Kix! was launched in the UK for the first time.
22 May
Scotsport airs for the last time on Scottish television. By the time it ended it was recognised as the world's longest running sports television magazine.
24 May
After Britain's entry in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest comes last, Sir Terry Wogan suggests he may step down as the BBC's Eurovision commentator because the contest is "no longer a music contest". Andy Abraham receives 14 points for the United Kingdom with "Even If", while the contest is won by Russia's Dima Bilan with "Believe", which scores 292 points. The result is partially due to the number of former Soviet states giving Russia the maximum 12 points, prompting Wogan to tell viewers that "Russia were going to be the political winners from the beginning" and to suggest "western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in because their prospects are poor".[21]
29 May
It is announced that What the Papers Say, the second longest running programme on British television after Panorama, is to be axed by the BBC.
30 May
Several newspapers report that George Galloway, MP has issued legal proceedings against The Bill for defamation after a storyline aired in November 2007 that featured a corrupt MP who smuggled antiques out of Iraq before the war, which Galloway alleges was a portrayal of him.[22][23]
All Virgin Media channels including Bravo (also Bravo 2), Living (also Living2), Challenge, Trouble and Virgin 1 switch to widescreen.
4 June
MTV UK and several other MTV Networks Europe channels are fined £255,000 by Ofcom for "widespread and persistent" breaches of the broadcasting code, including breaking the pre-watershed content ban.
5 June
The Big Brother 9 launch night proves to be not as good as Channel 4 had hoped with the loss of around 1 million viewers who had watched the previous year's launch night
6 June
Sharon Osbourne quits as a judge on the ITV series The X Factor shortly before filming is due to begin on a new series.[27]
7–29 June
Euro 2008 are held in Austria and Switzerland.
9 June
Channel 4 apologises after broadcasting an episode of The Simpsons that included the use of the word "wankers" at 6.00 pm on 15 April. The incident, blamed on an administrative error, led to 31 viewers complaining to Ofcom that such language was unacceptable at a time when children would be watching.[28]
10 June
Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole is revealed as Sharon Osbourne's replacement as a judge on The X Factor.[29]
UKTV announces that, following the successful launch of Dave, it will rebrand all its channels from generic, UKTV-prefixed names to individual and separate brands.[31][32]
17 June
Comedian Joan Rivers is asked to leave the ITV afternoon talk show Loose Women after swearing live on air. She was removed during the commercial break, and said that she didn't realise the show was going out live and thought her comments would be bleeped.[33]
23 June
An EastEnders storyline involving the live burial of a character that aired over Easter is criticised as "offensive" by Ofcom. The scenes, which saw Tanya Branning getting revenge against her unfaithful husband Max by drugging and burying him, attracted 116 complaints from viewers. Ofcom says the episodes had "a seriously disturbing element to them".[34]
July[]
Date
Event
5 July
The finale of the fourth series of Doctor Who is watched by 9.4 million viewers, this is the first time since the series' revival in 2005 that Doctor Who has the largest audience share in its timeslot.
ITV Central is fined £25,000 for contempt of court after running a news story about a trial that was about to start, which included details of a defendant's previous conviction for murder.[35][36]
More4 begins a season of Stanley Kubrick films. It is preceded by Citizen Kubrick, a documentary about the director by Jon Ronson. By way of promotion for the season, Channel 4 commissioned a 65-second promotion that included recreating the set of The Shining, complete with lookalikes of the cast and crew, the ad showing the set from Kubrick's perspective as he walks through it to take his seat in the director's chair before filming.[37]
22 July
BBC Two Controller Roly Keating is appointed as the BBC's first director of archive content. He will take up the role in the autumn.[38]
23 July
Des O'Connor announces that he will step down as presenter of Countdown.[39]
Portland Enterprises, owners of Television X: The Fantasy Channel are fined £25,000 by Ofcom for broadcasting "highly explicit sex material" after showing an R18 rated adult film in June 2007, something that broke Ofcom rules on the broadcast of adult content.[40]
Former Spice GirlEmma Bunton is named as a temporary co-presenter of Richard & Judy, presenting the show alongside Richard Madeley for a few days while his wife, Judy Finnigan recovers from a knee operation.[41] Bunton is succeeded by Myleene Klass, who also takes on Finnegan's role for a few days.[42]
25 July
Carol Vorderman announces that she will quit as host of Countdown, two days after Des O'Connor announced his intention to leave the programme. Vorderman's manager said that she did not think she could go through the process of bonding with another co-presenter.[43]
Liz McClarnon wins the 2008 series of Celebrity MasterChef.[44]
August[]
Date
Event
8–24 August
2008 Summer Olympics are held in China.
15 August
The music video channel The Hits closes and is replaced by 4Music later the same day.
Griff Rhys Jones announced as the new presenter of It'll Be Alright on the Night for the first time since Denis Norden's retirement from the show in 2006 after almost 30 years.
Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three rebrands to Sky1, Sky2 and Sky3 respectively.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live's Simon Mayo, television writer Jimmy McGovern describes the BBC as "one of the most racist institutions in England" because of the lack of ethnic people in prominent positions. The BBC responds by saying it is "actively seeking and nurturing ethnic talents both on and off the air."[45]
September[]
Date
Event
1 September
Selina Scott is suing Five for age discrimination, it is reported, after she was considered but overlooked as a temporary replacement for Five News presenter Natasha Kaplinsky during her maternity leave.[46]
A report by the Scottish Broadcasting Commission recommends that up to £75 million of public funds should be used to create a high quality Scottish television channel.[48]
15 September
BBC One airs the final episode of Grange Hill.[49]
17 September
Channel 4 ordered a deal with 20th Century Fox, Sega & Sonic Team for the films for the Sonic X film series.
18 September
BBC One screens its controversial documentary The Undercover Soldier that alleges instances of bullying in the British Army.[50][51] The show attracts relatively low ratings and the BBC is criticised by serving soldiers for the way the investigation was conducted.[52]
19 September
BBC Alba, a Scottish Gaelic language digital television channel, is launched through a partnership between the BBC and MG Alba.
Derek Johnstone wins the first series of MasterChef: The Professionals,[53] and goes on to take a job at London's Le Gavroche restaurant with Michel Roux Jr.
October[]
Date
Event
1 October
BBC Four Controller Janice Hadlow is appointed Controller of BBC Two, replacing outgoing incumbent Roly Keating from November.[54]
Scottish Media Group is rebranded STV Group plc. It does this because it wants to highlight its renewed focus on television.[55][56]
ITV1 screens the British terrestrial television premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with overnight viewing figures indicating it to have an audience of 7.2 million viewers (a 29% audience share).[57]
6 October
Five has its first major rebrand since 2002.
It is reported that an episode of Coronation Street, in which the character Tony Gordon made a jibe about Rangers, was changed following complaints from fans of the football club.[58]
7 October
UKTV launches a new general entertainment channel called Watch and UKTV Gold was relaunched as a comedy channel G.O.L.D. (Go on Laugh Daily) and UKTV Drama was relaunched as a crime drama channel Alibi.
EastEnders begins broadcasting the storyline The Secret Mitchell in which Danielle Jones (Lauren Crace) is revealed to be Ronnie Mitchell's (Samantha Janus) daughter.
F1 on ITV airs for the last time, presented by Steve Rider, with commentators Martin Brundle and James Allen.
3 November
Britain's favourite singing pigs Pinky and Perky return to CBBC with a brand new television series known as The Pinky and Perky Show brought to life with CGI animation. The series is updated with various brand new characters and a few old characters which were Morton Frog and Vera Vixen (but this time as the main antagonist) and follows the brothers and their misadventures in a television studio while working as presenters of a children's TV show.
4 November
It is announced that an agreement has been struck for Sky's basic channels – including Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 – to return to Virgin Media from 13 November 2008 until 12 June 2011. In exchange Sky will be provide continued carriage of Virgin Media Television's channels – Living, Living2, Bravo, Bravo +1, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin1 for the same period.[60] However, Trouble closed down in April 2009 and Sky brought Virgin Media Television (later Living TV Group) two years later. Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge Jackpot and Channel One closed down on 1 January and 1 February 2011 respectively, along with the rebrandings of Living (now Sky Living), Livingit (then Livingit, now Sky Livingit), Living Loves (now Sky Living Loves) and Challenge's new slot on Freeview on 1 February 2011, which finally ended Living TV Group and extended the agreement as a permanent deal.
5 November
A BBC Two Newsnight special on the election of Barack Obama in which presenter Jeremy Paxman famously addresses the rapper Dizzee Rascal as "Mr Rascal".[61][62]
6 November
The digital switchover continues when the Scottish Borders region's analogue service is switched off. People served by the Selkirk transmitter will be the first substantial area to go fully digital.
12–13 November
ITV airs Proof of Life, a two-part episode of The Bill to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary. The storyline features a crossover with the German police procedural Leipzig Homicide, and is aired on both UK and German television.[63]
13 November
BSkyB's basic channels such as Sky1 and Sky News return to Virgin Media TV.
Debut of the six-part supernatural drama Apparitions on BBC One is about a Roman Catholic Church priest Father Jacob Myers (Martin Shaw) who examines evidence of miracles to be used in canonisation but also performs exorcisms. As he learns, Jacob's duties run deeper than just sending demons back to Hell; he later must prevent them all from escaping. The series continues on 18 December.
14 November
Children in Need 2008 is broadcast on BBC One, hosted by Terry Wogan, Tess Daly and Fearne Cotton. Raising £20,991,216 by the end of the broadcast.
19 November
Journalist John Sergeant pulls out of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing contest following controversy over his participation in the show. Sergeant has been consistently supported by the public despite receiving the lowest scores from the programme's panel of judges. Announcing his decision, Sergeant says winning would be "a joke too far". The BBC says it will refund anyone who voted for Sergeant while he was taking part.[64]
20 November
Sir Trevor McDonald presents his last News at Ten after only 11 months at helm. Mark Austin takes over as head anchor.
QI broadcasts its last episode to be originally shown on BBC Two, as part of Children in Need. The series moves to BBC One during Christmas.
21 November
It is announced that Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling and Oxford graduate Rachel Riley will replace Des O'Connor and Carol Vorderman as hosts of the next series of Countdown. Riley beat 1,000 applicants to win the role.[65]
The BBC Trust criticises another incident involving Jonathan Ross and bad language. The Trust rules that a remark made by Ross on an edition of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross aired in May in which he told the actress Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her" was "gratuitous and unnecessarily offensive".[66]
STV announces its intention to opt out of ITV programmes they claim are not performing well in their broadcast region. These include series such as Sharpe's Peril, Al Murray's Happy Hour, Moving Wallpaper, Benidorm and The Alan Titchmarsh Show. ITV's coverage of the FA Cup is also dropped.
December[]
Date
Event
3 December
The new Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Matter of Loaf and Death, premieres in Australia on the ABC before airing in the UK.
5 December
Selina Scott has reached a settlement with Five after suing the channel for age discrimination, it is reported.[67]
It is announced that Graham Norton will take over from Terry Wogan as the presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest after Wogan, who has presented the BBC's coverage of the contest for 30 years, decided to relinquish the role.[69]
12 December
Des O'Connor presents his last Countdown episode after over a year of presenting and Carol Vorderman also presents her last Countdown episode after 26 years of co-presenting.
13 December
Alexandra Burke wins the fifth series of The X Factor.[70]
Presenter Fiona Phillips leaves GMTV after nearly 16 years with ITV's breakfast broadcaster.[72]
20 December
Tom Chambers and dancing partner Camilla Dallerup win the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing.[73]
25 December
The Royle Family returns for a Christmas Special, attracting an audience of 11 million. The most watched show of the day is a new Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Matter of Loaf and Death, which airs on BBC One, and is seen by 14.4 million viewers.[74]
30 December
Shooting Stars returns with a Christmas special and a clip show, the first new episodes since 2002 and Rab C. Nesbitt returns with a Christmas special, another new episode since 1999.[75]
31 December
ITV airs Elton's New Year's Eve party, a live concert by Elton John from London's O2 Arena. Channel 5 airs an evening of programming dedicated to Bruce Forsyth, including An Audience with Bruce Forsyth.[76]