1965 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1965.

Events

January

January – The BBC collaborates with Ireland's RTÉ on a television broadcast as Irish Taoiseach Seán Lemass and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill meet for the first time in Belfast.
2 January – World of Sport premieres on ITV with Eamonn Andrews as its first presenter.
9 January – The comedy sketch show Not Only... But Also, featuring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, debuts on BBC2. It also features the first of three guest appearances by John Lennon.
12 January – Doctor Who begins airing in Australia on ABC by first being shown in Perth. It later airs for the first time in several states; including Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne during January and the next two months.

March

20 March – "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall, wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg. The British entry, Kathy Kirby singing "I Belong", comes second.
26 March – Border Television begins broadcasting to the Isle of Man.

April

7 April – BBC1 airs Three Clear Sundays, a Wednesday Play about the events leading to a man's conviction for capital murder. It is repeated on BBC2 on 16 July.

May

30 May – A televised tribute to the late British bandleader and impresario Jack Hylton called The Stars Shine for Jack is held in London at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

June

18 June – The last edition of Tonight is broadcast on BBC1.
24 June – BBC1 begins showing the popular American spy series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., starring Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin.
27 June – The last episode of science-fiction marionette series Stingray is broadcast on ITV.

July

5 July – Anglia Television starts broadcasting on VHF channel 6 from Sandy Heath transmitting station, extending coverage into Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Until late 1966, there are no morning broadcasts from this transmitter due to a clash with the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory.
7 July – The long-running science and technology programme Tomorrow's World makes its debut on BBC1.
22 July – The pilot episode for the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part is broadcast on BBC1.

August

1 August
* Cigarette adverts are banned from British television. Pipe tobacco and cigar adverts will continue until 1991.
* Television and radio licence fees are increased.
6 August – The War Game, a drama-documentary by director Peter Watkins depicting the events of a future nuclear attack on the United Kingdom, is controversially pulled from its planned transmission in BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology strand. The BBC has been pressured into this move by the British government, which does not want much of the play's content to become public. It is released to cinemas, and wins the 1966 Academy Award for Documentary Feature; the BBC finally screens the play in 1985.

September

12 September – BBC2 Wales goes on the air. To introduce the service, BBC2 airs a programme titled BBC-2 Comes to Wales, featuring the Secretary of State for Wales James Griffiths, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, the Deputy Mayor of Newport, Chairman of the Broadcasting Council for Wales Professor Glanmor Williams, BBC2 Controller David Attenborough, and BBC2 Wales Controller Alun Oldfield-Davies.
28 September – "The Town of No Return", the first episode of the fourth series of The Avengers, introduces the character of Emma Peel played by Diana Rigg.
30 September – Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's hugely popular science-fiction marionette series Thunderbirds premieres on ITV.

October

2 October – American science-fiction series Lost in Space debuts on ITV. It is adapted for the feature film version in 1998 and then again for the revived television series in 2018, after the original series ends in 1968.
4 October
* BBC2 begins broadcasting across the Midlands.
*24 Hours premieres on BBC1.
*Football-based drama serial United! premieres on BBC1.
*Science-fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown premieres on BBC2.
*The BBC announces plans to introduce a new service for Asian immigrants starting the following week.
10 October – The BBC Asian service, broadcast on Sunday mornings, launches with a programme called In Logon Se Miliye and at the start of 1966 it is renamed Apma Hi Ghar Samajhiye. Later in the decade it is called Nai Zindagi-Naya Jeevan and in June 1982 it is renamed and relaunched as Asian Magazine.
18 October – The British version of children's stop-motion animation The Magic Roundabout, with narration written and read by Eric Thompson, debuts on BBC1; it continues until 1977.
31 October – BBC2 in the North of England goes on the air.

November

4 November – The current affairs and documentary series Man Alive makes its debut on BBC2.
8 November – American sitcom My Mother the Car debuts on ITV; it becomes known for negative reception.
13 November – During a discussion on BBC1 satire-and-chat show BBC-3 about theatre censorship, critic Kenneth Tynan supposedly becomes the first person to say "fuck" on British television. He claims that the word no longer shocks anyone but the storm which results forces the BBC to make a public apology.
29 November – Mary Whitehouse and colleagues found the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, succeeding the Clean-Up TV Campaign.
November – BBC2 begins broadcasting across Southampton, Portsmouth, Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight.

December

13 December – The long-running children's storytelling series Jackanory makes its debut on BBC1. It runs until 1996 and is briefly revived in 2006.
20 December – Anglia starts broadcasting on VHF channel 20 from Belmont transmitting station, extending coverage into Lincolnshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and northern parts of Norfolk.
25 December – Christmas Day:
*The first Christmas edition of Top of the Pops is broadcast on BBC1. It becomes a major staple of BBC1's seasonal shows right up until 2021, when it is moved to BBC2.
*ITV shows the American animated Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, narrated by Burl Ives.
*The episode of Doctor Who broadcast on BBC1, "The Feast of Steven", is a largely self-contained comedic one which concludes with the Doctor breaking the fourth wall to wish viewers a happy Christmas.

Undated

The Membury transmitting station in Berkshire is erected by the Independent Television Authority.

Debuts

BBC1

6 January – Jonny Quest
9 January – Not Only... But Also
28 February – Alexander Graham Bell
2 March – The Walrus and the Carpenter
22 March – A Man Called Harry Brent
24 March – The Airbase
27 March – The Flying Swan
31 March – Going for a Song
8 April – The Wars of the Roses
11 April – A Tale of Two Cities
13 April – The Bed-Sit Girl
18 April – And So to Ted
23 April – Lil
30 May – The World of Wooster
5 June – The Val Doonican Show
20 June – Poison Island
24 June – The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
6 July – The Lance Percival Show
7 July – The Troubleshooters
7 July – Tomorrow's World
15 July – The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
22 July – Till Death Us Do Part
29 July – Pogles Wood
1 August – Heiress of Garth
3 August – 199 Park Lane
4 August – The Wednesday Thriller
26 August – Moulded in Earth
12 September – Hereward the Wake
2 October – BBC-3
4 October – United!
4 October – 24 Hours
5 October – The Newcomers
6 October – Hector Heathcote
8 October – The Mask of Janus
9 October – The Munsters
12 October – The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
16 October – Get Smart
18 October – The Magic Roundabout
19 October – Play of the Month
23 November – Hudd
13 December – Jackanory
17 December – ''Barney Is My Darling''

BBC2

9 January – Not Only... But Also
18 January – Hit and Run
27 January – Night Train to Surbiton
11 February – Naked Island
21 February – The Mill on the Floss
22 March – A Man Called Harry Brent
5 May – Call It What You Like
9 May – The Scarlet and the Black
13 May – Londoners
13 June – The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau
11 July – Jury Room
19 July – Legend of Death
31 July – Gaslight Theatre
8 September – A Slight Case of...
2 October – For Whom the Bell Tolls
4 October – Out of the Unknown
7 October – Thirty-Minute Theatre
17 October – Call My Bluff
17 October – An Enemy of the State
4 November – Man Alive
5 December – ''The Big Spender''

ITV

2 January – World of Sport
19 January – Front Page Story
23 January – Public Eye
23 February – Mr and Mrs
27 February – The Worker
13 April – Orlando
30 April – Six Shades of Black
8 May – Undermind
2 June – Pardon the Expression
11 June – The Man in Room 17
16 June – Deckie Learner
2 August – Riviera Police
11 August – Six of the Best
21 August – Broad and Narrow
21 August – The Frankie Vaughan Show
10 September – Blackmail
30 September – Thunderbirds
1 October – The Addams Family
2 October
*Lost in Space
*Knock on Any Door
19 October –Object Z
8 November – My Mother the Car
13 December – The Power Game
16 December – Court Martial
25 December – The Bruce Forsyth Show
Unknown
*Flipper
*''Peyton Place ''

Continuing television shows

1920s

''BBC Wimbledon''

1930s

1940s

The Ed Sullivan Show
''Come Dancing''

1950s

1960s

Ending this year

Rag, Tag and Bobtail Picture Book Monitor Noggin the Nog Sykes and a... Compact Steptoe and Son The Beat Room Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life

''The Sullavan Brothers''

Births

4 January – Julia Ormond, British actress
9 January – Joely Richardson, British actress
14 January – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, English chef
15 January – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
27 January – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
22 February – John Leslie, television presenter
26 February – Alison Armitage, English model and actress
11 March – Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter
22 March – Emma Wray, actress
30 March – Piers Morgan, British tabloid journalist
4 April – Sean Wilson, British actor
21 April – Jacquie Beltrao, sports presenter
26 April – Juliet Morris, presenter
27 April – Anna Chancellor, British actress
29 April – Rosie Rowell, actress
3 May – Michael Marshall Smith, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer
17 May
*Alice Beer, television presenter
*Jeremy Vine, British BBC radio and television presenter
19 June – Simon O'Brien, television actor and radio presenter
4 July – Jo Whiley, broadcast music presenter
8 July – Matthew Wright, journalist and television presenter
6 August – Mark Speight, British television presenter
16 September – Lorne Spicer, presenter
24 September – Sheryl Gascoigne, television personality
14 October – Steve Coogan, British comedian and actor
15 October – Stephen Tompkinson, British actor
31 October – Rob Rackstraw, British voice actor
4 November – Shaun Williamson, British actor
10 November – Sean Hughes, English-born Irish comedian
12 November – Eddie Mair, British BBC radio and television presenter
16 November – Mark Benton, actor
21 November – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born actor

Deaths

23 February – Stan Laurel, English-born comedian, surviving half of Laurel and Hardy, aged 74
22 December – Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster, aged 52, testicular cancer