1946 in British television explained

This is a list of British television related events from 1946.

British television broadcasts resumed this year. They had been suspended during World War II, for fear that the signals would help German bombers.

Events

January – May

• No events.

June

• 1 June – The first television licence is introduced in the United Kingdom, costing £2.^{[1] [2]}
• 7 June – The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting again. The first words heard are "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". The Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premier that had been the last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, is reshown after Bligh's introduction.^[3]
• 29 June – BBC's coverage of Wimbledon returns, after not being seen since 1939 due to the service's discontinuation during World War II. It was among the earliest pre-war programming on the BBC Television Service, annual coverage of the event debuting in 1927.

July

• 7 July – The BBC's children's programme For the Children returns, one of the few pre-war programmes to resume after the reintroduction of the BBC Television Service.

August

• 4 August – Children's puppet Muffin the Mule makes his first appearance in an episode of For The Children. He is so popular he is given his own show later in the year on a new service Watch with Mother.

September

• No events.

October

• 19 October – The first live televised post-war football match is broadcast by the BBC. Twenty minutes of Barnet's home game against Wealdstone are televised in the first half and thirty five minutes of the second half before it becomes too dark.^[4]
• 22 October – Telecrime, which first aired over five episodes in 1938 and 1939, and is the first television crime series, returns for a 12-episode series on the BBC Television Service, retitled Telecrimes.

November

• 29 November – Pinwright's Progress, British television's first sitcom, is broadcast for the first time on the BBC Television Service.

December

• 31 December – The BBC ends the day's television broadcasting with Seeing the New Year In.^[5]

Debuts

• 5 May – Rory The Tiger and Friend (1939-1965, 1974-1981)
• 7 June – The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1946)
• 12 June – Cookery (1946–1951)
• 2 July – Jeannie (1946)
• 7 July – Frieda (1946)
• 21 July – The Shop at Sly Corner (1946)
• 4 August – Muffin the Mule (1946–1955, 2005–2006)
• 9 August – The Playboy of the Western World (1946)
• 20 August – The Man with the Cloak Full of Holes (1946)
• 27 August – The Rose and Crown (1946)
• 2 November – Kaleidoscope (1946–1953)
• 29 November – Pinwright's Progress (1946–1947)
• 1 December – Morning Departure (1946)
• 21 December – Alice (1946)
• 29 December – Toad of Toad Hall (1946)

Television shows returning after the war

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–2024)

1930s

• Picture Page (1936–1939, 1946–1952)
• Starlight (1936–1939, 1946–1949)
• For the Children (1937–1939, 1946–1952)
• Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present)
• Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946)
• The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019)
• BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

Ending this year

• Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946)

Births

• 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress, Doctor Who (died 2011)
• 5 February – Charlotte Rampling, English actress
• 7 February – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (died 2011)
• 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor, Dad's Army (died 2024)
• 18 February – Michael Buerk, journalist and news presenter
• 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• 21 February – Alan Rickman, English actor (died 2016)^[6]
• 21 March – Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor
• 28 March – Tricia Ingrams, journalist and television presenter (died 1996)
• 5 April – Jane Asher, actress
• 11 April – Bob Harris, radio and television presenter
• 18 April – Hayley Mills, actress
• 19 April – Tim Curry, English actor, vocalist and composer
• May – Jock Brown, football commentator
• 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress
• 10 May – Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian
• 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, actor (died 2017)
• 15 June – Noddy Holder, English singer (Slade)
• 5 July – Gwyneth Powell, English actress (died 2022)
• 14 July – Sue Lawley, broadcaster
• 26 August – Alison Steadman, actress
• 19 September – Michael Elphick, actor (died 2002)
• 25 September – Felicity Kendal, actress
• 28 September – Helen Shapiro, singer and actor
• 29 September – Patricia Hodge, English actress
• 10 October – Chris Tarrant, broadcaster and television presenter
• 14 October – Katy Manning, English actress
• 17 October – Vicki Hodge, English actress
• 22 October – Kelvin MacKenzie, media executive
• 31 October – Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor
• 18 November – Andrea Allan, Scottish actress
• 20 December – Lesley Judd, English actress and television presenter
• 23 December – John Sullivan, English scriptwriter (died 2011)
• 27 December – Janet Street-Porter, English broadcast journalist

Deaths

• 14 June – John Logie Baird, 57, engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system.

See also

• 1946 in British music
• 1946 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1946

External links

• List of 1946 British television series at IMDb

Notes and References

1. Web site: A history of the licence fee . the Guardian . 6 August 2018 . en . 11 October 2005.
2. Web site: Leapman . Michael . 'Watch out, the BBC is coming after you' . Telegraph . 6 August 2018 . 22 August 2013.
3. Web site: Back after the break . BBC . 6 August 2018 . 7 June 2006.
4. Web site: Off the Telly.
5. Web site: Graham. McCann. Gang Aft Agley: The Day TV Broke Hogmanay. Comedy Chronicles. British Comedy Guide. 2021-12-30. 2022-01-01.
6. Web site: Alan Rickman remembered by Ian Rickson. The Guardian. London. 2018-08-06. 2016-12-11.