Timeline of television news in the United Kingdom facts for kids

This is a timeline showing the most important moments in British television news, from its very beginning to today. You'll learn about how news was first shown, new channels that started, and big events that changed how we watch the news.

Early Days of TV News (1930s)

• 1936
  • 2 November – The BBC started the world's first regular high-quality TV service from Alexandra Palace. Back then, TV news showed short films from cinemas (called newsreels) and news read out loud from BBC Radio.

• 1937
  • 12 May – For the first time, a special TV van was used to show a live event outside the studio. It covered the parade after King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's coronation.

• 1939
  • 1 September – The BBC Television service stopped broadcasting because World War II was about to begin.

TV News Returns (1940s)

• 1940 to 1945
  • TV was off during World War II.

• 1946
  • 7 June – BBC Television started broadcasting again.
  • News from BBC Radio began to be shown on TV. You would see a still picture of Big Ben while listening to the radio news.

• 1947
  • 9 November – The first time a live TV broadcast was recorded and shown later. This was for the Remembrance service from the Cenotaph.
  • 20 November – The wedding of Princess Elizabeth (who became Queen Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten was shown on BBC TV. About 400,000 people watched it.

• 1948
  • 5 January – The first episode of Television Newsreel was shown. This was a 15-minute news programme broadcast on weeknights.

New Channels and Live Events (1950s)

• 1950
  • 23 April – The first Children's Newsreel was broadcast, made just for kids.

• 1953
  • 2 June – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey was shown live on BBC TV. An amazing 20 million people in the UK watched it!

• 1954
  • 5 July – Richard Baker became the first person to read a BBC News bulletin on TV. This new bulletin replaced Television Newsreel.

• 1955
  • January – A new company called ITN was created to provide news for the new Independent Television channel.
  • 22 September – The very first ITN news bulletin was shown on ITV's launch night.
  • September – Kenneth Kendall became the first BBC newsreader to be seen on screen while reading the news.

• 1957
  • 18 February – The first episode of Tonight was broadcast.
  • September – The BBC started showing local news bulletins in different parts of the UK, like Wales and Northern Ireland.

Expanding News Coverage (1960s)

• 1961
  • September – The last Children's Newsreel was broadcast.

• 1962
  • 17 September – BBC Wales launched Wales Today, its own news programme.

• 1963
  • 22 November – Regular TV shows were stopped to report on the sad news of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

• 1964
  • 20 April – BBC2 started broadcasting, and with it came a new news programme called Newsroom.
  • 26 April – Another new BBC2 show, News Review, gave a summary of the week's news with subtitles for people who were deaf or hard-of-hearing.

• 1967
  • 3 July – News at Ten was launched. It was a 30-minute news programme shown every night. It was so popular that it quickly became a permanent show.

• 1968
  • 7 March – Newsroom on BBC2 became the first UK news programme to be shown in colour!
  • 1 April – BBC Scotland launched its own news programme, Reporting Scotland.

New News Shows and Teletext (1970s)

• 1970
  • 14 September – Robert Dougall presented the first BBC Nine O'Clock News. This show was created because News at Ten on ITV was so successful.

• 1972
  • 4 April – The first episode of Newsround was broadcast, presented by John Craven. This was a news programme made especially for children.
  • 16 October – ITV launched its first lunchtime news programme, First Report.
  • 23 September – The BBC launched its Teletext service called Ceefax. This allowed people to read news and information on their TV screens.

• 1975
  • 1 September – Tonight returned to BBC1 as a late-evening news and analysis programme.

• 1978
  • ITV launched its own teletext service called ORACLE. News was a big part of this new service too.

• 1979
  • 25 September – The first episode of Question Time was broadcast on BBC1. This show allowed people to ask questions to politicians and other important figures.

Breakfast TV and New Channels (1980s)

• 1980
  • 28 January – Newsnight was launched on BBC2. This programme provided in-depth news and analysis late in the evening.

• 1981
  • 29 July – The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was watched by 750 million people around the world!

• 1982
  • BBC News and ITN provided lots of coverage of the Falklands War, with extra news bulletins.
  • 2 November – On the day Channel 4 launched, Channel 4 News was broadcast for the first time. This was a 60-minute news programme shown every weeknight.

• 1983
  • 17 January – Breakfast Time, the UK's first national breakfast TV service, was launched. It had news updates every 30 minutes.
  • 1 February – ITV launched its own breakfast service called TV-am, which also focused heavily on news.

• 1984
  • 3 September – BBC1's evening news hour was relaunched. A new 30-minute programme, the Six O'Clock News, was launched, followed by a longer local news show.

• 1986
  • 27 October – BBC1 started broadcasting TV all day. A new lunchtime news bulletin, the One O'Clock News, was launched and is still on air today.
  • 8 December – BBC TV started showing hourly news summaries. This was the first time hourly news was broadcast on British television.

• 1987
  • 7 September – ITV launched a full morning TV schedule, including regular five-minute national news bulletins.

• 1989
  • 5 February – Sky Television launched, and with it came Sky News, the UK's first 24-hour rolling news channel.
  • 3 April – Channel 4 launched its breakfast service The Channel 4 Daily, which was like a TV newspaper, focusing a lot on news.
  • 2 October – The first episode of BBC Breakfast News was broadcast.
  • 21 November – TV cameras were allowed into the House of Commons for the first time. The BBC showed live coverage of Prime Ministers Questions.

Digital Age and New Channels (1990s)

• 1991
  • 16 January – 2 March – The BBC and ITN provided lots of coverage of the Gulf War, with extended news bulletins and special daytime programmes.

• 1992
  • February – TV-am started getting its news bulletins from Sky News. This was the first time Sky News was seen on regular TV.
  • 28 September – News bulletins became part of the new Channel 4 breakfast programme The Big Breakfast, with updates every 20 minutes.

• 1993
  • 1 January – Teletext launched as ITV's new teletext service.
  • 1 January – GMTV launched, and like TV-am, news was a big part of its shows, including local news.
  • 4 January – The BBC launched Business Breakfast as a stand-alone programme.

• 1994
  • 19 September – BBC2 launched Working Lunch, a weekday programme about business and money.

• 1997
  • 30 March – Channel 5 launched. Its news service, 5 News, was more informal, with presenters sitting on desks instead of behind them.
  • 31 August – TV schedules were taken over by news about Princess Diana's car accident. Both the BBC and ITV showed continuous coverage.
  • 6 September – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales was broadcast on the BBC, ITV, and Channel 5. Nearly 3 billion people watched worldwide.
  • 9 November – BBC News 24, the BBC's 24-hour news channel for the UK, launched. It was first available on cable TV and was also shown on BBC1 overnight.

• 1998
  • 23 September – The BBC launched BBC Parliament on digital satellite. This channel shows live and recorded coverage from the UK Parliament.
  • 15 November – Digital terrestrial TV launched in the UK. This meant BBC News 24 was now available to all digital viewers.

• 1999
  • 5 March – ITV News at Ten was broadcast for the final time.
  • 8 March – Big changes happened to ITV's news programmes. They were now called ITV News instead of ITN News. The main evening news moved to 6:30 pm.
  • 8 March – Following the end of News at Ten on ITV, Sky News launched Sky News at Ten.
  • 10 May – BBC network news got a new look with new music and titles.
  • 31 December – Over 60 countries took part in 2000 Today, a huge TV show celebrating the start of the new millennium.

Modern News and Digital Changes (2000s)

• 2000
  • 1 August – The ITN News Channel launched.
  • 2 October – The first episode of BBC Breakfast was broadcast. This new morning show was shown on both BBC One and BBC News 24.
  • 2 October – BBC News started broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen.
  • 16 October – The BBC Ten O'Clock News launched on BBC One, moving from 9 pm.

• 2001
  • 11 September – Viewers around the world saw the terrorist attack on the United States and the collapse of the Twin Towers live on TV. All major UK channels stopped regular programmes to show continuous coverage.

• 2002
  • 7 January – Sky News content was seen on regular TV again when Channel 5 started showing parts of its breakfast news programme Sunrise.
  • 11 February – Newsround was expanded and shown several times a day on the new CBBC channel.
  • 30 September – The ITN News Channel was renamed ITV News Channel.
  • 30 October – Freeview launched, and Sky News and Sky Sports News became available on this new platform.

• 2003
  • 8 January – The BBC relaunched its political coverage with new programmes like Daily Politics and Politics Show.
  • 20 March – When the Iraq War began, many broadcasters stopped regular programmes for continuous news. ITV's News at Ten moved to 9 pm. Channel 4 launched a 30-minute lunchtime news bulletin that became very popular.

• 2005
  • 11 September – BBC One launched Sunday AM, a Sunday morning current affairs programme.
  • 23 December – The ITV News Channel stopped broadcasting. It had lower ratings than BBC News 24 and Sky News.

• 2006
  • 13 November – BBC Parliament started broadcasting in full screen on Freeview for the first time, after many viewers asked for it.

• 2008
  • 14 January – ITV News at Ten returned to the schedules four nights a week.
  • 21 April – BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News, and BBC World was renamed BBC World News.

Changes and New Channels (2010s)

• 2010
  • 6 May – Sky News HD launched, offering high-definition news.
  • 2 August – Channel Five brought back Five News at 7.

• 22 October 2012
  • The BBC's teletext service Ceefax was switched off after all regions moved to digital broadcasting.

• 2013
  • 10 December – The BBC News Channel started broadcasting in high definition.

• 2015
  • 7 April – BBC News launched a new two-hour weekday programme called The Victoria Derbyshire Show, shown on both BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

• 2018
  • 24 July – The final episode of Daily Politics was broadcast, ending its fifteen-year run.
  • 3 September – The first episode of Politics Live was broadcast, replacing Daily Politics.

• 2019
  • 4 March – The Monday to Thursday editions of BBC News at Ten were shortened to make way for new BBC Three programmes.
  • 13 October – Sky News Sunrise was broadcast for the final time. It was replaced by two new shows: The Early Rundown and Sky News @ Breakfast.

News in the 2020s

• 2020
  • 17 March – The final episode of The Victoria Derbyshire Show was broadcast, as the BBC focused on COVID-19 coverage.
  • July – The teatime edition of Newsround was stopped. BBC bosses decided that children no longer watched traditional TV channels after school, so they would focus on the morning edition for schools.

• 2021
  • 9 April – All major TV channels stopped regular programmes following the death of Prince Philip. They showed continuous news coverage and tribute programmes.
  • 13 June – GB News channel started broadcasting.
  • 31 August – BBC Parliament's programming was restricted to only live and recorded coverage from Parliament, ending other shows and archive broadcasts.
  • 8 November – Channel 5 relaunched 5 News as a single one-hour show, broadcasting from 5 pm to 6 pm.

• 2022
  • 25 April – News UK launched talkTV.
  • 4 September – The first episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg was broadcast. It replaced The Andrew Marr Show as the BBC's main Sunday political talk show.

• 2023
  • 3 April – The BBC News Channel closed as a separate UK channel. It merged with BBC World News to form a single worldwide news channel called BBC News. It still shows BBC One news bulletins and BBC Breakfast.
  • 17 April – Nicky Campbell's BBC Radio 5 Live morning show started to be shown on TV, on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

See also

• Timeline of BBC Television News
• Timeline of ITN
• Timeline of Sky News