1993 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1993.

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Events

January

• 1 January –
  • Carlton Television takes over the weekday ITV franchise based in London at 00:00 GMT replacing Thames Television after 24 years on the air. Meridian Broadcasting takes over the South of England franchise from Television South, Westcountry Television takes over the South West England franchise from Television South West, Good Morning Television takes over the breakfast television franchise from TV-am and Teletext Ltd takes over the teletext franchises from ORACLE.
  • The ITC removes the limit on the value of prizes which can be given away on ITV game shows in the UK (set at £6000 per episode since 1981), paving the way for the big money game shows of the late 1990s and 2000s.
  • Channel 4 becomes an independent statutory corporation. Under the terms of the Broadcasting Act 1990 the channel is now also allowed to sell its own airtime. Under the Act ITV have agreed to fund Channel 4 if it falls below 14% of total TV advertising revenue. The channel also makes a payment of £38m to ITV under terms of its funding formula.[1]
  • The London News Network, a joint venture between London's two franchise holders, Carlton and LWT, begins providing s seven day news service for ITV viewers in London.
  • Scottish Television launches new idents and presentation.[2]
• 3 January –
  • The Central Television produced preschool series Tots TV begins on ITV and starts airing in America the next day. Its sponsor was Lego Duplo.
  • The final edition of LWT News is presented by Anna Maria Ashe.
  • Debut of Breakfast with Frost, a Sunday morning current affairs programme on BBC1 presented by David Frost.[3]
• 4 January –
  • John Birt succeeds Sir Michael Checkland as Director-General of the BBC.
  • Scottish Television launches a 30-minute lunchtime edition of Scotland Today.
  • Launch of the ITV regional news programme London Tonight, which airs seven days a week on both Carlton and London Weekend Television.
  • Ulster Television's news service is renamed UTV Live. The programme broadcasts for 60 minutes, instead of 30.
  • The BBC launches Business Breakfast as a 60-minute stand-alone programme. It had previously been part of Breakfast News. Consequently, the BBC's weekday breakfast programmes start half an hour earlier, at 6 am.
• 6 January –
  • The Times reports that IFE have revised and increased their offer to purchase former ITV franchise holder TVS.[4][5]
  • Animated series The Animals of Farthing Wood which was based on the books by Colin Dann is broadcast on BBC1.[6]
  • Debut of Clive James' acclaimed series Fame in the 20th Century, an eight-part BBC1 series in which James examines the nature of 20th century fame using archive footage and commentary.[7] The series concludes on 24 February.[8]
• 8 January –
  • ITV screens the present series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends once more. However, the first few episodes will be trimmed to fit the timeslot.
  • ITV debuts its children's comedy programme ZZZap! starring the show you how its done gloves known as the Handymen, Richard Waites as the trouble causing Cuthbert Lilly and the sneaky villain Tricky Dicky and Neil Buchanan as the smartest artist Smart Arty.
  • ITV introduces a third weekly episode of The Bill on Friday evenings.
• 20 January – BBC2 airs live coverage of the inauguration of Bill Clinton as the 42nd President of the United States.[9]
• 23 January – The Times reports that an offer by IFE to buy TVS for £56.5m has been accepted by TVS.[10]
• 24 January — Lifestyle and Lifestyle Satellite Jukebox closes.

February

• 1 February –
  • IFE completes its deal to buy TVS.
  • British Sky Broadcasting introduces a new system of film ratings often used for various times, replacing the British Board of Film Classification certificates.
• 6 February – The Casualty episode "Family Matters" sees an early appearance by the actress Kate Winslet.[11]
• 7 February – Having completed its initial run of all 692 episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H in December 1991, Central Television begins re-running the series from the first episode. It is shown weekly, late on Sunday evenings, until the end of 1994.
• 12–14 February – Channel 4 airs Love Weekend, a series of programmes with sexually explicit content coinciding with Valentine's Day weekend. The weekend includes the British television debut of Last Tango in Paris, which is aired uncut on 14 February.[12] The makers of Tango pay almost £20,00 for a 30-second commercial advertising the soft drink in the film's first ad break.[13]
• 14–16 February – Sky One debuts Diana: Her True Story, a dramatisation of Andrew Morton's biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. The film features Serena Scott Thomas as the Princess.[14]
• 15 February – BBC2 airs Oprah Winfrey's interview with singer Michael Jackson.[14][15]
• 16 February – The final-ever episode of Count Duckula broadcasts on ITV for the last time.
• 24 February – John Nettles makes a cameo appearance as Jim Bergerac in an episode of the BBC1 comedy The Detectives set in Jersey.[16]
• 27 February – "Boiling Point", an episode of the BBC medical drama series Casualty,[17] is met with great controversy and outrage after it depicts rioting youths setting fire to a hospital's accident and emergency department. The Corporation receives over 700 complaints about the violent nature of the episode, despite showing it after the watershed (at 21:00) and warning viewers accordingly. However, the episode achieves viewing figures of 17.02 million – the highest for the show at the time.
• 28 February – BBC1 screens the first in a twelve-part adaptation of Peter Mayle's memoir A Year in Provence.[18] The series, starring John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan, concludes on 16 May.[19] Unlike the book, the miniseries is not well received by critics, and in 2006 it is placed at number ten on a Radio Times list of the worst television programmes ever made[20][21] The writer John Naughton describes it as a "smugathon ... which achieved the near impossible – creating a John Thaw vehicle nobody liked".[21]

March

• 1 March –
  • Screensport and Eurosport merge. Consequently, Screensport closes down. They merge to try to turn two loss making channels into a single profitable channel.[22]
  • Games World makes its debut on Sky One.
• 5 March – ITV begins airing Doctor Finlay, a continuation series of the original Dr. Finlay's Casebook that aired during the 1960s.
• 6 March – An IRA bomb scare at BBC Television Centre means that the live Saturday night programme Noel's House Party cannot be shown. Instead, after a repeat of the previous year's Noel's Christmas Presents, host Noel Edmonds is forced to introduce a Tom and Jerry cartoon in its place, The Zoot Cat.
• 12 March – BBC1 airs Total Relief, the 1993 Comic Relief telethon.[23]
• 23–24 March – Sky One transmits Episodes 170 and 171 of Australian soap E Street, which features a hard-hitting storyline involving extreme character Sonny Bennett (Richard Huggett), who kills three characters in a car-bomb explosion. Because the series is aired in an early evening timeslot these episodes are preceded by a warning to viewers that they contain scenes that some may find upsetting. The 12.30pm repeat the following day (24 and 25 March) is dropped entirely and replaced by episodes of The Simpsons.
• 26 March – ITV airs "The Final Straw", an episode of The Bill in which Detective Constable Viv Martella (played by Nula Conwell) is killed off when she is shot by a gunman after approaching his car.
• 27 March – BBC1 airs the British television premiere of Eddie Murphy's gangster comedy Harlem Nights.
• 28 March – The Bluebells' 1984 recording of "Young at Heart" reaches number one in the UK Singles Chart following a re-release after being featured in a Volkswagen Golf commercial. It tops the charts for four weeks.
• 29 March – Central TV becomes the first ITV region to begin screening the New Zealand medical soap opera Shortland Street.

April

• 2 April – BBC1 transmits its new comedy drama The Riff Raff Element.
• 3 April – The 1993 Grand National is declared void after 30 of the 39 runners begin the race, and carry on despite there having been a false start.
• 4 April – Children's BBC begin to repeat the children's drama series Grange Hill from its first series in 1978, on Sunday mornings on BBC2, as part of the show's 15th anniversary celebrations. These repeats end in 1999 with series 16, Prior to the repeats, Rugrats begins showing on the same date.[24][25]
• 5 April – The Children's Channel rebrands with a new series of idents depicting the live-action shots that showing the colours of blue, red and yellow, and also updates its new logo similar to the original one.
• 6 April – BBC1 airs This Is Michael Bolton, a recording of Michael Bolton in concert.[26]
• 11 April – Sky One airs the first clip show episode in the fourth season of The Simpsons, and it featured clips from the first three seasons of the series.
• 13 April – A new look is introduced across all of the BBC's television news bulletins, with a studio that is almost entirely computer-generated and features a cut-glass model of the Corporation's coat of arms.
• 17 April –
  • BBC1 airs the final edition of its magazine programme, Going Live!.[27]
  • Arena presents a new four-part series "Tales of Rock 'N' Roll" on BBC2 looking at the story of four rock songs of how they came about and the history behind them and who and what they involved. Starting with Peggy Sue who was tracked down in Sacramento, California to be found running her own drain-clearing company Rapid Rooter and then to be taken back to Lubbock, Texas to recall how she knew Buddy Holly and how her marriage to drummer Jerry Allison turned out. Heartbreak Hotel where the song came to be written after the two songwriters discovered an article about a suicide in a hotel in Miami after reading about it in the Miami Herald. Walk on the Wild Side looks at all the characters that were involved in the song and how Lou Reed used to spend time at Andy Warhol's studio where they all did (Holly Woodlawn & Joe Dallesandro were the only ones still around to tell the tale) and Highway 61 Revisited which looked at Bob Dylan's roots and everything that was connected with U.S. Route 61. The series ran for four weeks on Saturday nights on 17 April, 24 April, 1 May, and 8 May.
• 23 April –
  • Pearson Television launches a friendly takeover bid for Thames Television, valuing the company at £99m.[28]
  • Episode 1681 of Neighbours which is the first episode does not to feature the 80s style titles and theme music is shown in the United Kingdom, having previously made its debut in Australia on 18 May 1992.
• 30 April – Sky One airs an third season's episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was never shown on BBC2 until 29 September 2007 due to references to the reunification of Ireland being achieved through terrorism in Northern Ireland between the Provisional IRA and the Troubles.

May

• 2-3 May – Debut of the two-part adaptation of Jilly Cooper's 1985 blockbuster novel Riders on ITV, starring Marcus Gilbert, Michael Praed, Arabella Tjye, Anthony Calf, Sienna Guillory, Annabel Giles, Gabrielle Beaumont and Stephanie Beacham, it was produced by Anglia Films after weeks of being trailed as "a sex sizzler".[29]
• 10 May –
  • Debut of Peak Practice on ITV, was one of their most successful medical drama series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. The series was axed on 30 January 2002, ending on a literal cliffhanger when two of the series' main characters plunged off a cliff.
  • Channel 4 airs Beyond Citizen Kane, a documentary film directed by Simon Hartog, produced by John Ellis and narrated by Chris Kelly. It details the dominant position of the Globo media group by founder Roberto Marinho, discusses the group's influence, power, and political connections with the support of military dictatorship in Brazil.
• 13 May – Peter Dean makes his final appearance as EastEnders market trader Pete Beale. The character goes on the run with an old flame who he had reconnected with, only to discover she was married to a local gangster. Pete is killed off-screen on 16 December after the couple are killed in a car crash.
• 15 May – Ireland's Niamh Kavanagh wins the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest with "In Your Eyes", beating the United Kingdom's Sonia (who sung "Better the Devil You Know") by 23 points.
• 16 May – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone appear as guests on the ITV chat show Aspel & Company.[30] The edition is later censured by the Independent Television Commission because the actors were promoting their joint business venture Planet Hollywood.[31]
• 19 May – After ten years and ten series in its original run, the final edition of Blockbusters is showing for the last time on ITV. But it continued for one more series on the satellite channel Sky One a year later, and the five ITV regions showed this series until 1995.
• 22 May – Stars in Their Eyes returns with a new presenter. Matthew Kelly takes on the role from Leslie Crowther, who is still recovering from head injuries received in a car crash the previous year.
• 26 May – Noddy's Toyland Adventures begins its Australian television premiere on ABC.
• 27 May – Final showing of the five-part BBC Schools French language adventure series La Marée et ses Secrets (The Tide and its Secrets), which first aired in 1984.[32][33]

June

• 4 June –
  • When Roy Hattersley fails to appear for that day's edition of Have I Got News for You — the third time he has cancelled at the last minute — he is replaced with a tub of lard (credited as "The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP"), as it is "imbued with much the same qualities and liable to give a similar performance".[34]
  • At 6 pm, UTV unveils a new logo. A new jingle is also introduced with a distinct Celtic sound.[35]
• 6 June – The Animals of Farthing Wood makes its television debut in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ. It still airs on television in this country to this very day.
• 11 June – Fawlty Towers begins its first transmission on Namibian television channel NBC in Namibia.
• 11–13 June – Channel 4 airs the final three episodes of Cheers over three consecutive nights, finishing with the 80 minute finale. However, due to the series' popularity repeats of the series begin from the following weekend.[36]
• 28 June – Channel 4 airs the last programmes produced for the ITV Schools strand. However, the channel continues to produce its own schools programming for several years afterwards.

July

• 1 July – The two production companies, Tiger Television and Aspect Film and Television, merge to form Tiger Aspect Productions.
• 4 July – Derek Johns wins the 1993 series of MasterChef.
• 9 July –
  • BBC1 airs the final episode of Eldorado.[37] The soap was axed due to poor ratings.
  • ITV finishes repeating the present series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. One episode, "Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure", has been excluded from this year's series of repeats.
• 22 July – Three former cable-only channels – Discovery, The Learning Channel and Bravo – started broadcasting on the Astra satellite, ahead before the launch of the Sky Multichannels package.
• 22–23 July – BBC1 airs the US crime drama Stay the Night, starring Barbara Hershey.[38][39]
• 23 July – Prime Minister John Major gives an interview to ITN journalist Michael Brunson after his government wins a vote of confidence in the House of Commons earlier in the day. During an unguarded moment following the interview, and while still being recorded, Major refers to some of his cabinet colleagues as "Bastards".[40] The incident, which becomes known in the media as "Bastardgate", prompts the tabloid newspapers Daily Mirror and The Sun to set up telephone lines with recordings of the conversation that readers are invited to call. Both newspapers are warned to discontinue the lines by the regulatory body, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) because it feels that broadcasting the off-air conversation is a breach of privacy.[41]
• 24 July – The fourth series of ITV's Stars in Their Eyes concludes with the programme's first live Grand Final, enabling viewers to vote for their favourite act. The series is won by Jacquii Cann, performing as Alison Moyet.
• July – The ITC publishes the findings of a technical review of the future viability of launching a fifth television channel. By October more than 70 parties have responded to its publication, including some expressing interest in running Channel 5 should the licence be readvertised.[42]

August

• 6 August – BBC1 airs Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid, a film starring Val Kilmer.[43]
• 18 August – ITV airs 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight, Peter Kosminsky's film about a teen, jailed in an adult prison, who took his own life in July 1990.
• 20 August – BBC1 airs the 1990 action comedy Heart Condition, starring Bob Hoskins and Denzel Washington.[44]
• 27 August – BBC1 airs a special live edition of Challenge Anneka in which Anneka Rice returns to some of the projects the show worked on to check on their progress.[45]
• 29 August – BBC1 airs Steven Spielberg's 1989 bittersweet romantic fantasy Always, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman.[46]
• 30 August – BBC1 airs the 1990 live-action adventure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a film based on the popular television series known in the UK as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.[47]

September

• 1 September –
  • Sky Multichannels launches in the UK. Consequently, many satellite free-to-air channels become pay channels. Three new channels launch – The Family Channel, Nickelodeon UK, and UK Living – and all become part of the Sky Multichannels package.
  • The IFE launched The Family Channel is based at The Maidstone Studios and uses some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech are a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business.[48]
• 6 September – UK Gold introduces a new ident with the form-up of the first logo against a silky blue background, replacing the "Goldie" idents.
• 11 September – Sky One moves E Street from its weekday early evening slot to a weekend daytime slot, where it is shown in hour-long episodes on Saturdays from 6.00pm to 7.00pm and Sundays from 1.00pm to 2.00pm. The weekday 6.30pm slot is used to air episodes of Paradise Beach, but E Street is restored to the weekday slot in January 1994 after the move proves to be unpopular.
• 17 September – Cartoon Network and classic movie channel TNT launch in the UK. They share the same transponder with Cartoon Network broadcasting during the day and TNT transmitting during the evening and overnight,
• 21 September – BBC1 airs "A Murderer's Game", an edition of the Crimewatch File series looking at the 1992 hunt for the kidnapper of Birmingham estate agent Stephanie Slater.[49]
• 22 September – BBC1 airs "Hostage", an edition of the Inside Story strand in which Terry Waite speaks about his years of captivity in Beirut.[50]
• 24 September – A five-minute animated cartoon series for preschoolers Philbert Frog screens on BBC1.
• September – Scottish Television reschedules Emmerdale from 19:00 to 17:10, and uses the 19:00 slot to broadcast daily regional programmes, including Take the High Road. This arrangement continues until early 1998 when Emmerdale is moved back to the 19:00 slot.

October

• 1 October – QVC UK launches in the United Kingdom, becoming the UK's first home shopping channel. The channel had originally launched in the United States in 1986.
• 2 October – The new magazine programme Live & Kicking debuts on BBC1, presented by Andi Peters, Emma Forbes and John Barrowman.[51]
• 19 October – Last on screen appearance of Roly, the EastEnders dog and Queen Vic resident who has been part of the soap since the first episode. Roly is killed off, the episode featuring his demise attracting an audience of 14.8 million viewers. The dog who played Roly died during a heatwave on 2 August 1995.
• 20 October –
  • Debut of Thatcher: The Downing Street Years, a four-part BBC1 series looking at the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.[52]
  • Kirsty Wark debuts as anchor on BBC2's Newsnight.
  • The ITC issues Channel 4 with a formal warning for an episode of the soap Brookside aired on 7 and 8 May, which depicted a wife stabbing her abusive husband to death.[53]
• 21 October – Channel 4 is granted permission by the High Court to show excerpts from Stanley Kubrick's controversial 1971 film A Clockwork Orange as part of its Without Walls series. The film, Forbidden Fruit, is shown on 26 October. Time Warner, distributors of A Clockwork Orange had sought to prevent Channel 4 from showing scenes from the film, which has been banned in the UK since 1973 after Kubrick withdrew it amid concerns it was encouraging violence, and remained until 2000.[54]

November

• 2 November – Prime Minister John Major announces a review of the 1988 broadcasting ban, telling the House of Commons that broadcasters are stretching it "to the limit and perhaps beyond".[55]
• 7 November – American animated television series based on the popular Sega video games Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog begins on Channel 4 two months after its US television debut.
• 8 November – The first TV advert for an undertaker's is broadcast during an early evening episode of Scottish soap opera Take the High Road on ITV.
• 9 November – The first edition of It'll Never Work?, a children's television programme showcasing new inventions and developments in scientific technology, debuts on BBC1.[56]
• 16 November – Patsy Palmer makes her EastEnders debut as long-running character Bianca Jackson.
• 18 November –
  • Several schoolchildren are killed in a minibus crash on the M40. The incident is carried as the lead story on ITV's Early Evening News and News at Ten, while the BBC's flagship Nine O'Clock News carries it as the third item, behind the State Opening of Parliament and a piece about the Troubles. The BBC's decision to put the item third attracts strong criticism from other journalists, who question the reasoning behind it, and accuse the BBC of being out of touch.[57]
  • BBC1 debuts Goodnight Sweetheart, a time-travelling comedy series starring Nicholas Lyndhurst.[58]
• 19 November – Channel 4 airs the first "Late Licence" which sees it on air on Friday and Saturday nights until around 5.00am. The first "Late Licence" is presented by Smashie and Nicey with the strand showing repeats of the channel's content, such as editions of The Word.[36]
• 20 November – Leslie Crowther makes his first television appearance since his accident on The Royal Variety Performance, appearing alongside Cilla Black.
• 22 November – On the 30th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Channel 4 airs the documentary As It Happened: The Killing of Kennedy which gives a minute-by-minute account of the events of 22 November 1963, with contributions from scores of eyewitnesses.[59]
• 23 November – 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who in the UK.
• 26–27 November – BBC 1 airs the two-part Doctor Who special Dimensions in Time, a crossover with EastEnders. The episode is part of the 1993 Children in Need telethon, and the first Doctor Who episode to be televised since the series ended in December 1989.[60][61]
• 29 November –
  • The Krypton Factor broadcasts on ITV for the final time after 16 years, it will returned two years later with co-host Penny Smith.
  • ITV debuts the three-part dramatisation of Carol Clewlow's 1989 romantic novel A Woman's Guide to Adultery is produced by Hartswood Films for Carlton Television, starring Amanda Donohoe, Theresa Russell, Adrian Dunbar and Sean Bean. The serial continues on 13 December.

December

• 5 December – "Mr Blobby", a novelty song inspired by the Noel's House Party character of the same name tops the UK Singles Chart. After being replaced a week later by Take That's "Babe", the song returns to the top to become the 1993 Christmas number one.[62][63]
• 6 December – ITV's North West franchise-holder Granada Television launches a hostile takeover for London Weekend Television, worth £600 million. The takeover bid comes about because of the relaxation of the rules governing the ITV Network. LWT tries to outstep the takeover bid by initiating talks with Yorkshire Television and Scottish Television.[64]
• 9 December – Peter Sissons hosts his last edition of Question Time,[65] having chaired the political debate programme since 1989.
• 13 December – The Times reports that a conflict of words has broken out between London Weekend Television and Granada over LWT's talks with Yorkshire Television. Granada claims the YTV-LWT deal is "something cobbled together by desperate men". Gerry Robinson, the Chairman of Granada plc, is dismissive of the deal, especially since Yorkshire has made £10 million loss and is already paying much of its revenue to the government. Reports also suggest if LWT bid for Yorkshire Television it would also form an alliance with Anglia who would takeover Tyne Tees Television.[66]
• 18 December – BBC 2 broadcasts the Arena special "Radio Night", an ambitious simulcast with BBC Radio 4.[67]
• 22 December – Plato's Stepchildren, an episode of the US sci-fi TV series Star Trek is shown on BBC 2 for the first time in the UK having not been seen on British television since the series' original run on BBC1.[68][69]
• 24 December – Christmas Eve highlights on BBC1 include the premiere of the 1990 espionage thriller The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.[70]
• 25 December –
  • Christmas Day highlights on BBC1 include Back to the Future: Part III and the network television premiere of Ghost.[71]
  • Channel 4 airs its first "Alternative Christmas message". The broadcast features a contemporary, often controversial celebrity, delivering a message in the manner of The Queen. The first alternative message is delivered by Quentin Crisp.
• 26 December –
  • Boxing Day highlights on BBC1 include the films Superman III and The Outlaw Josey Wales.[72]
  • The Wrong Trousers, the second short film starring Wallace and Gromit, premieres on BBC2.[73]
• 27 December – Channel 4 broadcasts Prince Cinders, a short animated television film based on a book by children's author and illustrator Babette Cole. The film features the voices of well known celebrities such as Dexter Fletcher, Jonathan Ross, Jim Broadbent, Jennifer Saunders and Craig Charles, as well as two original songs performed by singer Miriam Stockley and comedian Lenny Henry.
• 30 December –
  • The Times reports that Granada has increased its takeover bid for LWT to £658 million.[74]
  • Episodes of Emmerdale featuring the controversial plane crash storyline begin airing on ITV. The storyline was developed to win higher ratings for the series, which was threatened with cancellation due to low viewing figures. However, although it succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the series, ITV received many complaints about the timing of the story which came shortly after the fifth anniversary of the Lockerbie Disaster.
• 31 December –
  • The first edition of the annual Scottish football-themed comedy sketch show Only an Excuse? for BBC Scotland on 1, which is aired each Hogmanay.
  • BBC2 airs the first Hootenanny, an annual New Year's Eve music show hosted by Jools Holland. The show includes performances from Sting, the Gipsy Kings and Sly and Robbie.[75]
• December – The Marcopolo 1 satellite is sold to Sweden's Nordic Satellite AB and renamed Sirius 1.

Debuts

BBC1

• 3 January – Breakfast with Frost (1993–2005)
• 5 January – First Letter First (1993)
• 6 January –
  • / The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993–1995)
  • Fame in the 20th Century (1993)
  • The Adventures of Buzzy Bee and Friends (1993)
  • The Return of the Psammead (1993)
• 10 January – Gallowglass (1993)
• 27 January – The Detectives (1993–1997)
• 15 February – Bonjour la Classe (1993)
• 17 February – Century Falls (1993)
• 28 February – A Year in Provence (1993)
• 9 March – Luv (1993–1994)
• 11 March – Chef! (1993–1996)
• 28 March – You, Me and It (1993)
• 2 April – The Riff Raff Element (1993–1994)
• 10 April – Westbeach (1993)
• 27 May – Every Silver Lining (1993)
• 6 June – Lady Chatterley (1993)
• 17 July – McGee and Me! (1989–1995)
• 7 September –
  • // Tales of the Tooth Fairies (1992)
  • /// Moomin (1990–1991)
• 10 September – The X-Files (1993–2002, 2016–present)
• 18 September – Harry (1993–1995)
• 21 September – The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer (1993–1995)
• 24 September – Philbert Frog (1993)
• 25 September – Marlene Marlowe Investigates (1993–1994)
• 27 September – The Greedysaurus Gang (1993)
• 30 September – The Adventures of Blinky Bill (1994)
• 2 October – Live & Kicking (1993–2001)
• 19 October – Children's Hospital (1993–2003)
• 31 October – Scarlet and Black (1993)
• 9 November – It'll Never Work? (1993–1999)
• 11 November –
  • If You See God, Tell Him (1993)
  • The Boot Street Band (1993)
• 15 November – Mortimer and Arabel (1993–1994)
  • Goodnight Sweetheart (1993–1999)
  • Life in the Freezer (1993)
• 29 November – Doctor Who: Thirty Years in the TARDIS (1993)
• 8 December – / Stark (1993)
• 30 December – Health and Efficiency (1993–1995)
• 31 December – Only an Excuse? (1993–present)

BBC2

• 12 January – Magic Grandad (1993–2009)
• 3 February – The Mushroom Picker (1993)
• 24 March – Goggle-Eyes (1993)
• 31 March – Burke's Backyard (1987–2004)
• 4 April – Rugrats (1991–1995; 1996–2004)
• 4 June – One Foot in the Past (1993–2000)
• 13 July – Far Flung Floyd (1993)
• 22 July – No Stilettos (1993)
• 1 September – Love and Reason (1993)
• 20 September – Numbertime (1993–2001)
• 23 September – Come Outside (1993–1997)
• 26 September – // Albert the 5th Musketeer (1993)
• 22 October – The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998)
• 3 November – The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
• 14 November – The Return of the Borrowers (1993)
• 15 November – Consuming Passions (1992–2001)
• 26 December – The Wrong Trousers (1993)
• 27 December – Shooting Stars (1993–1997, 2002, 2008–2011)
• 31 December – Jools' Annual Hootennany (1993–present)

ITV

• 1 January – GMTV (1993–2010)
• 3 January – Tots TV (1993–1998)
• 4 January –
  • ITV News Meridian (1993–present)
  • Harry's Mad (1993–1996)
  • Westcountry Live (1993–2009)
• 5 January –
  • Full Stretch (1993)
  • Oasis (1993)
  • Wizadora (1993–1998)
• 7 January – / Where's Wally?: The Animated Series (1991)
• 8 January –
  • ZZZap! (1993–2001)
  • Eye of the Storm (1993)
• 9 January –
  • Speaking our Language (1993–1996)
  • Tracey Ullman: A Class Act (1993)
• 10 January –
  • Anna Lee (1993–1994)
  • Ferry Boat Fred (1992)
• 11 January – Head over Heels (1993)
• 23 January – Saturday Disney (1993–1996)
• 17 February –
  • Mr. Bean in Room 426 (1993)
  • Three Seven Eleven (1993–1994)
• 23 February – The 10 Percenters (1993–1996)
• 1 March – September Song (1993–1995)
• 5 March – Doctor Finlay (1993–1996)
• 8 March – A Statement of Affairs (1993)
• 9 March – The Brighton Belles (1993–1994)
• 29 March – Shortland Street (1992–present)
• 7 April – The Lodge (1993)
• 8 April –
  • Body & Soul (1993)
  • Just a Gigolo (1993)
• 9 April – The Gingerbread Girl (1993)
• 25 April – Seekers (1993)
• 2 May – Riders (1993)
• 5 May – Sharpe (1993–2008)
• 10 May – Peak Practice (1993–2002)
• 21 May – Strange but True? (1993–1997)
• 10 June – Telltale (1993)
• 29 June – Rubbish, King of the Jumble (1993–1994)
• 3 July – Time After Time (1993–1995)
• 7 July – What You Lookin' At? (1993)
• 8 July – Michael Ball (1993–1995)
• 11 July – Over the Rainbow (1993)
• 18 August – 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight (1993)
• 6 September –
  • Dale's Supermarket Sweep (1993–2001, 2007)
  • Sooty & Co. (1993–1998)
• 10 September –
  • The Legends of Treasure Island (1993–1995)
  • Alphabet Castle (1993–1995)
• 22 September –
  • Avenger Penguins (1993–1994)
  • Lose A Million (1993)
• 24 September – Old Bear Stories (1993–1997)
• 27 September – Cracker (1993–1996, 2006)
• 15 October – Demob (1993)
• 21 October – All in the Game (1993)
• 2 November – // Hurricanes (1993–1997)
• 4 November – Wolf It (1993–1996)
• 29 November – A Woman's Guide to Adultery (1993)
• Unknown –
  • Goof Troop (1992–1993)
  • Darkwing Duck (1991–1992)

Channel 4

• 2 January – Spiff and Hercules (1989)
• 4 January – Lift Off (1992–1995)
• 21 February – Lipstick on Your Collar (1993)
• 27 February – Fourways Farm (1993–1996)
• 6 June – Comics (1993)
• 12 June – The Legend of White Fang (1992–1994)
• 10 July – Little Dracula (1991–1999)
• 13 July – / The Adventures of T-Rex (1992–1993)
• 25 August – Mr Don & Mr George (1993)
• 24 September – Eurotrash (1993–2004)
• 17 October – / Dog City (1992–1994)
• 31 October – The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
• 7 November – Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993)
• 27 December – Prince Cinders (1993)
• 30 December – Jo Brand Through the Cakehole (1993–1996)

Sky One

• 20 January – The Round Table (1992)
• 14 February – / Diana: Her True Story (1993)
• 1 March – Games World (1993–1998)
• 2 May – The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1993)
• August – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)
• 11 September – Paradise Beach (1993)
• 2 October –
  • X-Men (1992–1997)
  • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993–1995)
• 31 October – Bloodlines: Murder in the Family (1993)
• 14 November – / The Sands of Time (1992)
• 21 November – JFK: Reckless Youth (1993)

The Family Channel

• 25 December – Family Catchphrase (1993–1994)

Nickelodeon UK

• 1 September –
  • Hey Dude (1989–1991)
  • Nickelodeon Guts (1992–1996)
• Unknown – Rocko's Modern Life (1993–1996)

Cartoon Network UK

• Unknown – Peter Potamus (1964–1966)

The Children's Channel

• Unknown – Super Mario World (1991)

Channels

New channels

Date	Channel
1 September	The Family Channel
	Nickelodeon
	UK Living
17 September	Cartoon Network
	TNT
1 October	QVC

Defunct channels

Date	Channel
24 January	Lifestyle
	Lifestyle Satellite Jukebox
1 March	Screensport

Rebranded channels

Date	Old Name	New Name
1 September	Sky Movies Plus	Sky Movies
Unknown	Super Channel	NBC Super Channel

Television shows

Changes of network affiliation

Shows	Moved from	Moved to
Seinfeld	Sky One	BBC2
Sally	Lifestyle	Sky One
Beverly Hills, 90210	ITV
L.A. Law
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons		BBC2
James the Cat		Nickelodeon
// Wowser		Channel 4
/ Widget	The Children's Channel
Muppet Babies	BBC1 & BBC2	ITV
Wallace and Gromit	Channel 4	BBC1 & BBC2
Eureeka's Castle		Nickelodeon
Quick Draw McGraw	BBC1	Cartoon Network
The Flintstones

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• Celebrity Squares (1975–1979, 1993–1997, 2014–2015)

Continuing television shows

1920s

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

1930s

• BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)

1940s

• Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

• Panorama (1953–present)
• Take Your Pick (1955–1968, 1992–1998)
• 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)
• World in Action (1963–1998)
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006)
• Match of the Day (1964–present)
• Mr. and Mrs. (1964–1999)
• Jackanory (1965–1996, 2006)
• Sportsnight (1965–1997)
• Call My Bluff (1965–2005)
• The Money Programme (1966–2010)

1970s

• Emmerdale (1972–present)
• Newsround (1972–present)
• Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010)
• That's Life! (1973–1994)
• Wish You Were Here...? (1974–2003)
• Arena (1975–present)
• Jim'll Fix It (1975–1994)
• One Man and His Dog (1976–present)
• Grange Hill (1978–2008)
• The Paul Daniels Magic Show (1979–1994)
• Antiques Roadshow (1979–present)
• Question Time (1979–present)

1980s

• Children in Need (1980–present)
• Timewatch (1982–present)
• Brookside (1982–2003)
• Countdown (1982–present)
• Right to Reply (1982–2001)
• Spitting Image (1984–1996)
• The Bill (1984–2010)
• Channel 4 Racing (1984–2016)
• EastEnders (1985–present)
• The Cook Report (1985–1998)
• Crosswits (1985–1998)
• Telly Addicts (1985–1998)
• Comic Relief (1985–present)
• Beadle's About (1986–1996)
• The Chart Show (1986–1998, 2008–2009)
• Casualty (1986–present)
• Lovejoy (1986–1994)
• Allsorts (1987–1995)
• Going for Gold (1987–1996, 2008–2009)
• The Time, The Place (1987–1996)
• Chain Letters (1987–1997)
• ChuckleVision (1987–2009)
• You Bet! (1988–1997)
• Playdays (1988–1997)
• London's Burning (1988–2002)
• On the Record (1988–2002)
• Fifteen to One (1988–2003, 2013–present)
• This Morning (1988–present)
• Birds of a Feather (1989–1998, 2014–present)
• A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995)
• Desmond's (1989–1994)
• Bodger & Badger (1989–1999)

1990s

• Waiting for God (1990–1994)
• Mr. Bean (1990–1995)
• The Crystal Maze (1990–1995, 2016–present)
• Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995)
• Turnabout (1990–1996)
• The Upper Hand (1990–1996)
• Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998)
• Stars in Their Eyes (1990–2006)
• Big Break (1991–2002)
• 2point4 Children (1991–1999)
• The House of Eliott (1991–1994)
• The Brittas Empire (1991–1997)
• Bottom (1991–1995)
• Soldier Soldier (1991–1997)
• Noel's House Party (1991–1999)
• GamesMaster (1992–1998)
• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Men Behaving Badly (1992–1998)
• The Big Breakfast (1992–2002)
• Absolutely Fabulous (1992–1996, 2001–2004, 2011–2012)
• 999 (1992–2003)

Ending this year

• Blockbusters (1983–1993, 1994–95, 1997, 2000–01, 2012, 2019–present)
• First Tuesday (1983–1993)
• Highway (1983–1993)
• Henry's Cat (1983–1993)
• Busman's Holiday (1985–1993)
• Every Second Counts (1986–1993)
• Going Live! (1987–1993)
• Runway (1987–1993)
• Watching (1987–1993)
• Count Duckula (1988–1993)
• You Rang, M'Lord? (1988–1993)
• I, Lovett (1989–1993)
• Absolutely (1989–1993)
• KYTV (1989–1993)
• Press Gang (1989–1993)
• Rolf's Cartoon Club (1989–1993)
• The $64,000 Question (1990–1993)
• Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993)
• Uncle Jack (1990–1993)
• Families (1990–1993)
• The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993)
• Spider (1991–1993)
• Spender (1991–1993)
• Eldorado (1992–1993)
• Funnybones (1992–1993)
• Grace & Favour (1992–1993)
• The Good Guys (1992–1993)

Births

• 27 January – Freddy Carter, actor
• 8 March – Stephanie Davis, actress
• 11 March – Jodie Comer, actress
• 25 June – Barney Clark, actor
• 23 November – Isabel Hodgins, actress

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Cinematic Credibility
18 February	Jacqueline Hill	63	actress (Doctor Who)
10 June	Les Dawson	62	comedian
11 June	Bernard Bresslaw	59	actor and comedian
31 August	Stuart Latham	81	television producer (Coronation Street)
20 September	Leonard Parkin	64	newsreader
12 October	Patrick Holt	81	actor
28 November	Kenneth Connor	75	actor ('Allo 'Allo!)

See also

• 1993 in British music
• 1993 in British radio
• 1993 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1993

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