1946 in British television

List of years in British television (table)
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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

December

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

Debuts

Television shows returning after the war

1920s

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

1930s

Ending this year

Births

Deaths

See also

References

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