1963 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1963.

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Events

January

• 7 January – Granada Television first broadcasts World in Action, its influential investigative current affairs series, which will run for 35 years.
• 13 January – BBC TV broadcasts the play The Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre strand. The play co-stars a young American folk music singer named Bob Dylan.

February

• 18 February – The Strabane transmitter opens, bringing coverage to the west of Northern Ireland for the first time.

March

• 23 March – The 8th Eurovision Song Contest is held at the BBC Television Centre in London. Denmark wins the contest with the song "Dansevise", performed by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann.

April

• No events.

May

• No events.

June

• No events.

July

• No events.

August

• 9 August – Ready Steady Go! premieres on ITV.

September

• 30 September – BBC TV begins using a globe as their symbol. They will continue to use it in varying forms until 2002.

October

• No events.

November

• 22 November – BBC TV interrupts regular programming to report the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
• 23 November – On BBC TV:
  • William Hartnell stars as the First Doctor in the very first episode of science fiction series Doctor Who[1] (first of the 4-part serial An Unearthly Child). So many people complain of having missed it (because of the disruption to schedules caused by the assassination of John F. Kennedy) that the following Saturday episode 1 is repeated before the broadcast of episode 2. Doctor Who runs until 1989 and is revived from 2005.
  • That Was the Week That Was broadcasts a serious Kennedy tribute episode.

December

• 21 December – First episode of the seven-part serial The Daleks broadcast in the Doctor Who series, introducing the titular aliens (revealed fully in the following week's episode).
• 28 December – The satirical BBC show That Was the Week That Was (TW3) airs for the last time.

Debuts

BBC Television Service/BBC TV

• 5 January – The Chem. Lab. Mystery (1963)
• 18 January – Mr Justice Duncannon (1963)
• 21 February – Moonstrike (1963)
• 24 February – The Desperate People (1963)
• 7 April – Jane Eyre (1963)
• 18 May – The Stanley Baxter Show (1963–1971)
• 19 May – Epitaph for a Spy (1963)
• 10 July – Taxi! (1963–1964)
• 13 July – The Dick Emery Show (1963–1981)
• 16 August – Marriage Lines (1963–1966)
• 1 September – No Cloak - No Dagger (1963)
• 3 September – Swallows and Amazons (1963)
• 22 September – First Night (1963–1966)
• 30 September – Spotlight South-West (1963–present)
• 5 October – The Telegoons (1963–1964)
• 6 October – Dig This Rhubarb (1963–1964)
• 13 October – Kidnapped (1963)
• 1 November – Teletale (1963–1964)
• 23 November – Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
• 28 November – Bold as Brass (1963–1964)
• 26 December – Laughter from the Whitehall (1963–1965)
• 28 December – Meet the Wife (1963–1966)
• Unknown – Bleep and Booster (1963–1977)

ITV

• 3 January – Hancock (1963)
• 5 January – Dimensions of Fear (1963)
• 5 January – Once Aboard the Lugger (1963)
• 6 January – Best of Friends (1963)
• 7 January – World in Action (1963–1998)
• 2 February – 24-Hour Call (1963)
• 4 February – The Plane Makers (1963–1965)
• 30 March – Jezebel ex UK (1963)
• 30 March – The Human Jungle (1963–1964)
• 2 April – Crane (1963–1965)
• 7 April – Space Patrol (1963–1968)
• 7 May – Sierra Nine (1963)
• 29 May – The Des O'Connor Show (1963–1973)
• 3 June – Love Story (1963–1974)
• 9 June – Sergeant Cork (1963–1968)
• 26 July – Bud (1963)
• 6 August – Smugglers' Cove (1963)
• 8 August – A Little Big Business (1963–1965)
• 9 August – Ready Steady Go! (1963–1966)
• 25 September – Our Man at St. Mark's (1963–1966)
• 28 September – The Sentimental Agent (1963)
• 2 October – Espionage (1963–1964)
• 1 November – Friday Night (1963)
• 9 November – Emerald Soup (1963)
• 10 November – That's My Boy (1963)

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 (1950–1998)

1950s

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• Rag, Tag and Bobtail (1953–1965)
• The Good Old Days (1953–1983)
• Panorama (1953–present)
• 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)
• Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)
• This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)
• Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)[2]
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• Grandstand (1958–2007)
• Noggin the Nog (1959–1965, 1970, 1979–1982)

1960s

• Sykes and A... (1960–1965)
• The Flintstones (1960–1966)
• Coronation Street (1960–present)
• Ghost Squad (1961–1964)
• The Avengers (1961–1969)
• Points of View (1961–present)
• Songs of Praise (1961–present)
• Compact (1962–1965)
• Steptoe and Son (1962–1965, 1970–1974)
• Hugh and I (1962–1967)
• The Saint (1962–1969)
• Z-Cars (1962–1978)
• Animal Magic (1962–1983)

Ending this year

• Zoo Quest (1954–1963)
• That Was The Week That Was (1962–1963)
• The Jetsons (1962–1963, 1985–1987)

Births

• 16 January – James May, motoring journalist and television show host
• 19 January – Martin Bashir, television journalist
• 22 January – Nicola Duffett, actress
• 27 January – Mark Moraghan, actor and singer
• 10 February – Philip Glenister, actor
• 16 March – Jerome Flynn, British actor
• 20 March – David Thewlis, English actor
• 16 April – Nick Berry, actor and singer
• 27 April – Russell T Davies, Welsh-born screenwriter
• 11 May – Natasha Richardson, actress (died 2009)
• 20 May – Jenny Funnell, radio and television actress
• 22 May – David Schneider, actor
• 6 June – Jason Isaacs, actor
• 2 July – Mark Kermode, British film critic
• 3 July – Jo Wheeler, weather forecaster
• 31 August – Todd Carty, actor and director
• 11 September – Colin Wells, actor
• 26 September –
  • Lysette Anthony, English actress
  • Jo Caulfield, actress, writer and comedian.
• 5 October – Nick Robinson, broadcast journalist, BBC News political editor
• 3 November – Ian Wright, footballer and radio and television presenter
• 10 November – Hugh Bonneville, actor
• 28 November – Armando Iannucci, Scottish comedian, satirist and radio producer
• 24 December – Caroline Aherne, comic actress/writer (died 2016)
• Unknown –
  • Ruth Goodman, historian and television presenter
  • Judy Flynn, British actress, (Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom)

See also

• 1963 in British music
• 1963 in British radio
• 1963 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1963

References

1. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
2. Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline