2004 in British television

List of years in British television       (table)
… 1994 .  1995 .  1996 .  1997  . 1998  . 1999  . 2000 … 2001 2002 2003 -2004- 2005 2006 2007 … 2008 .  2009 .  2010 .  2011  . 2012  . 2013  . 2014 …

This is a list of British television related events from 2004.

Events

• 1 January –
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad makes its Network television premiere on BBC One.
  • Emmerdale airs an hour long episode in which the village is hit by a storm, which includes Tricia Dingle, played by Sheree Murphy, being crushed by a falling chimney.
• 2 January - The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts in its BBC One Top of the Pops show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting junk food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers.
• 3 January - CD:UK broadcasts its first episode in 16:9 widescreen.
• 4 January – ITV introduces a sixth weekly episode of Emmerdale airing on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm. The episode is dropped in 2008 to allow for one hour episodes on Tuesdays.
• 5 January –
  • BBC One introduces the Massai ident that features nine native Maasai tribesmen dancing in the centre alongside warriors Jumping Up & Down On The Grass.
  • CITV introduces a first weekly episode of The Sleepover Club.
• 9 January – The BBC announces that the Kilroy talk show will be taken off air while the Corporation investigates negative comments its presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk made about Arabic people in the previous weekend's Sunday Express.
• 12 January – The music video of "Shackles (Praise You)" by American duo Mary Mary makes its Network television premiere on BBC Two as part of the Schools Programmes strand.
• 28 January – The Hutton Inquiry 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's handling of the David Kelly affair and to exonerate the government. The BBC's Director-General, Greg Dyke, chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media in general condemns the report as a whitewash.
• 29 January – Mark Byford becomes acting Director General of the BBC following Greg Dyke's resignation.
• 30 January – ITV'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 is formed from the merger of Carlton and Granada. The News at 10:30 also debuts, while the ITN News Channel is rebranded as the ITV News Channel.
• 9 February – Kerry McFadden wins the third series of ITV1'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, 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 becomes UKTV History.
• 13 March –
  • ITV1 begins airing the 3rd series of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. This episode sees the one-off Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway appearance of Matthew Kelly during the Stars in Their Eyes What's Next sketch.
  • Charles Ngandwe, performing as Paul Robeson, wins the 15th series of Stars in Their Eyes. The edition is also the last to be presented by Matthew Kelly, who had announced the previous day that he would be leaving the series. The role of presenter is taken over by Cat Deeley.
• 14 March – Channel 4 airs the documentary He's Starsky, I'm Hutch, a programme which prompts actor David Soul to write an open letter to the channel complaining about the way he was portrayed in the film. Soul had co-operated with the documentary, but felt it betrayed because it had concentrated too much on the negative aspects of his life.
• 20 March – Christopher Eccleston is announced as the ninth actor to play The Doctor in Doctor Who.
• 7 April - The network television premiere of Steven Spielberg's 1998 epic war Saving Private Ryan on ITV1, starring Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies (who plays Brian Laurence in the 1996 film Twister), and Nathan Fillion.
• 10 May – ABC1, a channel from Disney, is launched in the UK.
• 17 May – Michael Grade is appointed as new BBC Chairman.
• 21 May – Mark Thompson is appointed new Director General of the BBC.
• 2 June – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter makes its Network television premiere on ITV1.
• 4 June – Kitten Pinder is evicted from the Big Brother UK house, shouting against the Queen and the aristocracy on the way out.
• 9 June – Jurassic Park III makes its Network television premiere on ITV1.
• 14 June – Quiz TV 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.
• 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 takes over as Director General of the BBC.
• 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.
• 5 July – 50th anniversary of television news broadcasts.
• 7 July – Supernanny launches on Channel 4 only a year before the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
• 15 July – The BBC broadcasts a documentary on the far right British National Party in which undercover reporter Jason Gwynne infiltrated the BNP by posing as a football hooligan. The programme results in Mark Collett and Nick Griffin, the leader of the party, being charged for inciting racial hatred in April 2005, for comments made in the film.
• 27 July - Tiny Pop launched in the UK (2004-present)
• 13 August-29 August – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.
• 15 August – The network television premiere of David McNally's 2000 comedy-drama Coyote Ugly on Channel 4, starring Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello, Melanie Lynskey, John Goodman, and Tyra Banks.
• 1 October – As part of its response to the Hutton Inquiry the BBC launches Newswatch, a programme providing a viewer and listener right-to-reply on BBC News's reporting and coverage of news events.
• 20 October – The network television premiere of Sam Raimi's 2000 supernatural thriller The Gift on ITV1, starring Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes (who plays Joey Potter in all 128 episodes of Dawson's Creek), Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank, Michael Jeter (who died in March 2003), Kim Dickens, Gary Cole, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. It is one of a few network television premieres to air on ITV1 without any Motorola ITV Movies sponsorship idents.
• 27 October - The network television premiere of the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day on ITV1, starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry Toby Stephens, Will Yun Lee, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Judi Dench and John Cleese. At the same time, the Motorola ITV Movies sponsorship idents introduced the Flip Phones, which are: V545, E550, V550 and V620.
• 30 October – The BBC receives "hundreds of complaints" after reporter Barbara Plett describes herself crying when a frail Yasser Arafat 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 is launched at 9:00pm, replacing Granada Plus.
• 18 November – The video for the new charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20 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 wins the fourth series of ITV1's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
• 19 December – ITV1 airs the 2000 live-action Christmas film The Grinch for the second time.

Debuts

BBC One

• 2 February – Sea of Souls (2004–2007)
• 24 February – Hustle (2004–2012)
• 15 May – Strictly Come Dancing sequels to take over from Come Dancing (2004–present)
• 9 September – Should I Worry About...? (2004–2005)

BBC Two

• August – Match of the Day 2 (2004–present)
• 12 October – Who Do You Think You Are? (2004–present)

BBC Four

• 15 January – The Alan Clark Diaries (2004)

BBC News 24

• 1 October – NewsWatch (2004–Present)

ITV

• 2 September - Doc Martin (2004-2019, 2022)
• 4 September – The X Factor (2004–present).

Channel 4

• 13 January – Shameless (2004–present).
• 7 July – Supernanny (2004–2008, 2010–present).
• 3 September – Green Wing (2004–2007).

Five

• 31 May – Peppa Pig (2004–present)
• 7 June – The Gadget Show (2004–present)
• 11 September –
  • Beyblade G-Revolution (2004)
  • Duel Masters (2004–2005)
• 30 October – Murder Prevention (2004)

Sky One

• 17 October – Hex (2004–2006).

Television shows

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• Postman Pat (1981, 1991, 1996, 2004–present).
• Pingu (1986–1998, 2004–2006)

Changes of network affiliation

Show	Moved from	Moved to
What Not to Wear	BBC Two	BBC One
The Simpsons (UK Terrestrial Rights)		Channel 4
Tots TV	ITV	CBeebies

Ongoing since past years or decades

1950s

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• Panorama (1953–present)
• 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).
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006).
• Match of the Day (1964–present).
• Call My Bluff (1965–2005).
• The Money Programme (1966–present).

1970s

• Emmerdale (1972–present).
• Newsround (1972–present).
• Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010)
• Arena (1975–present).
• Top Gear (1977–2001, 2002–present).
• Grange Hill (1978–2008).
• Antiques Roadshow (1979–present).
• Question Time (1979–present)

1980s

• Timewatch (1982–present)
• The Bill (1984–2010).
• EastEnders (1985–present).
• Comic Relief (1986–present).
• Casualty (1986–present).
• ChuckleVision (1987–present).
• This Morning (1988–present).

1990s

• Stars in Their Eyes (1990–2006)
• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Breakfast with Frost (1993–2005)
• Room 101 (1994–2007, 2012–present)
• Time Team, UK (1994–present)
• Y Clwb Rygbi, Wales (1997–present)
• Dream Team (1997–2007)
• Family Affairs (1997–2005)
• Midsomer Murders (1997–present)
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1998–present)
• Bob The Builder (1998–present)
• Holby City (1999–present)

2000s

• Doctors (2000–present)
• Big Brother (2000–present)
• The Weakest Link (2000–2012)
• Popworld (2001–2007)
• Real Crime (2001–present)
• UK Top 40 (2002–2005)
• Dick and Dom in da Bungalow (2002–2006)
• Harry Hill's TV Burp (2002–2012)
• I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (2002–present)
• Spooks (2002–present)
• Angelina Ballerina (2002–2005)
• The Daily Politics (2003–present)
• Peep Show (2003–present)
• The Politics Show (2003–present)
• QI (2003–present)
• The Royal (2003–2011)
• Superstars (1973–1985, 2003–2005)
• This Week (2003–present)

Ending this year

• ITV News at Ten (1967–1999, 2001–2004, 2008–present)
• Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–1986, 2002–2004)
• Changing Rooms (1996–2004)
• Liquid News (2000–2004)
• 2DTV (2001–2004)
• As If (2001–2004)
• The Premiership (2001–2004)
• 15 Storeys High (2002–2004)
• Bo' Selecta! (2002–2004)
• The Vault (2002–2004)
• Born to Be Different (2003–2004, 2006–2007, 2009, 2011–2012)

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Cinematic Credibility
28 March	Sir Peter Ustinov	82	British actor.
30 March	Alistair Cooke	95	BBC broadcaster and transatlantic commentator.
30 March	Hubert Gregg	89	BBC broadcaster.
13 April	Caron Keating	41	television presenter
14 May	Shaun Sutton	85	writer, director, producer and longest-serving Head of Drama at BBC Television.
29 May	Jack Rosenthal	72	playwright

References

Template:Use dmy dates

Years in television: 2004
Template:TV countries/2004