Events

• 3 January - The BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
   cancels the appearance of Coca Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts in its BBC One
  BBC One
  BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
  
   Top of the Pops
  Top of the Pops
  Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
  
   show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting junk food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers.
• 4 January – ITV introduces a sixth weekly episode of Emmerdale
  Emmerdale
  Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
  
  airing on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm. The episode is dropped in 2008 to allow for one hour episodes on Tuesdays.
• 28 January – The Hutton Inquiry
  Hutton Inquiry
  The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee...
  
   into the circumstances of the death of Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to strongly condemn the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  's handling of the David Kelly affair and to exonerate the government. The BBC's Director-General, Greg Dyke
  Greg Dyke
  Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
  
  , chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies
  Gavyn Davies
  Gavyn Davies, OBE was the chairman of the BBC from 2001 until 2004, a former Goldman Sachs banker and a former economic advisor to the British Government...
  
  , and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan
  Andrew Gilligan
  Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
  
  , resign. The UK media in general condemns the report as a whitewash.
• 29 January – Mark Byford
  Mark Byford
  Mark Byford was Deputy Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation and head of BBC Journalism from 2004-2011. He chaired the BBC Journalism Board and had overall responsibility for the world’s largest and most trusted news organisation, and all its radio, television and interactive...
  
   becomes acting Director General of the BBC following Greg Dyke
  Greg Dyke
  Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
  
  's resignation.
• 30 January – ITV
  ITV
  ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
  
  's News at Ten ends for a second time, with its replacement, the News at 10:30, launching the following Monday.
• 2 February – ITV plc
  ITV plc
  ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
  
   is formed from the merger of Carlton
  Carlton Television
  Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
  
   and Granada
  Granada Television
  Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
  
  . The News at 10:30 also debuts, while the ITN News Channel is rebranded as the ITV News Channel
  ITV News Channel
  The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, Freeview and analogue cable, presenting national and international news plus regular business, sport, entertainment and...
  
  .
• 9 February – Kerry McFadden wins the third series of ITV1
  ITV1
  ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
  
  's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. 14.99 million watch the final, the programme's highest rated episode to this day.
• 16 February – BBC Network news titles are relaunched in the style of BBC News 24
  BBC News 24
  BBC News is the BBC's 24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989...
  
  , which introduced two months earlier.
• 8 March – All 'UK' prefix TV channels are rebranded to UKTV. For example UK Bright Ideas is rebranded UKTV Bright Ideas, and UK History
  UKTV History
  Yesterday is a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 30 October 2002 and relaunched in its current format on 2 March 2009. The channel is available on satellite through Sky, cable services primarily through...
  
   becomes UKTV History.
• 20 March – Christopher Eccleston
  Christopher Eccleston
  Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
  
   is announced as the ninth actor to play The Doctor in Doctor Who
  Doctor Who
  Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
  
  .
• 10 May – ABC1, a channel from Disney, is launched in the UK.
• 17 May – Michael Grade
  Michael Grade
  Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth CBE is a British broadcast executive and businessman. He was BBC chairman from 2004 to 2006 and executive chairman of ITV plc from 2007 to 2009.-Early life:...
  
   is appointed as new BBC Chairman.
• 21 May – Mark Thompson
  Mark Thompson
  Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...
  
   is appointed new Director General of the BBC.
• 4 June – Kitten Pinder is evicted from the Big Brother UK
  Big Brother (UK)
  Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
  
  house, shouting against the Queen
  Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
  Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
  
   and the aristocracy
  Aristocracy
  Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
  
   on the way out.
• 14 June – Quiz TV
  Quiz TV
  Quiz TV was a popular British television interactive gameshow which screened on Digital satellite and cable TV from 14 June 2004 to 23 June 2006. It was a premium-line call-in show, viewers were encouraged to phone a premium-rate number in order to provide an answer to a quiz question....
  
   launches in the UK, one of the country's first phone-in quiz channels. Many more launched over the next few years, though Quiz TV itself would close down in 2006
  2006 in television
  2006 in television may refer to:*2006 in American television*2006 in Australian television*2006 in British television*2006 in Canadian television*2006 in Japanese television...
  
  .
• 17 June – The live feed of Big Brother is taken off air for a few hours as the housemates threaten to kill each other.
• 22 June – Mark Thompson
  Mark Thompson
  Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...
  
   takes over as Director General of the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  .
• 24 June – The highest rated audience of the year is recorded in the UK as 20.66 million watch England's football match against Portugal in the quarter finals of Euro 2004. This was also the last programme in British television history to get over 20 million viewers as of 2010. http://www.barb.co.uk/25years/top10.php?section=events&callyear=2004
• 5 July – 50th anniversary of television news broadcasts.
• 15 July – The BBC broadcasts a documentary on the far right
  Far right
  Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
  
   British National Party
  British National Party
  The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
  
   in which undercover reporter Jason Gwynne
  Jason Gwynne
  Jason Gwynne is a journalist, most widely known for his 2004 documentary on the British National Party . The documentary was based on undercover footage gathered by Gwynne who posed as a football hooligan looking to get involved in far-right politics.-External links:*...
  
   infiltrated the BNP by posing as a football hooligan. The programme results in Mark Collett
  Mark Collett
  Mark Adrian Collett is a British political activist. He is a former chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party , and was Director of Publicity for the Party before being suspended from the party in early April 2010...
  
   and Nick Griffin
  Nick Griffin
  Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
  
  , the leader of the party, being charged for inciting racial hatred
  Inciting racial hatred
  Incitement to racial or ethnic hatred is a crime under the laws of a number of countries.-United Kingdom:Under the Law of the United Kingdom, "incitement to racial hatred" was established as an offence by the provisions of §§ 17-29 of the Public Order Act 1986. It was first established as a...
  
   in April 2005, for comments made in the film.
• 13 August-29 August – The 2004 Summer Olympics
  2004 Summer Olympics
  The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
  
   are held in Athens
  Athens
  Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
  
  , Greece
  Greece
  Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
  
  .
• 30 October – The BBC receives "hundreds of complaints" after reporter Barbara Plett describes herself crying when a frail Yasser Arafat
  Yasser Arafat
  Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
  
   was evacuated to France for medical treatment. Ultimately these complaints are partially upheld by the BBC Governors' Programme Complaints Committee.
• 1 November – The digital television station ITV3
  ITV3
  ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004. ITV3 is the second largest UK multi-channel, second only to ITV2.-History:...
  
   is launched at 9:00pm, replacing Granada Plus
  Granada Plus
  Plus was a digital channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 October 1996 under the original name of Granada Plus, and during its availability it underwent successive rebrands as G Plus, G+ and then simply Plus. However, it remained widely referred to by the public at large by...
  
  .
• 18 November – The video for the new charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?
  Do They Know It's Christmas?
  "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
  
  by Band Aid 20
  Band Aid (band)
  Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
  
   airs simultaneously on all five main UK television networks, as well as over twenty satellite and cable stations. This unprecedented broadcast attracts over fourteen million viewers between 5:50 and 6 p.m..
• 6 December – Joe Pasquale
  Joe Pasquale
  Joseph Ellis "Joe" Pasquale is an English comedian from Grays, Essex, arguably most famous for his high-pitched voice, use of visual gags and more recently being crowned "King of the Jungle", on the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!...
  
   wins the fourth series of ITV1
  ITV1
  ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
  
  's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
  I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
  I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is a reality television game show series in which 8 to 15 celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. They have no luxuries, and compete to win a cash prize...
  
  

BBC One

• 2 February – Sea of Souls
  Sea of Souls
  Sea of Souls is a BBC paranormal drama series, based around the fictional activities of a group of investigators into psychic and other paranormal events. Produced in-house by BBC Scotland, initially in association with Sony Pictures Television International, the series debuted on BBC One in the UK...
  
  (2004–2007).
• 15 May – Strictly Come Dancing
  Strictly Come Dancing
  Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
  
  sequeled to take over from Come Dancing
  Come Dancing
  Come Dancing was a BBC TV ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off from 1949 to 1998, becoming one of television's longest-running shows....
  
  (2004–present)

BBC Two

• August – Match of the Day 2
  Match of the Day 2
  Match of the Day 2 is a football highlights programme shown on BBC Two in the United Kingdom...
  
  (2004–present)
• 12 October – Who Do You Think You Are? (2004–present)

Channel 4

• 13 January – Shameless (2004–present).
• 7 July – Supernanny
  Supernanny
  Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The program returned in 2010...
  
  (2004–2008, 2010–present).
• 3 September – Green Wing
  Green Wing
  Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
  
  (2004–2007).

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• Postman Pat
  Postman Pat
  Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations. It is aimed at pre-school children, and concerns the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale .Postman Pat's first 13-episode season was screened on...
  
  (1981, 1991, 1996, 2004–present).
• Pingu
  Pingu
  Pingu is a British-Swiss stop-motion claymated television series created by Otmar Gutmann. The series was produced by The Pygos Group and Trickfilmstudio for Swiss television. The show is about a family of anthropomorphic penguins at the South Pole. The main character is the family's son and title...
  
  (1986–1998, 2004–2006)

Changes of network affiliation

1950s

• Andy Pandy
  Andy Pandy
  Andy Pandy is a British children's television series that premiered on BBC TV in June or July 1950. The original series of programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series was made. A third series was made in 2002...
  
  (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• Panorama
  Panorama (TV series)
  Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
  
  (1953–present)
• What the Papers Say
  What the Papers Say
  What The Papers Say is a BBC radio programme that originally ran for many years on British television.Its first incarnation was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama...
  
  (1956–2008)
• The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
  
  (1957–present)
• Blue Peter
  Blue Peter
  Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
  
  (1958–present)
• Grandstand
  Grandstand (BBC)
  Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
  
  (1958–2007)

1960s

• Coronation Street
  Coronation Street
  Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
  
  (1960–present).
• Songs of Praise
  Songs of Praise
  Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
  
  (1961–present).
• Top of the Pops
  Top of the Pops
  Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
  
  (1964–2006).
• Match of the Day
  Match of the Day
  Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
  
  (1964–present).
• The Money Programme
  The Money Programme
  The Money Programme is a finance and business affairs television programme on BBC2.It was first broadcast on 5 April 1966 and presented by "commentators" William Davis, Erskine Childers and Joe Roeber. At this time David Attenborough was the controller of BBC2...
  
  (1966–present).

1970s

• Emmerdale
  Emmerdale
  Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
  
  (1972–present).
• Newsround
  Newsround
  Newsround is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972, and was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children...
  
  (1972–present).
• Last of the Summer Wine
  Last of the Summer Wine
  Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
  
  (1973–2010)
• Arena
  Arena (TV series)
  Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. It has run since 1 October 1975, and over five hundred episodes have been made. Arena covers all manner of subjects, from profiles of notable people such as Bob Dylan to the Ford Cortina car...
  
  (1975–present).
• Top Gear
  Top Gear (current format)
  Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
  
  (1977–2001, 2002–present).
• Grange Hill
  Grange Hill
  Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
  
  (1978–2008).
• Antiques Roadshow
  Antiques Roadshow
  Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...
  
  (1979–present).
• Question Time
  Question Time (TV series)
  Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
  
  (1979–present)

1980s

• Timewatch
  Timewatch
  Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29th September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual...
  
  (1982–present)
• The Bill
  The Bill
  The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
  
  (1984–2010).
• EastEnders
  EastEnders
  EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
  
  (1985–present).
• Comic Relief (1986–present).
• Casualty
  Casualty (TV series)
  Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
  
  (1986–present).
• ChuckleVision
  ChuckleVision
  ChuckleVision is a popular British television series shown mainly on CBBC. New episodes are always first aired on BBC One, and occasionally episodes are shown on BBC Two. The first episode was shown on 26 September 1987. It follows the adventures of the Chuckle Brothers & the Patton Brothers, who...
  
  (1987–present).
• This Morning
  This Morning (TV series)
  This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
  
  (1988–present).

1990s

• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Breakfast with Frost
  Breakfast with Frost
  Breakfast with Frost was a talk show hosted by Sir David Frost on the BBC on Sunday mornings. The news presenter was Moira Stuart. The show ran for more than 12 years and exactly 500 editions between 3 January 1993 and 29 May 2005...
  
  (1993–2005)
• Time Team
  Time Team
  Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
  
  , UK (1994–present)
• Y Clwb Rygbi
  Y Clwb Rygbi
  Y Clwb Rygbi is a rugby union television programme shown on Welsh language channel S4C. Produced by BBC Cymru Wales, the show is amongst the most popular programmes shown on S4C.-Format:...
  
  , Wales (1997–present)
• Dream Team
  Dream Team (TV series)
  Dream Team is a British television series produced by Hewland International which aired on Sky1 and Sky3 from 1997 to 2007; it chronicled the on-field and off-field affairs of the fictional Harchester United Football Club....
  
  (1997–2007)
• Family Affairs
  Family Affairs
  Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
  
  (1997–2005)
• Midsomer Murders
  Midsomer Murders
  Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
  
  (1997–present)
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
  
  (1998–present).
• Bob The Builder
  Bob the Builder
  Bob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of...
  
  (1998–present).
• Holby City
  Holby City
  Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
  
  (1999–present)

2000s

• Doctors (2000–present)
• Big Brother
  Big Brother (UK)
  Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
  
  (2000–present)
• The Weakest Link
  The Weakest Link
  The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
  
  (2000–2012)
• Real Crime
  Real Crime
  Real Crime is a British documentary television series produced by ITV Studios for the ITV network. Each episode examines a notorious crime and includes interviews with relatives of the victims. It has been broadcast since 2001 and is currently in its tenth series...
  
  (2001–present)
• Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
  Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
  Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was a CBBC children's entertainment television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom...
  
  (2002–2006)
• Harry Hill's TV Burp
  Harry Hill's TV Burp
  Harry Hill's TV Burp is a British television comedy programme produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances...
  
  (2002–present)
• I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (2002–present)
• Spooks
  Spooks
  Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
  
  (2002–present)
• Angelina Ballerina
  Angelina Ballerina
  Angelina Ballerina is a fictional mouse, created by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig, who is featured in a popular series of children's books...
  
  (2002–2005)
• The Daily Politics
  The Daily Politics
  The Daily Politics is a British television show launched by the BBC in 2003. Presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn, the programme takes an in-depth and sometimes irreverent look at the daily goings on in Westminster and other areas across Britain and the world, and includes interviews with leading...
  
  (2003–present)
• Peep Show
  Peep Show (TV series)
  Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series makes it...
  
  (2003–present)
• The Politics Show
  The Politics Show
  The Politics Show is an hour long BBC One television political programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays. The programme usually starts at midday, but is often earlier or later when sporting events clash in the schedules. It was launched in 2003 and was originally presented by Jeremy...
  
  (2003–present)
• QI
  QI
  QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
  
  (2003–present)
• The Royal
  The Royal
  The Royal is a British medical drama series produced by ITV. The show comprises one hour episodes which were normally first aired on ITV in the Sunday early evening slot....
  
  (2003–2011)
• Superstars (1973–1985, 2003–2005)
• This Week
  This Week (BBC One TV series)
  This Week is a current affairs and politics TV programme in the United Kingdom on the BBC, screened on Thursday evenings, hosted by former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil alongside former Conservative Member of Parliament and Minister Michael Portillo, and a left leaning guest panellist on...
  
  (2003–present)

Ending this year

• ITV News at Ten (1967–1999, 2001–2004, 2008–present)
• Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
  Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
  Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf....
  
  (1983–1986, 2002–2004)
• Liquid News
  Liquid News
  Liquid News was the daily round up of entertainment news for BBC Three running from 30th May 2000 to 1st April 2004. It was originally a vehicle for presenter Christopher Price...
  
  (2000–2004)
• 2DTV
  2DTV
  2DTV is a British satirical animated television show that was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom, directed by Tim Searle.2DTV employs the same satirical style as Spitting Image, but using animation rather than puppets. The animation was produced on computer, frequently with animators working up...
  
  (2001–2004)
• As If
  As If
  As If is a British comedy-drama series broadcast on Channel 4. There were 76 episodes across four series, the first broadcast on January 22, 2001 and the last on July 31, 2004.-Premise & Facts:...
  
  (2001–2004)
• The Premiership
  The Premiership (TV series)
  The Premiership was a television programme which showed highlights from the FA Premier League...
  
  (2001–2004)
• 15 Storeys High
  15 Storeys High
  15 Storeys High is a critically acclaimed British sitcom, set in a tower block. The main characters are Vince Clark, a misanthropic, cynical recluse played by Sean Lock, and Errol Spears, Vince's exact opposite and whipping boy, played by Benedict Wong....
  
  (2002–2004)
• Bo' Selecta!
  Bo' Selecta!
  Bo' Selecta! is a British sketch show written and performed by Leigh Francis, known for its often deeply surreal, abstract toilet humour, which lampoons popular culture. It was broadcast on Channel 4 and ran for three series between 2002 and 2004, spawning several spin-offs...
  
  (2002–2004)
• Born to Be Different
  Born to Be Different
  Born to Be Different is a British documentary on Channel 4, which follows the life of six disabled children. Reviewing the show, TimesOnline commented with irony that "by the end of [it], we had sobered up entirely. A queasy feeling followed, of being pulled morally up and down and in and out until...
  
  (2003–2004, 2006–2007, 2009, 2011)

Deaths