1958 in British television explained

This is a list of British television related events from 1958.

Events

January

• 14 January – TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England, goes on the air.

February

• 13 February – A by-election is covered on UK television for the first time when Granada broadcasts coverage of the 1958 Rochdale by-election;^{[1] [2]} Broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy takes second place for the Liberals, considerably increasing their share of the vote.
• 17 February – Pope Pius XII designates St. Clare of Assisi as the patron saint of television.^[3] Thereafter, placing her icon on a television set is said to improve reception.
• 18 February – Footage of the annual Shrove Tuesday Atherstone Ball Game is shown on television for the first time.^[4]

March

• 31 March – Debut of the BBC's serial Starr and Company, set in an engineering firm. The programme is aired for nine months.^{[5] [6]}

April

• 14 April — The newly magnetic videotape machine Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus or VERA for short, is given a live demonstration on air in Panorama where Richard Dimbleby seated by a clock, talks for a couple of minutes about the new method of vision recording with an instant playback. The tape is then wound back and replayed. The picture is slightly watery, but reasonably watchable, and instant playback is something completely new.^[7]

May

• 5 May – First experimental transmissions of a 625-line television service.
• 10 May – The BBC broadcasts rugby league's Challenge Cup final for the third time and this marks the start of annual coverage of the final.

June

• No events.

July

• No events.

August

• 30 August – Southern Television, the ITV franchise for the South of England, goes on the air.

September

• No events.

October

• 11 October – The long running Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand debuts on the BBC Television Service. It airs until 2007.
• 16 October – Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's TV programme, debuts on the BBC Television Service. It continues to air into the 2020s.
• 28 October – The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time.^[8]

November

• 30 November – During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre play Underground on the ITV network, actor Gareth Jones has a fatal heart attack between two of his scenes while in make-up.

December

• 22 December – The BBC begin showing the acclaimed science fiction drama series Quatermass and the Pit, starring André Morell as Professor Bernard Quatermass.

Debuts

BBC Television Service/BBC TV

• 1 January – Big Guns (1958)
• 4 January – Saturday Playhouse (1958–1961)
• 24 January – Pride and Prejudice (1958)
• February – Your Life in Their Hands (1958–1964; 1979–1987; 1991)
• 2 February – Monitor (1958–1965)
• 7 February – Run To Earth (1958)
• 9 February – The Government Inspector (1958)
• 12 February – More Than Robbery (1958)
• March – Starr and Company (1958)
• 7 March – The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1958)
• 22 March – Captain Moonlight - Man of Mystery (1958)
• 26 March – Sammy (1958)
• 11 April – The Common Room (1958–1959)
• 22 April – Railway Roundabout (1958–1962)
• 7 May – White Heather Club (1958–1968)
• 13 May – The Dangerous Game (1958)
• 17 May – Duty Bound (1958)
• 1 June – The Adventures of Ben Gunn (1958)
• 14 June – The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–1978)
• 24 June – The Firm of Girdlestone (1958)
• 5 July – Fair Game (1958)
• 20 July – Queen's Champion (1958)
• 16 August – Charlesworth at Large (1958)
• 6 September – Jennings at School (1958)
• 12 September – Champion Road (1958)
• 14 September – Little Women (1958)
• 29 September – Leave It to Todhunter (1958)
• 11 October – Grandstand (1958–2007)
• 14 October – Yesterday's Enemy (1958)
• 16 October – Blue Peter (1958–present)
• 4 November – The Mad O'Haras (1958)
• 7 November – Our Mutual Friend (1958–1959)
• 10 November – Solo for Canary (1958)
• 11 November – Charlie Drake (1958–1960)
• 4 December – Private Investigator (1958–1959)
• 22 December – Quatermass and the Pit (1958–1959)

ITV

• 1 January  - Junior Criss Cross Quiz (1958-1967)
• 3 January
  • Let's Get Together (1958-1959)
  • People and Places (1958-1963, 1967-1973)
• 8 January – Ivanhoe (1958–1959)
• 14 January – Gwlad y Gan (1958–1964)
• 15 January  - Amser Te (1958-1968)
• 27 January  - Popeye (1958-1975)
• 4 February – East End, West End (1958)
• 14 February  - Sea Hunt (1957-1961)
• 22 February – Sword of Freedom (1958–1961)
• 18 March – Hotel Imperial (1958–1960)
• 22 March
  • Cheyenne (1957-1963)
  • The Killing Stones (1958)
• 30 March – Time Out for Peggy (1958)
• 5 April – African Patrol (1958–1959)
• 7 April  - Wagon Train (1957-1962)
• 13 April  - The Sunday Break (1958-1967)
• 15 April – Lucky Dip (1958–1959)
• 26 April – The Truth About Melandrinos (1958)
• 30 June – My Wife and I (1958)
• 6 July – Dial 999 (1958–1959)
• 13 September
  • Dotto (1958–1960)
  • Oh Boy! (1958–1959)
  • Mary Britten, M.D. (1958)
• 14 September – The Invisible Man (1958–1959)
• 15 September – Make Me Laugh (1958)
• 19 September – The Larkins (1958–1960; 1963–1964)
• 20 September – The Adventures of William Tell (1958–1959)
• 26 September – Educating Archie (1958–1959)
• 6 October – Cannonball (1958–1959)
• 12 October – After Hours (1958–1959)
• 6 December – All Aboard (1958–1959)
• Unknown
  • Dick and the Duchess (1958–1959)
  • Martin Kane, Private Eye (1958–1959)
  • The Verdict Is Yours (1958–1959; 1962–1963)

Continuing television shows

1920s

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

1930s

• Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present)
• The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
• BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

1940s

• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)
• Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

• Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)
• All Your Own (1952–1961)
• Watch with Mother (1952–1975)
• Rag, Tag and Bobtail (1953–1965)
• The Good Old Days (1953–1983)
• Panorama (1953–present)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1960)
• Picture Book (1955–1965)
• Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–1967, 1973–1974)
• Take Your Pick! (1955–1968, 1992–1998)
• Double Your Money (1955–1968)
• Dixon of Dock Green (1955–1976)
• Crackerjack (1955–1970, 1972–1984, 2020–2021)
• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961)
• Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)
• This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)
• Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)^[9]
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)^[10]
• The Army Game (1957–1961)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957–1997)

Ending this year

• The Flower Pot Men (1952–1958, 2001–2002)
• The Woodentops (1955–1958)
• Educated Evans (1957–1958)
• Living It Up (1957–1958)
• Six-Five Special (1957–1958)

Births

• 10 January – Caroline Langrishe, actress
• 24 January – Jools Holland, British musician
• 29 January – Linda Smith, comedian (died 2006)
• 11 February – Michael Jackson, British broadcast executive
• 20 February – James Wilby, British actor
• 3 March – Miranda Richardson, English actress
• 7 March – Rik Mayall, comedy writer-performer (died 2014)
• 13 March – Linda Robson, actress
• 14 March – Francine Stock, radio and television presenter and author
• 21 March – Gary Oldman, English actor
• 14 April – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director
• 3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born comedy performer, media presenter and writer
• 17 May – Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedy writer-performer
• 18 May – Toyah Willcox, actress and singer
• 22 May – Denise Welch, actress and television presenter
• 6 July – Jennifer Saunders, comedy writer-performer
• 24 July – Joe McGann, actor
• 31 July – Sue Jenkins, actress
• 29 August – Lenny Henry, British entertainer
• 30 August – Muriel Gray, Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist
• 13 September – Bobby Davro, actor and comedian
• 18 September – Linda Lusardi, British model, actress and television presenter
• 21 September
  • Simon Mayo, British radio presenter
  • Penny Smith, television presenter
• 25 October – Simon Gipps-Kent, actor (died 1987)
• 31 October – Debbie McGee, television, radio and stage performer
• 1 December – Keith Chapman, English children's television programme creator
• 6 December – Nick Park, English animated film maker

Deaths

• 30 November – Gareth Jones, actor

See also

• 1958 in British music
• 1958 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1958

External links

• List of 1958 British television series at IMDb

Notes and References

1. News: Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill . 1958: Rochdale by-election is first British election to be televised . BBC . 30 October 2009 . 5 July 2011.
2. https://transdiffusion.org/2023/04/07/granada-goes-to-rochdale/ Granada Goes to Rochdale
3. Web site: St Clare of Assisi . https://web.archive.org/web/20090523111250/http://members.chello.nl/~l.de.bondt/ClareAssisi.htm . 2009-05-23 . live . 2009-05-13 .
4. News: Nick . Reid . Atherstone Ball Game: The story behind England's ancient sport . Trinity Mirror . Coventry Telegraph . 26 February 2017 . 11 May 2017.
5. Web site: The Sunday Post: Soap on the Box. 3 July 2016. BBC Genome Blog. 27 January 2019.
6. Web site: Starr and Company: One Side of the Family. 28 March 1958. 1794. 13. 27 January 2019. BBC Genome.
7. Web site: BBC Television – 14 April 1958 – BBC Genome. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 14 April 2019.
8. Web site: BBC Parliament – 30 November 2008 – BBC Genome. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
9. Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline
10. Web site: What the Papers Say in pictures . The Guardian . 2 April 2022 . 29 May 2008.