- Channels
- 1980 In the early hours of the morning, the BBC English regions provide their final regular closedown continuity/news.
As part of financial cutbacks, local continuity and news at closedown is being discontinued in the English regions. Local continuity has been provided in the English regions five days a week (Monday to Friday) since April 1976. - Programmes
- 1947 Last Night of the Proms is televised for the first time - on BBC TV.
- 1961 The final edition of The Brain’s Trust airs on BBC TV.
- 1963 The final episode of The Odd Man airs on ITV.
- 1968 The first episode of Oh Brother! airs on BBC One.
- 1972 The first edition of Midweek airs on BBC One.
- 1972 The first episode of Van Der Valk airs on ITV.
- 1973 The first episode of Casanova 73 airs on BBC One.
- 1976 The first edition of News at One airs on ITV.
- 1983 The first episode of The Dark Side of the Sun airs on BBC One.
- 1987 The first episode of The New Statesman airs on ITV.
- 1988 The first edition of The Mind Machine airs on BBC Two.
- 1989 The first edition of The Best of Magic airs on ITV.
- 1989 The first episode of Bodger and Badger airs on BBC One.
- 1994 The first edition of Vanessa airs on ITV.
- 1995 The final episode of US series Burke’s Law airs on ITV.
- 2002 The 2,000th edition of Top of the Pops airs on BBC One.
- 2003 The final edition of SM:TV Live airs on ITV.
- 2014 The final edition of Tumble airs on BBC One.
- 2015 The first episode of This Is England '90 airs on Channel 4.
- Test Card/Teletext In-Vision Music
- 1983 BBC One tape Hi Livin' airs for the first time.
Research for On This Day in TV History is by Paul R. Jackson.
Details about test card/teletext in-vision music and BBC trade test films are available as a result of decades of research and logging by members of the Test Card Circle.
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If you know of an event that would be worthy of inclusion on this page, please drop us a line using our Contact Form. Items of interest include:
- Programme launches and finales;
- Programme relaunches (including new title sequences and set changes);
- Channel launches and closures;
- Channel presentation changes;
- Trade test film first and final airings;
- Test card/teletext in-vision music tape first and final airings;
- Teletext service launches/relaunches/closures.
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