1977 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1977.

Events

January

1 January – BBC1 airs its network television premiere of the 1971 musical fantasy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum.
3 January – The US crime drama series, Charlie's Angels makes its UK debut on ITV, starring Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith as the crime-fighting trio, the "Angels".
10 January – ITV broadcasts the first episode of the children's folk horror drama Children of the Stones.
11 January – ITV debuts Robin's Nest, the spin-off sitcom to Man About the House, and once again starring Richard O'Sullivan.

February

3 February – The Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting makes its recommendations. They include the establishment of a fourth independent television channel, the establishment of Broadcasting Complaints Commission and an increase in independent production.
14 February – BBC1 debuts the children's animated series The Flumps, which, although only 13 episodes are ever produced, will be broadcast on the BBC until 1988.
15 February – The first Aardman Animations character, Morph, is introduced with the launch of BBC children's series Take Hart with Tony Hart.
24 February – ITV begins showing the US medical mystery drama series Quincy, M.E., starring Jack Klugman.
26 February – The network television premiere of the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball airs on ITV, starring Sean Connery in his fourth 007 adventure.
February – Michael Grade is appointed as Director of Programmes at London Weekend Television.

March

11 March – Mister Trimble is broadcast for the final time.
21 March – The network premiere of Nicholas Roeg's 1971 Australian-set survival film Walkabout, starring Jenny Agutter.
24 March – ITV shows the network television premiere of the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall.
27 March – Jesus of Nazareth, a British-Italian television miniseries directed by Franco Zeffirelli and co-produced by Lew Grade which dramatises the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels makes its debut on British television, starring Robert Powell, Olivia Hussey, Stacy Keach, Laurence Olivier, Ian Holm, Peter Ustinov and James Farentino.
28 March – Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television launch a nine-week breakfast television experiment. It is credited as being the United Kingdom's first breakfast television programme, six years before the launch of TV-am and the BBC's Breakfast Time in 1983. Both programmes run at the same time, with Tyne Tees' Good Morning North and Yorkshire's Good Morning Calendar. Both programmes finish on Friday 27 May.

April

7 April – BBC1 begins showing a new series of the American cartoon The Scooby-Doo Show, following several years of repeating older episodes.
11 April – Stepping Stones, a television programme for preschoolers and the replacement programme for Mister Trimble, makes its debut on ITV.
12 April John Sullivan's popular sitcom Citizen Smith debuts on BBC1. Starring Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith.
22 April – The original series of motoring programme Top Gear begins as a local magazine format produced by BBC Midlands from its Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne. In 1978, it is offered to BBC2 where it airs until 2001. In 2002, the series is relaunched in a new format.

May

7 May – The 22nd Eurovision Song Contest is held in London. With Angela Rippon as the presenter, the contest is won by Marie Myriam representing France, with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant". The British entry, "Rock Bottom", written and sung by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran finishes in second place.

June

6–9 June – Television viewers in Britain and around the world watch live coverage of the celebrations of the Jubilee of Elizabeth II, while the soap opera Coronation Street features an elaborate Jubilee parade in the storyline, having Rovers' Return Inn manageress Annie Walker dress up in elaborate costume as Queen Elizabeth I. Ken Barlow and Uncle Albert play Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing respectively.
11 June – BBC1 begins showing the horror-themed anthology series Supernatural.
20 June – Anglia Television broadcasts the documentary Alternative 3. It enters into the conspiracy theory canon.
22 June – ITV shows the Michael Caine starring 1971 adventure film Kidnapped, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

July

2 July – BBC2 launches a new season of Saturday evening horror movie double bills with Dracula, Frankenstein – and Friends!, showing the 1931 Dracula film with Bela Lugosi and the 1931 Frankenstein with Boris Karloff.
7 July – The first episode of the BBC documentary series Brass Tacks is aired, featuring a debate as to whether Myra Hindley should be considered for parole from the life sentence she received for her role in the Moors murders in 1966.

September

7 September – The long-running game show The Krypton Factor makes its debut on ITV, presented by Gordon Burns.
10 September – The Saturday morning children's show Tiswas returns for a fourth series with new presenter Sally James appearing alongside Chris Tarrant, and for several episodes Jim Davidson. It is now broadcast to several ITV regions: Midlands, Anglia, HTV and Border.
12 September – Thames Television launches Thames at Six, a regional news programme that replaces the more light-hearted magazine programme Today.
18 September – The occasional ITV bloopers programme It'll Be Alright on the Night is first broadcast, presented by Denis Norden.
19 September – BBC Schools and Colleges changes to use the Dots ident with rotating text until 1978.
24 September – ITV begins showing the US science fiction fantasy series Man from Atlantis, starring Patrick Duffy.

October

1 October – Ian Trethowan succeeds Charles Curran as Director-General of the BBC.
17 October – BBC1 launches the long-running variety and chat show Des O'Connor Tonight.
19 October – The first edition of a new weekly magazine programme for Asian women, Gharbar, is broadcast. The programme had only been intended to run for 26 weeks but continues for around 500 weeks, finally ending in April 1987. The programme airs on Wednesdays at 10.20am, displacing that day's Service Information, which is moved to 11.30am, airing after Play School.
21 October – The World Administrative Radio Conference assigns five high-powered direct broadcast by satellite channels for domestic use in the UK.

November

1 November – BBC1 screens the acclaimed Mike Leigh comedy drama Abigail's Party as part of the Play for Today series.
13 November – BBC1 airs the final episode of the sitcom Dad's Army, first broadcast in 1968.
19 November – Southern Television broadcasts the US children's series Sesame Street for the first time.
20 November – The network television premiere of the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice on ITV, starring Sean Connery.
26 November – Southern Television broadcast interruption: Just after 5:10pm in the Southern Television ITV region, a hoaxer hijacks the sound of Independent Television News from the IBA transmitter at Hannington, Hampshire and broadcasts a message claiming to be a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command. Thousands of viewers ring Southern, the IBA, ITN or the police for an explanation; the identity of the intruder is never confirmed.

December

22 December – BBC2 shows an adaptation of Bram Stoker's vampire novel Count Dracula, starring Louis Jordan.
24 December
*ITV airs Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas. The Christmas television special marked Bing Crosby's final screen appearance in which he famously duets with David Bowie on Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy.
*BBC1 screens the network television premiere of Robert Altman's 1970 Korean War-set comedy M*A*S*H, starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould.
25 December – Both the Mike Yarwood Christmas Show and The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show on BBC1 attract an audience of more than 28 million, one of the highest ever in British television history.
27 December – The network television premiere of Douglas Trumbull's 1972 science fiction drama Silent Running on BBC1, starring Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin and Jesse Vint.
30 December
*ITV debuts the crime-action series The Professionals starring Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw as CI5 agents Bodie and Doyle.
*The controversial adult education themed sitcom Mind Your Language is first broadcast on ITV. Although highly popular, gaining 18 million viewers, it would eventually be cancelled after the 3rd series, due to its problematic racial stereotypes.
31 December
*BBC1 begins showing the animated series, The New Adventures of Batman.
*Bruce Forsyth steps down as presenter of The Generation Game after six years. He would return to the programme when it is revived by the BBC in 1990.

Undated

Scum, an entry in BBC1's Play for Today anthology strand, is pulled from transmission due to controversy over its depiction of life in a Young Offenders' Institution, at this time known in the United Kingdom as a borstal. Two years later the director Alan Clarke makes a film version with most of the same cast and the original play itself is eventually transmitted on BBC2 in 1991.
Emmerdale Farm moves from daytime to a peak time slot although five regions, Anglia Television, Thames Television, Westward Television, Grampian Television and Scottish Television air the programme at 5:15pm, with the days sometime changing.

Debuts

BBC1

2 January – Wings
5 January – Rosie
7 January – Mr. Big
9 January – Rascal the Raccoon
11 January – Look and Read: The King's Dragon
1 February – Fathers and Families
13 February – Rob Roy
14 February – The Flumps
15 February – Take Hart
16 March – Out of Bounds
27 March
*Nicholas Nickleby
*Jubilee
5 April – A Roof Over My Head
7 April – The Scooby-Doo Show
8 April – Roots
12 April – Citizen Smith
25 April – Fred Basset
2 May – The Mackinnons
3 May – A Picture of Tom Keating
10 June – No Appointment Necessary
11 June – Supernatural
15 June
* The House That Jack Built
*Middlemen
4 September – The Eagle of the Ninth
7 September – Secret Army
9 September – Target
10 September – The Peppermint Pig
17 October – Des O'Connor Tonight
1 November
*Abigail's Party
*The Other One
2 November – King Cinder
9 November — The Emigrants (miniseries)
13 November –
13 December – Come Back Mrs. Noah
31 December – ''The New Adventures of Batman''

BBC2

10 January – Eleanor Marx
26 January – The Velvet Glove
7 February – Headmaster
20 February – Drama
8 March – Three Piece Suite
10 April – Esther Waters
18 April – Don't Forget to Write!
22 April – Top Gear
8 May – Murder Most English
12 May – Sea Tales
13 June – Maidens' Trip
2 July – Dracula, Frankenstein – and Friends!
6 July – Brass Tacks
16 August – Marie Curie
18 September – 1990
19 September – The Long Search
21 September – BBC2 Play of the Week
22 September – Premiere
25 September – Anna Karenina
19 October – Parosi
21 October – Kilvert's Diary
7 November – Who Pays the Ferryman?
30 November – Eustace and Hilda
22 December – ''Count Dracula''

ITV

3 January – Charlie's Angels
5 January – Another Bouquet
10 January – Children of the Stones
11 January – Robin's Nest
16 January – Holding On
6 February – Just William
9 February – Horse in the House
12 February – All You Need Is Love
17 February – The Galton & Simpson Playhouse
24 February – Quincy, M.E.
25 February – Raffles
2 March – Romance
27 March – Jesus of Nazareth
28 March – Jamie and the Magic Torch
15 April – Backs to the Land
18 April
*Miss Jones and Son
*The Flockton Flyer
20 April – Dawson and Friends
21 April – Paradise Island
7 May – Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
8 May – King of the Castle
18 May – A Bunch of Fives
29 May – The Sunday Drama
31 May – Burgess, Philby and Maclean
6 June – Two Stars for Comfort
13 June – Cottage to Let
20 June – Alternative 3
26 June – Follow Me
6 July – I'm Bob, He's Dickie
8 July – The Foundation
15 July – Devenish
17 July – Hi Summer
28 July – A Sharp Intake of Breath
28 July – The Sound of Laughter
31 July – Here I Stand...
1 August – Lord Tramp
7 August – Took and Co.
24 August – The Paper Lads
1 September – The Mighty B!
6 September
*London Belongs to Me
*You're Only Young Twice
7 September – The Krypton Factor
8 September – The Fuzz
9 September – Love for Lydia
18 September – It'll Be Alright on the Night
19 September – Raven
24 September
*Man from Atlantis
*The Love Boat
25 September – The Cost of Loving
26 September – The Upchat Line
5 October – The Norman Conquests
12 October – Midnight Is a Place
18 October – The Sullivans
25 October – Hard Times
27 October – Odd Man Out
9 November – Dummy
30 December
*Mind Your Language
*''The Professionals''

Returning after a break of a year or longer

''The Rag Trade''

Continuing television shows

1920s

''BBC Wimbledon''

1930s

1940s

''Come Dancing''

1950s

1960s

1970s

Ending this year

23 February – The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club
25 March – Porridge
8 June – Survivors
24 August – The Adventures of Rupert Bear
13 November – Dad's Army
17 December – The New Avengers
24 December – The Duchess of Duke Street
31 December – ''Rascal the Raccoon''

Births

1 January – Anna Acton, actress
13 January – Orlando Bloom, actor
10 March – Rita Simons, actress, singer and model
23 April – Babita Sharma, newsreader
4 April – Stephen Mulhern, magician and presenter
13 May – Samantha Morton, actress
23 May – Richard Ayoade, comedian and actor
24 May – Jo Joyner, actress
30 May – Rachael Stirling, actress
31 May – Debbie King, presenter
5 June – Emma Crosby, newsreader, presenter and journalist
6 June – Adrian Dickson, South African-born presenter
9 June – Maryam Moshiri, Iranian-born news presenter
22 August – Sarah Champion, presenter and disc jockey
1 September – Lucy Pargeter, actress
12 September – James McCartney, singer and songwriter
15 September – Tom Hardy, actor
25 September – Georgie Thompson, sports journalist
3 October – Shazia Mirza, comedian
3 December – Jennifer James, actress
23 December – Matt Baker, presenter

Deaths

25 February – Patricia Haines, 45, actress
29 August – Edward Sinclair, 63, actor