1966 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1966.

Events

January

1 January – The first edition of Rugby Special is broadcast on BBC2, showing weekly highlights of rugby union matches.
3 January – Stop-motion children's television series Camberwick Green, first of the 'Trumptonshire' trilogy, is first shown on BBC1 as part of Watch with Mother; it is the channel's first programme to be filmed in colour and the first BBC programme to feature a copyright year in the end credits.
4 January – More than 4,000 people attend a memorial service at Westminster Abbey for the broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who died the previous month aged 52.
15 January – BBC2 goes on the air in the South and West of England.
29 January – ITV begins showing the anthology horror series Mystery and Imagination, which features numerous adaptations of classic horror stories.

March

3 March – The BBC announces plans to begin broadcasting television programmes in colour from next year.
10 March – The Frost Report, which launches the television careers of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and other writers and performers, is first broadcast on BBC1.
22 March – ITV launches How, the educational children's programme hosted by Jack Hargreaves and Fred Dinenage.

April

5 April – The Money Programme debuts on BBC2. It continues to air until 2010.
7 April–24 September – Weavers Green, made by Anglia Television, airs on ITV in 49 half-hour episodes twice-weekly. Based around a country veterinary practice, it is the first rural soap opera on British television and one of the first television programmes to be shot on location using videotape and outside broadcast equipment, rather than film, as has usually been the case for non-studio shooting until this point.
21 April – The opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.

May

21 May – ITV Midlands (ABC) and ITV London and Southern begin broadcasting Batman, the American live-action series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Other ITV regions broadcast it soon afterwards, with STV first showing it on 2 July, and Border on 13 August. Episodes are shown in two parts over Saturday and Sunday evenings.
23 May – Julie Goodyear makes her Coronation Street debut as Bet Lynch. She will become a regular character between 1970 and 1995, as well as brief returns in 2002 and 2003.

June

6 June – BBC1 sitcom Till Death Us Do Part begins its first series run.
11 June – BBC2 Northern Ireland goes on the air.
16 June – The Beatles perform live on BBC television's Top of the Pops. Although the group had previously pre-recorded appearances on the show, this would be their first and only live broadcast, miming to both "Paperback Writer" and its b-side, "Rain". The appearance is subsequently lost due to the BBC's habit of wiping expensive video tape for reuse, but in 2019 a collector unearths 11 seconds of the performance and a longer 92 seconds is found later in the year.

July

4 July – BBC2 presents Samuel Beckett's television play Eh Joe.
9 July – BBC2 Scotland goes on the air, the last regional area to receive BBC2. It ceases broadcasting on 17 February 2019 to make way for the new BBC Scotland channel launching on 24 February 2019.
30 July – England beat West Germany 4–2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley, attracting an all-time record UK television audience of more than 32,000,000.

August

20 August – BBC2 begins showing a Midnight Movie on Saturday nights. The film airs through the midnight hour, offering an alternative to BBC1 and ITV as both those channels generally closed at around midnight.

Summer

Summer – Patrick McGoohan quits the popular spy series Danger Man after filming only two episodes of the fourth season, in order to produce and star in The Prisoner which begins filming in September.

October

1 October – A Carry On comedy film is shown on UK television for the first time, with ITV Midlands broadcasting the first in series from 1958, Carry On Sergeant, starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse, Shirley Eaton, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams.
2 October
*The four-part serial Talking to a Stranger, acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s, begins transmission in the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2.
*Thunderbirds is back with a second season on ITV but without David Holliday as he is now replaced by Jeremy Wilkin and running only for six episodes.
8 October – First episode of the Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet aired, introducing the Cybermen.
29 October – Actor William Hartnell makes his last regular appearance as the First Doctor in the concluding moments of Episode 4 of the Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet. Patrick Troughton briefly appears as the Second Doctor at the conclusion of the serial.

November

5 November – Patrick Troughton makes his first full Doctor Who appearance in the serial The Power of the Daleks as the Second Doctor. No episodes of this serial survive.
16 November – BBC television drama Cathy Come Home, filmed in a docudrama style, is broadcast on BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology strand. Viewed by a quarter of the British population, it is considered influential on public attitudes to homelessness and the related social issues it deals with, becoming possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, with Carol White in the title role.
20 November – ITV begins showing the long running children's series Picture Box. Produced by Granada Television and developed as an educational programme for schools, it features a variety of subjects hosted by Alan Rothwell. It is also notable for its distinctive title sequence of a revolving glass box accompanied by merry-go-round music. Rothwell will host the series right up until 1989.

December

17 December – First episode of the Doctor Who serial The Highlanders aired, the last to feature an historical event, although the character of Jamie is retained as a companion. No episodes of this serial survive.
25 December – The final episode of Thunderbirds is broadcast on ITV.
28 December – Jonathan Miller's production of Alice in Wonderland is broadcast.
31 December – BBC1 begins showing the hugely popular U.S. pop music sitcom The Monkees.

Undated

The "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet" campaign launches on television, running until the prohibition of tobacco product advertising on British television in 1991.

Debuts

BBC1

1 January – The Spies
3 January – The Trumptonshire Trilogy: Camberwick Green
5 January – Softly, Softly
16 January – David Copperfield
10 March – The Frost Report
7 May – Quick Before They Catch Us
17 May – All Gas and Gaiters
22 May – Death is a Easy Living
24 May – Beggar My Neighbour
14 June – Room at the Bottom
19 June – Thirteen Against Fate
23 June – Adam Adamant Lives!
6 July – King of the River
2 August – The Reluctant Romeo
7 August – It's a Knockout
18 August – Dusty
5 September – Jennings
16 September – Foreign Affairs
2 October – The Woman in White
3 October – Joe
15 October – The Late Show
17 October – Daktari
28 October – Harry Worth
4 November – Vendetta
13 November – The Three Musketeers
17 November – The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
28 December – Alice in Wonderland
31 December – ''The Monkees''

BBC2

7 January – This Man Craig
11 January – The Idiot
15 January – The Man in the Mirror
15 February – A Farewell to Arms
26 February – A Game of Murder
8 March – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
19 March – Mild and Bitter
5 April – The Money Programme
10 April – Take a Pair of Private Eyes
26 April – Lord Raingo
16 June – This Is Petula Clark
18 June
*Chronicle
*Cooperama
19 June – Watch the Birdies
23 July – Mr. John Jorrocks
20 September – North and South
2 October – Talking to a Stranger
20 October – Breaking Point
25 October – Broome Stages
9 November – On the Margin
16 November – Cathy Come Home
26 November – Bat Out of Hell
31 December – ''The Dark Number''

ITV

7 January – The Liars
11 January – The Master
29 January – Mystery and Imagination
2 February – The Rat Catchers
22 February – Object Z Returns
14 March – Mrs Thursday
22 March – How
7 April – Weavers Green
14 April – The Untouchables
9 May – Seven Deadly Sins
21 May – Batman
7 July – You Can't Win
3 August – The Informer
20 August – Picture Box
26 August – The Corridor People
23 September – Conflict
28 September – The Baron
29 September – The New Forest Rustlers
1 October
* All Square
* Intrigue
19 November – George and the Dragon
31 December – Life with Cooper
Unknown – ''I Dream of Jeannie''

Continuing television shows

1920s

''BBC Wimbledon''

1930s

1940s

The Ed Sullivan Show
''Come Dancing''

1950s

1960s

Ending this year

Captain Pugwash The Flintstones Thank Your Lucky Stars Marriage Lines Our Man at St. Mark's Ready Steady Go! The Likely Lads Redcap BBC-3 The Bed-Sit Girl Thunderbirds

''Stingray''

Births

13 January – Shelagh Fogarty, radio and television presenter
26 February – Fay Ripley, actress and recipe author
6 March – Alan Davies, comedian and actor
22 March – Samantha Robson, actress
1 April – Chris Evans, radio DJ and presenter
14 April – Lloyd Owen, actor
14 June – Jeremy Dyson, English screenwriter
19 June – Samuel West, actor
5 July – Susannah Doyle, actress, playwright and film director
12 July – Tamsin Greig, actress
16 July – Johnny Vaughan, broadcaster and journalist
23 July – Samantha Beckinsale, actress
30 August – Helen Fospero, newsreader and journalist
17 October – Mark Gatiss, English actor, writer and comedian
26 October – Steve Valentine, actor