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1958 in British television
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1958 British television
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;Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill 1958: Rochdale by-election is first British election to be televised https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8332000/8332589.stm BBC 30 October 2009 5 July 2011Granada Goes to Rochdale Broadcaster 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.http://members.chello.nl/~l.de.bondt/ClareAssisi.htm St Clare of Assisi https://web.archive.org/web/20090523111250/http://members.chello.nl/~l.de.bondt/ClareAssisi.htm 2009-05-23 live 2009-05-13 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.Nick Reid http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/atherstone-ball-game-story-behind-12629669 Atherstone Ball Game: The story behind England's ancient sport Trinity Mirror Coventry Telegraph 26 February 2017 11 May 2017
March
31 March – Debut of the BBC's serial Starr and Company, set in an engineering firm. The programme is aired for nine months.https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fgenome%2Fentries%2Fe7721a9c-7fb8-4573-ab0d-496c7dcf0edc The Sunday Post: Soap on the Box 3 July 2016 BBC Genome Blog 27 January 2019https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/dcfacc0af5134c4c96fa7d90ac4a65a4 https://web.archive.org/web/20190128084036/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/dcfacc0af5134c4c96fa7d90ac4a65a4 dead January 28, 2019 Starr and Company: One Side of the Family 28 March 1958 1794 13 27 January 2019 BBC Genome
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.https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctv/1958-04-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20141018153933/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctv/1958-04-14 dead October 18, 2014 BBC Television – 14 April 1958 – BBC Genome genome.ch.bbc.co.uk 14 April 2019
May
5 May – First experimental transmissions of a 625-line television service.
10 May – The BBC broadcasts rugby league's Challenge Cup final for the third time and this marks the start of annual coverage of the final.
July
13–19 July – ITV shows coverage of the Commonwealth Games. This is the only time that ITV has covered the event.
August
30 August – Southern Television, the ITV franchise for the South of England, goes on the air.
September
13 September – ITV first screens Oh Boy!, the first teenage all-music show on British television, produced by Jack Good, made by ABC Weekend TV and broadcast live on early Saturday evenings from the Hackney Empire with Lord Rockingham's XI assembled as the house band. This follows late-night pilots screened in the midlands on 15 and 29 June.Anthony Clark Oh Boy! (1958–59) BFI screenonline http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/561801/ 2014 2025-08-06
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.https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=state+opening+of+parliament+1958#top https://web.archive.org/web/20221112104125/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=state+opening+of+parliament+1958#top dead November 12, 2022 BBC Parliament – 30 November 2008 – BBC Genome genome.ch.bbc.co.uk
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
22 December – The BBC begins showing the acclaimed science fiction drama series Quatermass and the Pit, starring André Morell as Professor Bernard Quatermass.
Undated
Oxo stock cubes are first promoted on television in a series of advertisements depicting "Life with Katie" and the "Oxo family" which run until 1999.http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/greatest_ads/ The 100 Greatest TV Ads 2000 Channel 4 London https://web.archive.org/web/20010618095141/http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/greatest_ads/ 2001-06-18 dead 2025-06-22 Wayback Machine
Debuts
BBC Television Service/BBC TV
1 January – Big Guns (1958)
4 January – Saturday Playhouse (1958–1961)
24 January – Pride and Prejudice (1958)
February – Your Life in Their Hands (1958–1964; 1979–1987; 1991)
2 February – Monitor (1958–1965)
7 February – Run To Earth (1958)
9 February – The Government Inspector (1958)
12 February – More Than Robbery (1958)
March – Starr and Company (1958)
7 March – The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1958)
22 March – Captain Moonlight – Man of Mystery (1958)
26 March – Sammy (1958)
8 April – Television Playwright (1958–1959)
11 April – The Common Room (1958–1959)
22 April – Railway Roundabout (1958–1962)
7 May – SCO White Heather Club (1958–1968)
13 May – The Dangerous Game (1958)
17 May – Duty Bound (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 – Fair Game (1958)
20 July – Queen's Champion (1958)
16 August – Charlesworth at Large (1958)
6 September – Jennings at School (1958)
12 September – Champion Road (1958)
14 September – Little Women (1958)
29 September – Leave It to Todhunter (1958)
11 October – Grandstand (1958–2007)
14 October – Yesterday's Enemy (1958)
16 October – Blue Peter (1958–2025)
4 November – The Mad O'Haras (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
1 January – Junior Criss Cross Quiz (1958–1967)
3 January
Let's Get Together (1958–1959)
People and Places (1958–1963, 1967–1973)
5 January – Ivanhoe (1958–1959)
14 January – Gwlad y Gan (1958–1964)
15 January – Amser Te (1958–1968)
27 January – Popeye (1958–1975)
4 February – East End, West End (1958)
14 February – Sea Hunt (1957–1961)
22 February – Sword of Freedom (1958–1961)
18 March – Hotel Imperial (1958–1960)
22 March
Cheyenne (1957–1963)
The Killing Stones (1958)
30 March – Time Out for Peggy (1958)
5 April – African Patrol (1958–1959)
7 April – Wagon Train (1957–1962)
13 April – The Sunday Break (1958–1967)
15 April – Lucky Dip (1958–1959)
26 April – The Truth About Melandrinos (1958)
30 June – My Wife and I (1958)
1 July – The Verdict is Yours (1958–1962)
6 July – Dial 999 (1958–1959)
13 September
Oh Boy! (1958–1959)
Mary Britten, M.D. (1958)
Maverick (1957–1962)
14 September
Dotto (1958–1960)
The Invisible Man (1958–1959)
15 September – Make Me Laugh (1958)
19 September – The Larkins (1958–1960; 1963–1964)
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 – All Aboard (1958–1959)
Unknown
Dick and the Duchess (1958–1959)
Martin Kane, Private Eye (1958–1959)
Continuing television shows
1920s
BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
1930s
Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present)
The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–present)
1940s
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)
Come Dancing (1949–1998)
1950s
Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
What's My Line? (1951–1964, 1984–1996)
All Your Own (1952–1961)
Watch with Mother (1952–1975)
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 (1955–1970, 1972–1984, 2020–2021)
Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961)
ITV Wimbledon (1956–1968)
Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)
This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)
Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline
What the Papers Say (1956–2008)What the Papers Say in pictures https://www.theguardian.com/media/gallery/2008/may/29/what.the.papers.say The Guardian 2 April 2022 29 May 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, pianist and television presenter
29 January – Linda Smith, comedian (died 2006)
11 February – Michael Jackson, television executive
20 February – James Wilby, actor
3 March – Miranda Richardson, comedy actress
7 March – Rik Mayall, actor, comedian and writer (died 2014)
13 March – Linda Robson, actress
14 March – Francine Stock, radio and television presenter and author
21 March – Gary Oldman, actor
14 April – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director
3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born comedy performer, media presenter and writer
17 May – Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedy writer-performer
18 May – Toyah Willcox, actress and singer
22 May – Denise Welch, actress and television presenter
6 July – Jennifer Saunders, comedy writer-performer
24 July – Joe McGann, actor
29 July – Simon Nye, screenwriter
31 July – Sue Jenkins, actress
29 August – Lenny Henry, actor and comedian
30 August – Muriel Gray, Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist
13 September – Bobby Davro, actor and comedian
18 September – Linda Lusardi, model, actress and television presenter
21 September
Simon Mayo, television and radio presenter
Penny Smith, television presenter
25 October – Simon Gipps-Kent, actor (died 1987)
31 October – Debbie McGee, television, radio and stage performer
1 December – Keith Chapman, children's television programme creator
6 December – Nick Park, animated film maker
Deaths
30 November – Gareth Jones, Welsh actor (born 1925)
See also
1958 in British music
1958 in the United Kingdom
List of British films of 1958
References
External links
List of 1958 British television series at IMDb
1958
Category:1958 in British television