1998 in British television

This is a list of British television related events from 1998.

Events

January

• 1 January – BBC One airs the British television premiere of Forrest Gump.^[1]
• 6 January – The BBC and ITV agree their scheduling arrangements for the 1998 World Cup, which will see both England and Scotland's opening matches airing on BBC One, while each nation's second group match will air on ITV.^[2]
• 7 January – The BBC confirms that Helen Rollason will return to TV screens to present weekend sports bulletins for BBC One and BBC Two following treatment for colon cancer.^[3]
• 8 January – The ITV docudrama Miracle at Sea: The Rescue of Tony Bullimore reconstructs the events of yachtsman Tony Bullimore's dramatic rescue after his boat capsized during the 1996 Vendée Globe yacht race.^[4]
• 9 January –
  • Chat show host Michael Parkinson returns to television after several years with a new series of Parkinson.^[5] Guests on the first edition are Sir Anthony Hopkins, Barry Manilow and Paul Merton.^[6]
  • Channel 5 signs a deal with Buena Vista Entertainment to air some of its titles. This will include the British television premiere of The Rock.
• 12 January – Location filming begins for a one-off episode of Australian soap Home and Away set in Ironbridge, Shropshire.^[7] This is the first occasion the serial has filmed an episode overseas.^[8] The storyline, aired later in the year, sees Irene Roberts (Lynne McGranger) arrive in the UK to help Selina Roberts (Tempany Deckert), who is recovering from a bout of malaria. Selina is also reunited with her on screen fiancé Steven Matheson (Adam Willits).^[9]
• 14 January – Channel 4 airs the 2000th episode of its soap Brookside.^[10]
• 17 January – Media sources report the arrival of a new EastEnders family, the Di Marcos, who will make their first appearance later in the month and set up an Italian restaurant in Albert Square.^[11] The majority of the family are written out of the soap two years later.^[12]
• 21 January – The former Conservative MP Rupert Allason loses a libel action against BBC Worldwide and Hat Trick Productions over comments made in a 1996 book based on the satirical television programme Have I Got News for You. A paragraph in Have I Got 1997 for You, had noted "...given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit".^[13]
• 26 January – Hayley Patterson, British soap's first transgender character, is first seen in Coronation Street. Hayley (played by Julie Hesmondhalgh) is a regular in the series for several years, and helps to change public attitudes towards transgender issues. The character is killed off in a dramatic and emotional right to die storyline in January 2014 after Hesmondhalgh decided to leave the show.^[14][15]

February

• February – CNBC Europe merges with European Business News, upon which the channel is known officially as "CNBC Europe – A Service of NBC and Dow Jones".
• 4 February – Debut of The Pepsi Chart Show on Channel 5. Initially presented by Rhona Mitra and Eddy Temple-Morris the programme is intended as a stablemate to the Pepsi Chart that airs across commercial radio. The show becomes one of the channel's most watched programmes, but has difficulty attracting some of the bigger acts of the day.
• 16 February – Teletubbies begins its first airing in Australia on ABC.
• 17 February – Central Television's discussion programme Central Weekend is criticised by the Independent Television Commission after an elderly couple complained about an item on the show's 9 January edition that included a discussion about the size of male genitalia.^[16]
• 20 February – Robot Wars in the UK having originally been filmed in the latter half of 1997 then appears on BBC Two.

March

• 1 March – Positions for BBC Governors are advertised for the first time in the Sunday newspapers.
• 2 March – Channel 5 begins a rerun of the 1980s Australian soap Sons and Daughters. This is the programme's first networked showing as its previous run on ITV had varied from region to region.
• 6 March – Central Weekend is briefly taken off air when a member of the audience becomes aggressive during a discussion about women's football.^[17]
• 9 March – The name Tyne Tees Television is returned to ITV viewers in the North East of England, having been rebranded as Channel 3 North East two years previously.
• 19 March – The BBC signs a deal with Discovery Communications that will allow the two to collaborate on the production of nature programming.
• 29 March –
  • BBC America launches in the United States.
  • An episode of Coronation Street in which the character Deirdre Rachid is jailed for mortgage and credit card fraud is watched by 16.5 million viewers, giving the soap its highest Sunday viewing figures since the weekend episode was added in 1996. The crimes having been committed by her lover, Jon Lindsay, Deirdre's wrongful conviction sparks a public outcry. Her case is championed by national newspapers, and even Prime Minister Tony Blair offers to refer the conviction to Home Secretary Jack Straw.^[18][19]
• 31 March – CMT UK ceases broadcasting.

April

• 1 April – UK debut of Episode 2965 of Neighbours, which sees Anne Haddy make her final appearance as matriarch Helen Daniels, the character having been killed off. The episode aired on Australian television on 17 October 1997.^[20]
• 3 April – The Children's Channel ceases broadcasting in the UK after fourteen years.
• 6 April –
  • Cable and Wireless viewers see the Nordic version of The Children's Channel and ceases broadcasting half a year later.
  • Teletubbies starts airing in the United States for the first time on PBS.
• 16 April – CITV is scheduled to air the tenth episode of ReBoot's third season. However, the episode is not aired and Timmy Towers is aired instead of ReBoot. ReBoot hasn't aired since.
• 17 April – Coronation Street character Deirdre Rachid is freed from prison after her lover Jon Lindsay is exposed as a bigamist. Four separate tabloid newspapers subsequently claim victory in securing her release, but the soap's producers say they always planned for the jail storyline to conclude after three weeks.

May

• 3 May – The Simpsons 200th episode airs on Sky1.
• 9 May – The 43rd Eurovision Song Contest is held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The contest is presented by Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson and won by Israel's Dana International singing "Diva".
• 15 May – ITV2, a new digital terrestrial channel from ITV scheduled for launch later in the year, will be aimed at a younger and lighter audience, with an emphasis on male viewers, the broadcaster announces.^[21]
• 18 May – The British Academy Television Awards are awarded in the separate ceremony to the British Academy Film Awards for the first time.
• 25 May – Labour MP George Galloway demands an investigation into an edition of Panorama aired on 21 May, which he describes as "racist". The edition had focussed on two British nurses accused of the murder of Yvonne Gilford, a colleague with whom they worked in Saudi Arabia, and included a reconstruction of the two women being interrogated by Saudi Police. Galloway describes the programme as "tabloid television at its worst".^[22]
• 28 May – Channel 4 is censured by the Broadcasting Standards Commission for an episode of the series TV Dinners in which a woman's afterbirth was served up to friends and relatives as pâté. Several viewers, including MP Kevin McNamara complained about the programme, shown in February, which the Commission deemed had broken a taboo and "would have been disagreeable to many".^[23]
• 31 May – Sky Scottish closes after 19 months on air.

June

• 3 June – The Big Breakfast co-presenter Denise van Outen apologises for taking an ashtray and tissue box holder from Buckingham Palace. She took the items while attending a royal reception two days earlier, but returns them with a note of apology following criticism in the press.^[24]
• 5 June – The BBC signs a deal with BSkyB to make BBC channels available through Sky Digital when it is launched later in the year.^[25]
• 7 June – To mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Russell Harty, BBC Two airs You Are, Are You Not, Russell Harty?, a documentary paying tribute to the chat show presenter.^[26]
• 9 June – Film critic and host of The Film Programme, Barry Norman announces he will leave the BBC after 25 years to join BSkyB. He will leave Film 98 at the end of its current run and join Sky in September.^[27]
• 9 June – The Bill episode called The People Person was given as a tribute to Kevin Lloyd, who died on the 2nd of May.
• 10 June – The BBC switches on its digital signal.
• 10 June – 12 July – The BBC and ITV show live coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
• 11 June – Blue Peter presenters Katy Hill and Richard Bacon bury a time capsule containing various items associated with the programme in the foundations of the Millennium Dome. It will be opened in 2050.^[28]
• 13 June – Jason Searle wins the ninth series of Stars in Their Eyes, performing as Neil Diamond.^[29]
• 25 June – The final episode of BBC One's The Human Body is the first British television programme to show the final moments of a cancer patient. Herbert Mower, who died the previous year, had given permission for his death to be recorded for the series.^[30]
• 26 June – Launch of the music channel Kiss TV.

July

• 3 July – So Graham Norton debuts on Channel 4.^[31]
• 10 July –
  • BBC Chairman Sir Christopher Bland officially opens the BBC News Centre.
  • BBC One airs the first of three bitesize episodes of EastEnders to coincide with the 1998 World Cup Final, which sees some characters travelling to Paris for the final. Subsequent episodes are aired on 11 July and 12 July.^[32][33][34]
• 28 July – British Digital Broadcasting rebrand as ONdigital.^[35]

August

• 10 August – The Independent Television Commission upholds a viewer's complaint after a member of the girl band B*Witched used the phrase "feck off" during a live interview on children's channel Nickelodeon on 13 May.^[36]
• 19 August – It is reported that talk show host Vanessa Feltz has been sacked by Anglia Television because of her "unreal" demands to have her wages doubled to £2.75 million.^[37]
• 24 August – Channel 5 is reprimanded by the Independent Television Commission for showing a commercial during its soap, Family Affairs after both featured the same actor. The advert for McDonald's, aired on 18 May, featured actor Stephen Hoyle, who plays Liam Tripp in the series. The ITC has strict rules governing the separation of television programmes and commercials, and after two viewers complained about the incident, rules that Channel 5 had breached its regulations.^[38]
• 27 August – Vanessa Feltz signs an exclusive two-year contract with the BBC.^[39]
• 28 August – The satellite TV channel Bravo launches The Doll's House, an online series enabling internet users to observe the lives of four women living in a house in London. The women were selected from 250 applicants to live rent free in the house for six months, with weekly highlights of their activities being aired on the channel's men's magazine, The Basement. The project, inspired by JenniCam, a US site established by Jennifer Ringley, follows an experiment by Bravo earlier in the year, where cameras chronicled the life of actress Sara West over three months.^[40][41] The Doll's House later attracts some media attention after one of the housemates slept with a male partner, unaware they were both on camera at the time.^[42]
• August – The BBC's domestic TV channels become available on Sky Digital's satellite service. An unintended consequence of this is that people in the rest of Europe can now watch BBC One and Two, using viewing cards from the UK, as the signal is encrypted for rights reasons. This applies even within the UK: people in England can now watch BBC channels from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and vice versa.

September

• 1 September – Channel 4 pulls a documentary from the following day's schedule after learning that it was faked. Daddy's Girl told the story of aspiring model Victoria and her father, Marcus, who spoke candidly of his feelings about his daughter's career. But father and daughter were revealed to be boyfriend and girlfriend when Victoria's real father contacted Channel 4 after seeing a trailer for the documentary.^[43]
• 4 September – ITV broadcasts the first edition of its new game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.^[44]
• 5 September –
  • ITV's football magazine programme On the Ball debuts with Gabby Yorath as presenter.^[45]
  • Debut of The Moment of Truth, a game show presented by Cilla Black in which families or groups of friends can win prizes if one of their number is able to complete a difficult task, such as getting 24 tiddlywinks into a pot in under two minutes or memorising then playing the US national anthem on a xylophone.^[46][47][48] The programme achieves audiences of nine million, but is criticised as cruel because children are shown the prizes even though they could lose, and are visibly distressed when their family loses. Black herself later admits she was not "emotionally prepared" for the reaction of losing contestants, and the rules are changed to allow larger consolation prizes for the second series.^[49]
• 9 September – Manchester United informs the London Stock Exchange that it has accepted a £623.4m takeover bid by Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting.^[50]
• 10 September – Sky Movies Screen 1, Sky Movies Screen 2 and Sky Movies Gold are Change to Sky Premier, Sky Moviemax and Sky Cinema.
• 14 September – Data released by the National Grid indicates that a special edition of EastEnders aired the previous evening beat ITV's Sunday edition of Coronation Street. Power surges recorded as the programmes ended suggest three times as many viewers tuned into EastEnders than did Coronation Street.^[51]
• 17 September – ITV's This Morning conducts the first live test of the anti-impotence drug Viagra.^[52]
• 18 September – In an attempt to attract more viewers to its soap Family Affairs, Channel 5 announces that its entire central cast, the Hart family will be killed off in a dramatic storyline.^[53]
• 21 September – Footage of US President Bill Clinton's recent testimony to a Grand Jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky is released to US television networks, and aired by broadcasters around the world, including in the UK.^[54][55]
• 23 September –
  • BBC Choice, the UK's first digital-only TV station, launches.^[56] BBC Parliament also launches on the same day, having replaced The Parliamentary Channel.^[57]
  • The BBC warns Blue Peter viewers to ignore a hoax chain letter claiming to be supported by the programme.^[58]
  • ITV's autumn schedule will include what is reported to be the most expensive costume drama the broadcaster has ever made—the seafaring adventure Hornblower, which will cost £3 million an episode to produce.^[59]
• 28 September – Three police officers are awarded substantial libel damages against Granada Television at the High Court after the broadcast of an April 1992 edition of World in Action which accused them of fabricating evidence against a prisoner charged with the murder of his cell mate.^[60]
• 29 September – Former Spandau Ballet guitarist turned actor Martin Kemp is to join the cast of EastEnders as a nightclub owner, it is confirmed.^[61]

October

• 1 October –
  • Digital satellite television launches in the UK, operated by Sky Digital. This sees the start of UK channels transmitting in 16:9 widescreen.
  • Sky Sports News is launched.^[62]
• 5 October –
  • ITV adopts a new set of idents with lower case lettering, and themed around a heart design.^[63]
  • Sarah, Duchess of York makes her debut as a television talk show host on Sky One with the first in a ten-part series titled Sarah... Surviving Life. Each week she will interview guests who have been through traumatic experiences, discussing with them how they overcame their difficulties. Guests in the first episode include a woman who was raped by serial killer Fred West, a man who killed someone, and a car crash survivor.^[64] The programme is panned by critics, and axed in February 1999 because of poor viewing figures.^[65]
• 6 October – The BBC announce plans to revamp its news bulletins following an 18-month review of news programming, the largest ever undertaken in the UK. Changes will include a new look Six O'Clock News concentrating on national and regional stories, and an increase in world news stories for the Nine O'Clock News.^[66]
• 7 October – On the day's edition of The Big Breakfast, Denise van Outen announces her intention to leave the programme at the end of the year.^[67][68]
• 10 October – BBC Two airs Blue Peter Night, a selection of programmes celebrating 40 years of the children's television series Blue Peter.^[69]
• 13 October – Debut of Delia's How to Cook, a basic cookery programme presented by Delia Smith. The series is criticised by chef and restaurateur Gary Rhodes for its back-to-basics approach, while the Devon Fire Brigade criticise a piece of advice she gives in an edition to people who wish to season a new frying pan–to heat oil in it and leave it to simmer on low heat for eight hours.^[70]
• 15 October – The BBC loses the broadcasting rights to test match cricket after the England and Wales Cricket Board accepts a rival £103 million four-year bid from Channel 4 and BSkyB. The decision brings to an end sixty years of continuous cricket coverage by the BBC.^[71]
• 16 October –
  • A man who got drunk and ran amok on the set of Central Television's Central Weekend during a debate on women's football in March, forcing the show to be taken off the air, is jailed for 12 months over the incident.^[72][73]
  • Blue Peter celebrates its 40th anniversary with a special show including former presenters.^[74]
• 19 October – Richard Bacon becomes the first ever Blue Peter presenter to have his contract terminated in mid-run after the tabloid newspaper News of the World publishes a report of him taking cocaine.^[75] After his dismissal the Head of BBC children's programmes, Lorraine Heggessey, goes on air to explain the situation to CBBC viewers.^[75]
• 27 October – As part of its Q.E.D. strand, BBC One airs Hope for Helen, a documentary following television presenter Helen Rollason's fight against terminal cancer. She had been diagnosed with the condition the previous year and given three months to live.^[76][77]

November

• 1 November – Launch of FilmFour, a new subscription movie channel from Channel 4.^[78] The opening night is simulcast on Channel 4.^[79]
• 9 November – Release of Voice of an Angel, the debut album from Charlotte Church, who was discovered after singing Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" down the telephone on an edition of ITV's This Morning in 1997. The singer went on to make appearances on Talking Telephone Numbers and The Big, Big Talent Show, which helped to launch her career both in the UK and internationally. By 2010, Voice of an Angel had sold more than four million copies worldwide.^[80][81]
• 15 November – Digital terrestrial television launches in the UK, operated by ONdigital.^[82] It changed its name to ITV Digital in July 2001.^[83]
• 18 November –
  • The British Egg Information Service reports that egg sales have increased by 10% since the debut of Delia Smith's BBC Two series Delia's How to Cook, a series that teaches viewers basic cookery skills.^[84]
  • The National Grid reports a surge in the use of electricity at 8.00pm, as the Coronation Street episode featuring the death of the character Des Barnes (played by Philip Middlemiss) reaches its conclusion.^[85]
• 19 November –
  • ITV is given permission to move its 10.00 pm news bulletin by the Independent Television Commission, a decision that will allow the channel to axe News at Ten in early 1999. ITV wanted to move the programme because of declining ratings, and to make way for films and television dramas to air uninterrupted in its evening schedule, but the plans had been criticised by senior journalists and politicians, who fear it will lead to a reduction in the quality of evening television. Once the changes are implemented, ITV's main evening bulletin will air at 6.30 pm, with a shorter news programme at 11.00 pm.^[86][87]
  • Members of the National Assembly Against Racism, one of Britain's leading anti-racism groups, stage a protest outside the headquarters of Channel 4 as the channel airs a Dispatches documentary that claims to have established that most juvenile gang rapes are carried out by black youths.^[88]
• 20 November –
  • The Independent Television Commission orders ITV to take its advertising campaign for digital television off air because it is "derogatory" towards satellite television. The campaign had featured a crossed out satellite dish, and had attracted complaints from other major broadcasters in the week it was shown. The regulator also decides that future digital television advertising campaigns by ITV must be submitted to the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre before going on air.^[89]
  • At London's Wandsworth County Court the makers of Channel 4's Fifteen to One are awarded a county court judgment against Trevor Montague, a former series champion who broke the show's rule that losing contestants cannot appear on the programme again. Having lost in 1989, Montague re-applied under a different name in 1992 and went on to become series champion, but was subsequently identified by a contestant who watched a repeat of the show on Challenge TV. Montague must pay £3,562 in compensation, and return his prizes – two goblets and a set of decanters – to Regent Productions.
• 22 November – The BBC confirms that Patsy Palmer, who plays Bianca Butcher in EastEnders will leave the soap in 1999 to spend more time with her family.^[90]
• 27 November – ITV has scrapped plans for a documentary investigating claims of anti-English racism in Scotland because there was not enough evidence to support it, the Daily Record reports.^[91]

December

• 2 December – ITV airs the first celebrity special of Stars in Their Eyes, an edition that includes Carol Vorderman performing as Cher, and five female cast members of Coronation Street as The Spice Girls. The edition is won by Steven Houghton as Tony Hadley.^[92][93]
• 3 December – Channel 4 announces it has secured a £400,000 deal to air the only international interview with Monica Lewinsky, the woman at the centre of the sex scandal involving US President Bill Clinton.^[94]
• 7 December –
  • Long-running current affairs series World in Action ends after 35 years, its final edition an investigation into Britain's alcohol consumption titled Britain on the Booze.^[95]
  • Launch of the UK's second digital-only TV station ITV2.^[96]
• 9 December – Channel 4 News unveils a new look for its hour long bulletin and a new set, which will be seen on air from January 1999 and marks the biggest change for the programme since its launch in 1982. Jon Snow will continue to present the bulletin.^[97]
• 11 December – BBC governors reject a request to give Scotland its own Six O'Clock News bulletin. Instead an extra £20m will be spent on new jobs and programming in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.^[98]
• 12 December –
  • The Commission for Racial Equality has called on British soaps to change the way black and Asian people are portrayed after Marcus Wrigley, a new black character in Coronation Street, was seen breaking into a house in one of his first scenes.^[99]
  • Viewers of The Living Channel accidentally see five minutes of an adult film being aired by Television X following a switching error by the company relaying both channels. The interruption, which occurs during an edition of The Jerry Springer Show generates seven complaints to the Independent Television Commission. The company responsible for the glitch later apologises, and makes technical changes to ensure it won't happen again.^[100]
• 13 December – Footballer Michael Owen is named as this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year.^[101]
• 14 December –
  • After a world-record-breaking 75 consecutive victories, Ian Lygo makes his final appearance on the Channel 5 game show 100%, after being forced to retire by the show's producers.^[102][103]
  • After 25 years presenting Sooty Matthew Corbett announces his retirement and hand picks Richard Cadell and Liana Bridges as his successors in the very last edition of Sooty & Co.
• 15 December – Holiday presenter Jill Dando rules herself out of becoming the face of a planned relaunched BBC Six O'Clock News following much media speculation on the topic. Dando says she plans to leave BBC News to concentrate on her presenting roles.^[104]
• 16 December – Regular programming is interrupted when the United States and United Kingdom launch air strikes against Iraq after that country failed to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• 17 December – Jane Root is appointed Controller of BBC Two, becoming the first female head of a BBC channel. She will replace the outgoing incumbent, Mark Thompson in January 1999.^[105]
• 18 December –
  • BBC political correspondent Huw Edwards is confirmed as the new face of the Six O'Clock News, taking over when the programme is revamped next year.^[106]
  • Carlton Television is fined £2 million by the Independent Television Commission for a 1996 documentary titled The Connection in which actors pretended to be drug traffickers.^[107]
• 19 December – Denise van Outen presents the final of the first Record of the Year for ITV, a show allowing viewers to vote for their favourite single of 1998 through a phone-in poll.^[108] More than a million viewers call to register their vote, making the poll the UK's largest ever television phone poll. Of the ten songs shortlisted for the show, Irish boy band Boyzone's single "No Matter What" emerges as the winner.^[109]
• 21 December –
  • Coronation Street unveils its first Asian family, the Desais, who will be seen on screen from the New Year. They are Ravi Desai (played by Saeed Jaffrey), his daughter Nita (Rebecca Sarker) and son Vikram (Chris Bisson), and will take over the running of the corner shop from Fred Elliott (John Savident).^[110]
  • The National Federation of SubPostmasters criticises the forthcoming Christmas Day episode of Emmerdale for featuring the death of a village postmaster during a robbery, expressing concerns it could prompt a spate of copycat incidents. The union calls on ITV to pull the episode, which sees the character Vic Windsor (Alun Lewis) killed after he strikes his head during a robbery at his post office. ITV says it has taken care not to breach Post Office security during the episode's filming.^[111]
• 24 December – A £30 million advertising campaign for the Millennium Dome kicks off with a 60-second commercial voiced by actor Jeremy Irons that invites viewers to imagine the achievements of the past 1,000 years had happened in one day. Major events such as the Consecration of Westminster Abbey, the plays of William Shakespeare and the Fall of the Berlin Wall are highlighted against the backdrop of the Easter Island Statues from sunrise to sunset.^[112]
• 25 December –
  • Christmas Day highlights on BBC One include the 1994 film Miracle on 34th Street, Babe, and the first of three new episodes of Men Behaving Badly.^[113]
  • Channel 4 airs The Omen, a film depicting the Antichrist, at 10.30pm.^[114][115] This leads to six viewer complaints that its scheduling on Christmas Day was in poor taste, and the Broadcasting Standards Commission later agrees with this sentiment.^[116] However, the ruling in May 1999 draws criticism from Channel 4 Chief Executive Michael Jackson, who describes it as "typical of how the commission fails to get things in proportion" and says he would schedule the film similarly again.^[114]
• 30 December – Provisional viewing figures indicate that BBC One had seven of the top ten most watched programmes over the Christmas weekend. The 28 December episode of EastEnders achieved first place with 15.7m viewers, followed by an episode of Coronation Street from the previous day with 15.1m. The final episode of Men Behaving Badly was watched by 14m viewers.^[117]
• 31 December – An episode of EastEnders in which the character Tiffany Mitchell is killed when she is hit by a car driven by Frank Butcher is watched by 22 million viewers.^[118][119]

Debuts

BBC One

• 4 January – The Ambassador (1998–1999)
• 9 January – Wiggly Park (1998)
• 8 March – Playing the Field (1998–2002)
• 28 March – Big Ticket (1998)
• 16 April – The Ben Elton Show (1998)
• 19 April – A Respectable Trade (1998)
• 8 May – Invasion: Earth (1998)
• 10 May – Berkeley Square (1998)
• 20 May – The Human Body (1998)
• 20 July – Heartburn Hotel (1998–2000)
• 28 July – Maisie Raine (1998–1999)
• 26 August – The X Creatures (1998)
• 6 September – The Heaven and Earth Show (1998–2007)
• 14 September –
  • The Royle Family (1998–2000, 2006–2012)
  • Little Monsters (1998–1999)
  • Microscopic Milton (1998–1999)
• 21 October – The Life of Birds (1998)
• 1 November – Vanity Fair (1998)
• 12 November – Dinnerladies (1998–2000)
• 25 December – Rotten Ralph (1998–2001)
• 29 December – The Echo (1998)

BBC Two

• 8 January – Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines (1998)
• 15 January – Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends (1998–2000)
• 15 February – This Morning with Richard Not Judy (1998–1999)
• 20 February – Is It Bill Bailey? (1998)
• 24 February – How Do You Want Me? (1998–1999)
• 20 April – Stressed Eric (1998–2000)
• 8 May – Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)
• 12 May – Sir Bernard's Stately Homes (1998)
• 26 May – In the Red (1998)
• 14 July – In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998)
• 13 October – Delia's How to Cook (1998–2002)
• 19 October – The Cops (1998–2001)
• 9 November – Big Train (1998–2002)
• 14 November – Lesley Garrett Tonight (1998)
• 21 December – Rex the Runt (1998–2001)

ITV (Including ITV and ITV2)

• 5 January – Teddybears (1998–1999)
• 24 January – Ice Warriors (1998)
• 28 January – Heat of the Sun (1998)
• 8 February – My Kind of Music (1998–2002)
• 26 February – Passport Quiz (1998–2003)
• 6 March – Airline (1998–2006)
• 14 March – Diggit (1998–2003)
• 24 March – Waffle (1998)
• 12 April – Coming Home (1998)
• 14 April – Under Offer (1998–2001)
• 16 May – Don't Try This at Home (1998–2001)
• 30 May – Fun Song Factory (1998–2006)
• 3 June – Airline (1998–2007)
• 23 June – Cadfael The Holy Thief (1998 Season 4 Episode 1)
• 6 July –
  • Far from the Madding Crowd (1998)
  • Get Real (1998)
• 13 July – Brilliant Creatures (1998–2003)
• 19 July – Duck Patrol (1998)
• 23 July – Babes in the Wood (1998–1999)
• 29 August –
  • SMTV Live (1998–2003)
  • CD:UK (1998–2006)
• 2 September – Mad for It (1998–2000)
• 4 September –
  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1998–2014)
  • Archibald the Koala (1998–2000)
• 5 September – The Moment of Truth (1998–2001)
• 6 September – Trisha Goddard (1998–2010, 2015–present)
• 7 September – Liverpool 1 (1998–1999)
• 25 September – The Adventures of Captain Pugwash (1998–2001)
• 7 October – Hornblower (1998–2003)
• 11 October – Prickly Heat (1998–2001)
• 22 October – The Worst Witch (1998–2001)
• 26 October – Draw Your Own Toons (1998–2001)
• 27 October – Grafters (1998–1999)
• 15 November – Cold Feet (1998–2003, 2016–present)
• 23 December – Cadfael The Potter's Field (1998)
• 25 December – ITV Panto (1998–2002)
• 27 December – Kids Say the Darndest Things (1998–2000)
• 28 December –
  • Cadfael The Pilgrim of Hate (1998, Season 4 Episode 3, last)
  • Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1998–1999)
• Unknown – Rocky and the Dodos (1998–1999)

Channel 4

• 12 February – Mosley (1998)
• 12 April – Scrapheap Challenge (1998–2010)
• 5 May – Killer Net (1998)
• 22 June – Bob and Margaret (1998–2001)
• 3 July – So Graham Norton (1998–2002)
• 30 September – The 11 O'Clock Show (1998–2000)
• 25 October – T4 (1998–2012)
• 30 October – Streetmate (1998–2007)
• 10 November – The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star (1998)
• 21 November – History Hunters (1998–1999)

Channel 5

• 2 January – PB Bear and Friends (1998)
• 4 February – The Pepsi Chart Show (1998–2002)
• 28 April – Open House with Gloria Hunniford (1998–2003)
• 24 August – House Doctor (1998–2003)
• 16 October – Fort Boyard (1998–2003)
• Unknown – Sex and Shopping (1998–2001)

Nickelodeon UK

• 23 February – Renford Rejects (1998–2001)

Sky One

• 21 September – Beat the Crusher (1998)
• 11 October – Prickly Heat (1998–2001)

Channels

Pay Channels

New channels

Defunct channels

Rebranded channels

Television shows

Changes of network affiliation

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• James the Cat (1984–1992 ITV, 1998–2003 Channel 5)

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon (1927–present)

1950s

• Panorama (1953–present)
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• Captain Pugwash (1957–1975, 1997–2002)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• Blue Peter (1958–present)
• Grandstand (1958–2007)

1960s

• Coronation Street (1960–present)
• Songs of Praise (1961–present)
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006)
• Match of the Day (1964–present)
• Mr. and Mrs. (1964–1999)
• Call My Bluff (1965–2005)
• The Money Programme (1966–2010)

1970s

• Emmerdale (1972–present)
• Newsround (1972–present)
• Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010)
• Wish You Were Here...? (1974–2003)
• Arena (1975–present)
• One Man and His Dog (1976–present)
• Grange Hill (1978–2008)
• Blankety Blank (1979–1990, 1997–2002)
• Antiques Roadshow (1979–present)
• Question Time (1979–present)

1980s

• Children in Need (1980–present)
• Timewatch (1982–present)
• Brookside (1982–2003)
• Countdown (1982–present)
• Right to Reply (1982–2001)
• The Bill (1984–2010)
• Channel 4 Racing (1984–2016)
• Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (1984–present)
• EastEnders (1985–present)
• Comic Relief (1985–present)
• Casualty (1986–present)
• ChuckleVision (1987–2009)
• London's Burning (1988–2002)
• On the Record (1988–2002)
• Fifteen to One (1988–2003, 2013–present)
• This Morning (1988–present)
• Bodger & Badger (1989–1999)

1990s

• Stars in Their Eyes (1990–2006)
• 2point4 Children (1991–1999)
• Big Break (1991–2002)
• Noel's House Party (1991–1999)
• The Big Breakfast (1992–2002)
• 999 (1992–2003)
• Heartbeat (1992–2010)
• Mr. Motivator exercise routines (1993–2000)
• Breakfast with Frost (1993–2005)
• Wipeout (1994–2002)
• Animal Hospital (1994–2004)
• Time Team (1994–2013)
• The National Lottery Draws (1994–2017)
• Hollyoaks (1995–present)
• Ballykissangel (1996–2001)
• Y Clwb Rygbi, Wales (1997–present)
• Dream Team (1997–2007)
• The Jack Docherty Show (1997–1999)
• Family Affairs (1997–2005)
• 100% (1997–2001)
• Teletubbies (1997–2002, 2007–2009, 2012, 2015–present)
• Robot Wars (1994, 1997–2004, 2016–present)
• Midsomer Murders (1997–present)

Ending this year

• Come Dancing (1949–1998)
• Take Your Pick (1955–1968, 1992–1998)
• World in Action (1963–1998)
• Sale of the Century (1972–1990 ITV, 1997–1998 Challenge)
• Alas Smith and Jones (1982–1998)
• The Cook Report (1985–1998)
• Crosswits (1985–1998)
• Telly Addicts (1985–1998)
• The Chart Show (1986–1998, 2008–2009)
• Birds of a Feather (1989–1998 BBC, 2014–present ITV)
• The Riddlers (1989–1998)
• Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998)
• Men Behaving Badly (1992–1998)
• GamesMaster (1992–1998)
• Run the Risk (1993–1998)
• Tots TV (1993–1998)
• Wycliffe (1994–1998)
• Father Ted (1995–1998)
• Is It Legal? (1995–1998)
• The Demon Headmaster (1996–1998)
• Wake Up in the Wild Room (1996–1998)
• Dennis the Menace (1996–1998)
• Whittle (1997–1998)
• Noah's Ark (1997–1998)
• Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands (1997–1998)
• Ice Warriors (1998)
• PB Bear and Friends (1998)
• Vanity Fair (1998)

Deaths

See also

• 1998 in British music
• 1998 in British radio
• 1998 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1998

References