2005 in British television

List of years in British television       (table)
… 1995 .  1996 .  1997 .  1998  . 1999  . 2000  . 2001 … 2002 2003 2004 -2005- 2006 2007 2008 … 2009 .  2010 .  2011 .  2012  . 2013  . 2014  . 2015 …

This is a list of British television-related events in 2005.

Events

• 5 January—Desperate Housewives makes its initial UK debut with an impressive 5 million viewers. These are the highest figures Channel 4 has had since the debut night of The Simpsons on 5 November 2004
• 8 January—Jerry Springer - The Opera airs on BBC Two, despite protests from Christian Voice and other groups.
• 21 January—The auction channel bid-up.tv is rebranded as bid.tv.
• 8 February—Teachers' TV, run by the Department for Education and Skills, launches on Sky Digital (channel 686) and Freeview.
• 9 February—The Africa based BBC journalist and producer Kate Peyton is killed in a shooting incident in Mogadishu, Somalia while reporting on that country's nascent peace process.
• 19 February—EastEnders celebrates its 20th anniversary on the air, airing a special episode in which Dirty Den Watts is killed by his new wife Chrissie. 14.34 million watch the episode (shown on 18 February). It is the UK's second highest rated programme of 2005 (the first was an episode of Coronation Street three days later).
• 23 February—UKTV Style Gardens, a channel dedicated to gardening programmes, launches.
• 26 February—Sound TV, known pre-launch as The Great British Television Channel, launches on Sky Digital (588). It closed in the Autumn.
• 20 March—BBC Director General Mark Thompson announces BBC staff of 27,000 will be cut by 3,780.
• 26 March—Nine years after its last new episode and sixteen years since its last regular run, Doctor Who returns to BBC One for a new series, the twenty-seventh in total since 1963. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper star. An average 10.81 million viewers, over 40% of the watching audience, tune in, winning its timeslot and making it No. 3 BBC show and No. 7 across all channels for the week. The episode went on to become the UK's 7th highest rated programme of 2005.
• 30 March—As a test trial, the small Welsh towns of Ferryside and Llansteffan have their analogue television signals switched off. The trial proved a success and the digital switchover fully began two and a half years later in Cumbria.
• 30 March-Only days after his having debuted as the Ninth Doctor, the BBC announces that Christopher Eccleston will be leaving Doctor Who after only one season. Soon after, David Tennant is announced as the Tenth Doctor.
• 2 April—Digital channel BBC Four broadcasts a live re-make of the famous 1953 science-fiction drama The Quatermass Experiment. The production is the first live drama broadcast by the BBC for over twenty years, and draws BBC Four's second highest audience to date, with an average of 482,000 viewers.
• 8 April—13.03 million viewers watched Ken Barlow tie the knot with Deirdre Rachid on Coronation Street, one day before Prince Charles's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles (7.36 million viewers watched). The scheduling move echoed Ken and Deirdre's first marriage, which occurred two days before Charles's nuptials to Diana, Princess of Wales, and which also beat the Royal wedding in the television ratings (see 1981 in British television).
• 11 April—ITV Day launches on ITV1.
• 5 May-6 May—Coverage of the 2005 general election is shown on British television. The Labour Party attains a third successive General Election victory.
• 16 May—BBC Weather relaunches, changing from 2D to 3D graphics.
• 23 May—Over one third of BBC staff join a strike in response to proposed job cuts at the corporation.
• 18 June—Christopher Eccleston's final episode of the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who, 'The Parting of the Ways', is broadcast on BBC One. David Tennant becomes the Tenth Doctor in the same episode.
• 25 June—The Girl in the Café, a comedy-drama by Richard Curtis made as part of the global Make Poverty History campaign, is shown by both BBC One in the United Kingdom and HBO in the United States on the same day.
• 26 June—Television presenter Richard Whiteley dies at Leeds General Infirmary following a short illness.
• 2 July—Broadcast of Live 8, a string of benefit concerts, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the 31st G8 summit being held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid.
• 17 July—After forty-one years broadcasting on BBC One, music show Top of the Pops is switched to the less mainstream BBC Two channel due to declining audiences. This is not enough to save it, and it is axed the following year.
• 1 August—BBC Broadcast, formerly Broadcasting & Presentation, and responsible for the playout and branding of all BBC Channels, is sold to Creative Broadcast Services, owned by the Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Bank. It is renamed Red Bee Media on 31 October.
• 8 September—Faze TV, a British digital channel aimed at gay men, cancels its launch after failing to secure sufficient funding to deliver "sufficient quality."
• 22 September—It is announced that Des Lynam will succeed the late Richard Whiteley as presenter of Channel 4's Countdown, with his first episode airing on 31 October.
• 22 September—ITV airs a second live episode of The Bill to mark the broadcaster's 50th year on air.
• 26 September-27 September—No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese's documentary on Bob Dylan, receives its broadcast premiere on BBC Two in the UK, under the Arena banner.
• September—ITV celebrates its 50th anniversary with a collection of special programmes, under the name ITV50.
• 10 October—More4, a digital channel from Channel 4 offering factual content, launches.
• 24 October—Sky News moves to new studios, with a new schedule and on-air look.
• 25 October—The relaunched Doctor Who is the major winner at the annual National Television Awards in the UK, taking the Most Popular Drama award, with its stars Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper winning Most Popular Actor and Most Popular actress.
• 27 October-16 December—Bleak House, a 15-episode adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name designed to capture a soap opera-style audience by using Dickens's original serial structure in half-hour episodes, is broadcast on BBC One.
• 31 October—Sky3 is launched on British digital terrestrial and satellite platforms. On the same day Sky Mix is rebranded as Sky Two, and Sky Travel ceases transmission on Freeview.
• 1 November—ITV4, a digital channel aimed at men, is launched in the UK. It is launched on Sky Digital Channel 120 on 7 November.
• 7 November-28 November—BBC One broadcasts ShakespeaRe-Told, a series of four adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays based in 21st century Britain. The plays in order are Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• 11 November—EastEnders is the first British drama to feature a two minute silence. This episode later goes on to win the British Soap Award for 'Best Single Episode'.
• 18 November—BBC One broadcasts this years annual Children in Need appeal. It contained several highlights including Catherine Tate in EastEnders, the BBC Newsreaders performing Bohemian Rhapsody, and a brand new Doctor Who adventure. The first to fully star David Tennant as the Doctor, the 7 minute episode directly follows on from The Parting of the Ways and directly leads on to The Christmas Invasion.
• 7 December-16 December—Space Cadets is shown on Channel 4, a hoax reality TV show where the contestants believe they are in a space shuttle orbiting Earth, when in fact they are in a set in a disused aircraft hangar in Suffolk.
• 15 December—Sir Trevor McDonald makes his final ITN news broadcast after over 25 years. As a tribute, the closing theme tune for the News at Ten Thirty that night is replaced with the News at Ten theme used from 1992 to 1999, McDonald having presented the show during that time.
• 23 December—ITV News Channel closed.
• 25 December—BBC One airs the Doctor Who Christmas Special, "The Christmas Invasion"
• 29 December–The last edition of Click Online broadcast under its original title before it is renamed Click.
• 30 December-Family Affairs is axed on five.

Debuts

BBC One

• 13 March – Supervolcano (2005)
• 11 September – Sunday AM (2005–present)

BBC Two

• 5 June – Mock the Week (2005–present)

ITV1

• 5 February – Toonattik (2005–2011)
• 24 September – Afterlife premieres. However, despite being a British series, it had actually received its world premiere some weeks earlier on Australia's Nine Network (2005–2006).

Channel 4

• 7 March – Coach Trip (2005–2006, 2009–present)
• 3 June – 8 out of 10 Cats (2005–present)
• 31 August – It's Me or the Dog (2005–present)
• 31 October – The UK version of Deal or No Deal premieres, relaunching the career of Noel Edmonds and bringing the channel a surprise daytime hit (2005–present).

More4

• 10 October – Launch of More4 News on new digital channel More4 (2005—2009).

Five

• 30 May – Fifi and the Flowertots premieres (2005–present)

Changes of network affiliation

Show	Moved from	Moved to
Trisha	ITV	Five
Family Guy (Terrestrial rights)	Channel 4	BBC Two
Top of the Pops	BBC One	BBC Two
24	BBC Two	Sky1
WWE SmackDown!Template:Ref	Sky1	Sky Sports
WWE Bottom LineTemplate:Ref	Sky1	Sky Sports
WWE After BurnTemplate:Ref	Sky1	Sky Sports
WWE HeatTemplate:Ref	Sky1	Sky Sports

Template:Refbegin

• Template:Note All these WWE shows became exclusive to Sky Sports

Template:Refend

Television shows

^{Template:Note} signifies that this show has a related event in the Events section above.

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• Muffin the Mule (1946–1955, 2005–2006)
• Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
• Roobarb and Custard Too premieres (1974, 2005–present)
• Fireman Sam (1987–1994, 2005–present)
• The Two Ronnies Sketchbook sequels to take over from The Two Ronnies (1971–1987, 1991, 1996, 2005)

1950s

• 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).
• 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

• Postman Pat (1981, 1991, 1996, 2004–present).
• 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

• Have I Got News for You (1990–present)
• Room 101 (1994–2007, 2012–present)
• Stars in Their Eyes (1990–2006)
• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Time Team (1994–present)
• Hollyoaks – (1995–present)
• Silent Witness (1996–present).
• Midsomer Murders (1997–present).
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1998–present).
• Bob The Builder (1999–present).
• Bremner, Bird and Fortune (1999–present).

2000s

• Doctors (2000–present)
• Big Brother (2000–present)
• The Weakest Link (2000–2012)
• Popworld (2001–2007)
• Real Crime (2001–present)
• I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (2002–present)
• Harry Hill's TV Burp (2002–2012)
• Spooks (2002–present)
• The Daily Politics (2003–present)
• Peep Show (2003–present)
• The Politics Show (2003–present)
• QI (2003–present)
• The Royal (2003–2011)
• This Week (2003–present)
• Strictly Come Dancing (2004–present)
• Sea of Souls (2004–2007)
• Supernanny (2004–2008, 2010–present)
• Shameless (2004–present)
• The X Factor (2004–present)

Ending this year

Date	Show	Channel(s)	Debut(s)
Unknown	Andy Pandy	CBeebies	1950 & 2002
Unknown	Call My Bluff	BBC	1965
Unknown	Angelina Ballerina	CITV	2002
Unknown	Superstars	BBC	2003
Unknown	Cathedral	BBC	2005
30 January	Up on the Roof	CITV on GMTV	2002
	Diggin' It	CITV on GMTV	2003
29 May	Breakfast with Frost	BBC	1993
16 June	UK Top 40	CBBC Channel	2002
12 July	50/50	CBBC	1997
24 July	Ground Force	BBC	1997
3 August	Born and Bred	BBC	2002
18 August	Should I Worry About...?	BBC	2004
23 October	Monarch of the Glen	BBC	2000
25 December	The Two Ronnies Sketchbook	BBC	2005
30 December	Family Affairs	Channel 5	1997

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Cinematic Credibility
2 January	Cyril Fletcher	91	British comedian (That's Life!)
9 February	Kate Peyton	39	BBC journalist and producer
11 February	Stan Richards	74	actor (Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale)
10 March	Dave Allen	68	Irish comedian, host of solo shows on BBC1 and ITV.
26 June	Richard Whiteley	61	presenter, host of Countdown.
11 July	Gretchen Franklin	94	actress (Ethel Skinner in EastEnders)
31 August	Michael Sheard	67	actor (Mr Bronson in Grange Hill)
3 October	Ronnie Barker	76	comedian, half of The Two Ronnies
16 October	Ross Davidson	47	actor (Andy O'Brien in EastEnders)
31 October	Mary Wimbush	81	actress (Poldark, Jeeves and Wooster, Century Falls)

References

Years in television: 2005
Template:TV countries/2005