1997 in British television

List of years in British television       (table)
… 1987 .  1988 .  1989 .  1990  . 1991  . 1992  . 1993 … 1994 1995 1996 -1997- 1998 1999 2000 … 2001 .  2002 .  2003 .  2004  . 2005  . 2006  . 2007 …

This is a list of British television related events from 1997.

Events

• 1 January – ITV introduces a third weekly episode of Emmerdale.
• 6 January – Channel 4 closes down for the last time after 15 years. From 6 am, the channel broadcasts 24 hours a day.
• 3 February –
  • Trouble launches and Bravo changes its identity.
  • The Family Channel relaunches as Challenge TV.
• 10 March – Dave Spikey becomes the sixth host of the final series of ITV weekday morning game show Chain Letters on the same year as its 10th anniversary.
• 22 March – First screening of the BBC television science documentary The Language Master, in which language teacher Michel Thomas taught French to sixth form students for five days at a further education college in London . As a result of the interest generated by this documentary, UK publisher Hodder and Stoughton commissioned Thomas to produce commercial versions of his courses.
• 30 March –
  • Channel 5, the UK's fifth and last terrestrial channel, launches at 6.00 pm. The first faces seen are the Spice Girls, who perform "1-2-3-4-5", a cover version of the Manfred Mann song "5-4-3-2-1".
  • ITV airs the comedy pilot Cold Feet. It returns for a full series in 1998 and runs for five years.
• 31 March - The Teletubbies first appearance on the BBC follows the lanch of Channel 5.
• 1 April – At 4:40 am, Channel 5 begins a rerun of the Australian soap Prisoner: Cell Block H. This is the series' first networked screening in the UK as, during its earlier run on ITV, scheduling of the programme had varied from region to region.
• 5 April – The Grand National is delayed after a suspected IRA bomb threat. The race is run on Monday 7 April at 5:00 pm. It is the last of 50 Nationals (including the void race of 1993) to be commentated on by Peter O'Sullevan.
• 8 April – BBC journalist Martin Bell announces that he is to stand as a candidate against Neil Hamilton in the Tatton constituency on an anti-corruption platform.
• 25 April – The final edition of Chain Letters is aired after 10 years of broadcast.
• 1 May – UK General Election night: for the first time, the brothers David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby anchor rival results programmes on BBC 1 and ITV respectively. The same arrangement will occur for the general elections in 2001 and 2005.
• 3 May – Katrina and the Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Love Shine a Light", the first time the UK has won the competition since 1976 and 1981.
• 25 June – The Independent Television Commission (ITC) award the sole DTT broadcast licence to British Digital Broadcasting.
• 3 July – Peter Snow presents Newsnight for the last time, though he will continue to make occasional appearances as a political analyst until 2005.
• 5 July – ITV screens the comedy pilot The Grimleys. A full series begins in 1999 and airs for three series until 2001.
• 31 August –
  • Sky 2 and Granada Talk TV cease broadcasting.
  • BBC1 continues to air through the whole night in the UK for the first time (apart from general elections), simulcasting with BBC World News to bring news updates of Diana, Princess of Wales's car accident. In the days following her death, regular programming is abandoned in order to allow for coverage of events.
• 6 September – The live broadcast of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales is watched by 2.5 billion viewers worldwide. The ceremony's footage goes down in the Guinness World Records as the biggest TV audience for a live broadcast. In the UK, 32.10 million viewers watch the broadcast. It is the UK's second most-watched broadcast of all time, behind 1966's World Cup final.
• 22–25 September – BBC 1 soap Eastenders airs a series of episodes from Ireland which attract criticism from viewers and the Irish embassy because of their negative and stereotypical portrayal of Irish people. The BBC later issues an apology for any offence the episodes caused.
• 3 October – The 'Virtual Globe' ident is seen for the final time on BBC One after six years in use. The BBC logo changes from parallelogram to square.
• 4 October – BBC One adopts new "hot air balloon" globe identifications to coincide with the introduction of the network's new corporate logo. See BBC One 'Balloon' idents.
• 27 October – UK Living changes its name to Living TV, to distance itself from the forthcoming UKTV network.
• 1 November – The UKTV network is launched in the UK. Existing channel UK Gold is joined by UK Horizons, UK Arena and UK Style.
• 4 November – BBC News Online is launched.
• 8 November – BBC One closes down for the last time after 65 years, making BBC Two England's last terrestrial channel to still close down at night. From the next day, BBC News 24 broadcasts on BBC1 through the night.
• 9 November – BBC News 24 is launched, the BBC's first new UK channel since BBC Two in 1964. It is the world's first 24-hour news channel.
• 1 December –
  • The original four Sky Box Office channels launch.
  • Konnie Huq presents her first episode of the UK children's programme Blue Peter. She will go on to be the longest running female presenter and third longest overall in the show's history, presenting for eleven years before leaving in January 2008.
• 9 December – CNBC Europe announces its intention to merge with the Dow Jones news channel in Europe, European Business News.
• 20 December – The ITC award the three pay-TV digital multiplex licences to British Digital Broadcasting.

Debuts

BBC One

• 20 February – Chalk (1997)
• 31 March – Teletubbies (1997–2001, 2007–2009, 2012–present)
• 7 April – 50/50 (1997–2005)
• 10 May – Jonathan Creek (1997–2004, 2009–2010)

BBC Two

• 19 September – Ground Force (1997–2005)
• 3 November – I'm Alan Partridge (1997–2002)
• November - Robot Wars (1997–present)

ITV

• 23 March – Midsomer Murders (1997–present)
• 6 April – Where the Heart Is (1997–2006)
• 8 September – Noah's Ark (1997–1998)
• 19 October – Trial & Retribution (1997–present)

Channel 4

• 29 January – Brass Eye (1997–2001)

S4C

• unknown – * Y Clwb Rygbi (1997–present).

Channel 5

• 30 March – Family Affairs (1997–2005)
• 30 March – The Jack Docherty Show (1997–1999)
• 31 March – 100% (1997–2001)
• 31 March – Whittle (1997–1998)
• 5 April – Night Fever (1997–2002)

Disney Channel UK

• 1 September – Studio Disney UK (1997–2005)

Sky One

• 14 October – Dream Team (1997–2007)

Television shows

Changes of network affiliation

Shows	Moved from	Moved to
Captain Pugwash	BBC	ITV
James the Cat	ITV	Channel 5
Blockbusters	Sky1	BBC Two

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• Captain Pugwash (1957–1975 BBC, 1997–2002 ITV)
• Blankety Blank (1979–1990, 1997–2002)
• Blockbusters (1983–1993 ITV, 1994–1995 Sky1, 1997 BBC, 2000–2001 Sky1, 2012–present Challenge)

1940s

• Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

• Panorama (1953–present)
• Take Your Pick (1955–1968, 1992–1998)
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• Blue Peter (1958–present)
• Grandstand (1958–2007)

1960s

• Coronation Street (1960–present)
• Songs of Praise (1961–present)
• World in Action (1963–1998)
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006)
• Match of the Day (1964–present)
• Mr. and Mrs. (1964–1999, 2008–2010)
• Call My Bluff (1965–2005)
• The Money Programme (1966–present)

1970s

• Emmerdale (1972–present).
• Newsround (1972–present).
• Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010).
• Wish You Were Here...? (1974–present).
• Arena (1975–present).
• Grange Hill (1978–2008).
• Antiques Roadshow (1979–present).
• Question Time (1979–present)

1980s

• Timewatch (1982–present)
• Brookside (1982–2003)
• Right to Reply (1982–2001)
• The Bill (1984–2010)
• EastEnders (1985–present).
• The Cook Report (1985–1998)
• Crosswits (1985–1998)
• Telly Addicts (1985–1998)
• Comic Relief (1986–present).
• The Chart Show (1986–1998, 2008–2009)
• Casualty (1986–present).
• ChuckleVision (1987–present).
• London's Burning (1988–2002)
• On the Record (1988–2002)
• Fifteen to One (1988–2003)
• This Morning (1988–present).
• Birds of a Feather (1989–1998)

1990s

• Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998)
• Stars in Their Eyes (1990–2006)
• 2point4 children (1991–1999)
• Noel's House Party (1991–1999)
• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Men Behaving Badly (1992–1998)
• The Big Breakfast (1992–2002)
• Saturday Disney (1993–1998)
• Breakfast with Frost (1993–2005)
• Wycliffe (1994–1998)
• Time Team (1994–present)
• Father Ted (1995–1998)
• Hollyoaks (1995–present)
• Is It Legal? (1995–1998)
• The Demon Headmaster (1996–1998)
• Muppets Tonight (1996–1998)
• Wake Up in the Wild Room (1996–1998)
• Ballykissangel (1996–2001)

Ending this year

• Closedowns on BBC One (1932–1997)
• Give Us a Clue (1979–1997)
• Closedowns on Channel 4 (1982–1997)
• Chain Letters (1987–1997)
• You Bet! (1988–1997)
• Playdays (1988–1997)
• Harry Enfield's Television Programme (1990–1997)
• The Brittas Empire (1991–1997)
• Soldier Soldier (1991–1997)
• Talking Telephone Numbers (1994–1997)
• Pie in the Sky (1994–1997)
• Wipeout (1994–1997, 1998–2002)
• Oh, Doctor Beeching! (1995–1997)
• This Life (1996–1997)

Births

• 25 August – Holly Gibbs, actress

Deaths

• 12 January – Jill Summers, 86, actress
• 19 June – Julia Smith, 70, television director and producer
• 26 June – Charlie Chester, 83, stand-up comedian and TV and radio presenter
• 24 July – Brian Glover, 63, actor
• 6 October – Adrienne Hill, actor

References

Years in television: 1997
Template:TV countries/1997