1969 in British television

Events

January

• 4 January – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix causes complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.

  February

• No events.

  March

• 19 March – The 385 metre tall Emley Moor transmitting station mast collapses because of icing.
• 29 March – The UK shares the win of the 14th Eurovision Song Contest, in a four-way tie with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Lulu represents the UK, singing "Boom bang-a-bang".

  April

• No events.

  May

• No events.

  June

• 21 June –
• *Patrick Troughton makes his last regular appearance as the Second Doctor in the concluding moments of Episode 10 of the Doctor Who serial The War Games. It also marks the final time that the series is broadcast in black and white.
• *Showing of the documentary The Royal Family, which attracts more than 30.6 million viewers, an all-time British record for a non-current event programme.
• June – Anglia Television and Yorkshire Television begin talks regarding a cost-cutting exercise which would involve sharing equipment and facilities. Neither company plans joint productions or a merger. The reason to form an association is purely down to the costs of the increased levy on the companies' advertising revenue by the government, and the cost of colour TV. The ITA stated there was no reason why the companies should not have talks about sensible economies that could be made, but would examine all details before any association were to be implemented.

  July

• 3 July – Lulu the elephant runs amok on Blue Peter. The clip is subsequently repeated many times, becoming the archetypal British TV "blooper".
• 12 July – The US sci-fi TV series makes its debut on BBC1 beginning with the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before.
• 20–21 July – Live transmission from the Moon with the landing of Apollo 11; at 03:56 BST on 21 July, Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface; BBC television makes its first overnight broadcast to provide coverage. Footage of the event is reported to have been seen by 22 million UK viewers on 21 July.
• 27 July – First episode of The Morecambe & Wise Show, Series Two, on BBC, the first scripted by Eddie Braben.

  August

• No events.

  September

• 2 September – Release of The Stones in the Park, footage of a Rolling Stones concert given in London's Hyde Park in July and filmed by Granada Television.
• 21 September – Randall and Hopkirk premieres on ITV.

  October

• 4 October – The ITV Seven, a programme which shows live coverage of horse racing from racecourses around the UK, is first aired. The programme was an essential part of ITV's Saturday afternoon World of Sport show and continues until a few weeks before World of Sport ends in 1985.
• 5 October – Monty Python's Flying Circus airs its first episode on the BBC.
• 6 October – Chigley becomes the third and final programme of The Trumptonshire Trilogy on BBC1 to be shot in colour before the introduction of regular colour broadcasting on 15 November.

  November

• 3 November – ITV airs the first edition of Coronation Street to be videotaped in colour, though it includes black-and-white inserts and titles; because colour transmissions have not yet officially begun, most viewers will see it only in black-and-white. The 29 October episode – featuring a coach trip to the Lake District – had been scheduled for colour shooting, but suitable colour film stock could not be found so it was filmed in black-and-white.
• 15 November – Regular colour broadcasting is introduced to BBC1 and ITV.
• 16 November – The first episode of Clangers is broadcast by the BBC.
• 19 November – The Benny Hill Show premieres on ITV.
• 20 November – The first episode of BBC sitcom Dad's Army to be broadcast in colour is "Branded", the favourite of co-writer Jimmy Perry.
• 21 November – The controversial London Weekend Television comedy Curry and Chips begins airing. The programme is the first LWT comedy to have been broadcast in colour. It is pulled off air after six episodes following a ruling by the ITA that it is racist.
• 24 November – Coronation Street first officially transmitted in colour, according to its archivist Daran Little; but the 17 November episode may have been the first.

  December

• 13 December
• *Scottish Television starts broadcasting in colour from the Black Hill transmitter.
• *Southern Television starts broadcasting in colour from the transmitters of Rowridge and Dover.

  Unknown

• Sir Charles Curran becomes Director-General of the BBC.
• Soul Limbo by Booker T. & the M.G.'s becomes the new theme tune for the BBC's cricket coverage.

  Debuts

BBC1

• 2 January – The Holiday Programme
• 14 January – Scobie in September
• 14 April – The Liver Birds
• 5 April – As Good Cooks Go
• 20 April – The Elusive Pimpernel
• 22 April – The Prior Commitment
• 12 July – '
• 17 August – Dombey and Son
• 8 September – Counterstrike
• 9 September –
• * Decidedly Dusty
• * Nationwide
• 17 September – Up Pompeii!
• 22 September – A Handful of Thieves
• 5 October – Monty Python's Flying Circus
• 6 October – The Trumptonshire Trilogy: Chigley
• 16 November –
• *Clangers
• * Special Project Air
• 17 November –
• * Pegasus
• * Take Three Girls
• 18 November – Screen Test
• 19 November – The Doctors
• 20 November – '
• 23 November – Paul Temple

  BBC2

• 25 January – The Possessed
• 27 January – Where Was Spring?
• 8 March – Imperial Palace
• 14 March – Q
• 5 April – The Way We Live Now
• 10 May – Sinister Street
• 12 May – The Gnomes of Dulwich
• 3 June – W. Somerset Maugham
• 18 September – Plays of Today
• 27 September – The First Churchills
• 23 October – Canterbury Tales

  ITV

• 6 January – Mr. Digby Darling
• 10 January –
• * The Corbett Follies
• * The Fossett Saga
• 11 January – ITV Saturday Night Theatre
• 12 January – Complete and Utter History of Britain
• 17 January – The Inside Man
• 18 January – The Saturday Crowd
• 9 February – This Is Tom Jones
• 18 February – Two in Clover
• 28 February – On the Buses
• 9 March – Department S
• 3 April – John Browne's Body
• 4 April – Castle Haven
• 8 April – Judge Dee
• 11 April –
• * Big Breadwinner Hog
• * Hark at Barker
• 15 April – Jokers Wild
• 19 April – Galton and Simpson Comedy
• 23 April – The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder
• 30 April – Sez Les
• 20 May – Fraud Squad
• 6 June – The Gold Robbers'
• 18 June – The Main Chance
• 3 July – Join Jim Dale
• 10 July – The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm
• 12 July – Doctor in the House
• 9 August – The Frankie Howerd Show
• 12 August – The Best Things in Life
• 19 August – Who-Dun-It
• 5 September – The Contenders
• 15 September – Dear Mother...Love Albert'
• 16 September – Hadleigh
• 17 September – Special Branch
• 19 September – Parkin's Patch
• 21 September –
• *The Flaxton Boys
• *Randall and Hopkirk
• *The Secret Service
• * Strange Report
• 23 September – The Dustbinmen
• 2 October – Girls About Town
• 4 October – ITV Racing
• 10 October – Ours Is a Nice House
• 28 October – The Adventures of Rupert Bear
• 5 November – Lift Off with Ayshea
• 18 November –
• * Happy Ever After
• * Cribbins
• 19 November – The Benny Hill Show
• 21 November – Curry and Chips
• 21 December – The Owl Service
• 26 December –
• * The Engelbert Humperdinck Show
• * It's Tommy Cooper
• 30 December – A Present for Dickie''

  Continuing television shows

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon

  1930s

• BBC Cricket

  1940s

• Watch with Mother
• Come Dancing

  1950s

• Andy Pandy
• The Good Old Days
• Panorama
• Dixon of Dock Green
• Crackerjack
• Opportunity Knocks
• This Week
• Armchair Theatre
• What the Papers Say
• The Sky at Night
• Blue Peter
• Grandstand

  1960s

• Coronation Street
• Songs of Praise
• Z-Cars
• Animal Magic
• Doctor Who
• World in Action
• The Wednesday Play
• Top of the Pops
• Match of the Day
• Crossroads
• Play School
• Mr. and Mrs.
• Not Only... But Also
• World of Sport
• Sportsnight
• All Gas and Gaiters
• Jackanory
• It's a Knockout
• The Money Programme
• Not in Front of the Children
• Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
• Callan
• The Golden Shot
• ITV Playhouse
• Me Mammy
• Please Sir!
• Father, Dear Father
• Dad's Army
• Magpie
• The Big Match

  Ending this year

• 9 February – The Saint
• 30 April – The Champions
• 14 May – Do Not Adjust Your Set
• 21 May – The Avengers
• 13 November – Softly, Softly
• 28 November – The Newcomers
• 29 December – The Trumptonshire Trilogy
• Unknown
• *Market in Honey Lane
• *Journey to the Unknown
• *Strange Report

  Births

• 22 January – Olivia d'Abo, English actress
• January – Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedian, writer and television presenter
• 4 April – Karren Brady, sporting executive, television broadcaster, newspaper columnist, author and novelist
• 27 April – Tess Daly, British television presenter.
• 15 May – Craig Oliver, journalist, television media executive and government special adviser
• 10 June – Jane Hill, journalist and newsreader
• 20 July – Gillian Joseph, newscaster
• 21 August – Julie Etchingham, journalist and newsreader
• 25 September – Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• 2 October – Natasha Little, actress
• 5 October – Andrea McLean, television presenter
• 16 October – Suzanne Virdee, British Newsreader-Midlands Today BBC ONE
• 13 November – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• 19 December – Richard Hammond, British TV presenter

  Deaths

• 25 March – Billy Cotton, 69, British entertainer & bandleader