Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 28 February | L!VE TV is moved to the adult section of Sky's EPG, and is rebranded as "Babeworld" two days later. This is because the channel has moved to broadcasting an increasingly adult themed content. |
| 11 March | ITV launch a CITV channel, which broadcasts during the downtime hours of ITV4, replacing the ITV News Channel. |
| 7 April | 12.34 million viewers watch long-running Coronation Street character Mike Baldwin die in the arms of his long-time rival, Ken Barlow. Baldwin, played by Johnny Briggs, had been in the show for 30 years. |
| 19 April | ITV launch ITV Play, a new 24/7 participation TV channel, on Freeview in the United Kingdom. It will launch on other platforms later in the year. |
| 21 April | The Queen celebrates her 80th birthday at Windsor. The Prince of Wales makes a televised address in tribute. |
| 21 April | Denis Norden announces his retirement from his two ongoing ITV shows It'll Be Alright on the Night and spin-off show Denis Norden's Laughter File, after 30 years with ITV. |
| 24 April | Cartoon Network Too and Nick Jr. 2 launched in the UK (2006–present) |
| 25 April | The BBC announces that Grandstand, its flagship sports TV programme, will be phased out within the next year after nearly 50 years on air. |
| 5 May | The BBC's local election coverage goes off air shortly before 3:00am, due to a power failure at their Millbank studios. For the next hour coverage relocates to The Counting House pub, with results being read out using handwritten pieces of paper. |
| 6 May | The Place To Be Premiered. |
| 8 May | Guy Goma, a graduate from the Congo who went to the BBC to attend a job interview, appears on BBC News 24 in place of an IT expert after a mix-up. Guy Kewney had been scheduled to comment on the subject of Apple Computer's court case with The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, but a producer collected the wrong man from the wrong reception at BBC Television Centre. |
| 15 May | BBC High Definition Television Trial commences. |
| 20 May | Just minutes before the live Eurovision Song Contest final begins, BBC One's live National Lottery draw is invaded by Fathers 4 Justice protestors. The show is temporarily taken off air, leaving just a programme logo and announcer Alan Dedicoat's voice until the problems are resolved. |
| 22 May | BSkyB launch High-definition television in the UK under the brand Sky HD. |
| 27 May | The BBC's first scheduled HDTV broadcast on BBC HD. |
| 30 May | Scottish and Grampian are rebranded as STV Central and STV North respectively. |
| 6 June | ITV announces that Central News South's existence as a news region will end after 17 years when the eastern half of the region (the area served by the Oxford transmitter) merges its operations with Meridian West's output, forming a new news region named ITV Thames Valley. |
| 9 June | They Think It's All Over comes to defunction after 11 years on air. |
| 20 June | 18.46 million watch England vs Sweden in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the highest rated programme of the year. |
| 11 July | It is announced that actress Wendy Richard will leave EastEnders at Christmas. She is one of the only remaining cast members from the show's 1985 launch. |
| 16 July | Sarah Lang wins one million pounds in the final of the ITV1 gameshow PokerFace. As she had also won £32,500 on the BBC One gameshow In It to Win It the previous year, this makes her the biggest known female gameshow winner in UK television history, and second overall behind Ian Woodley. |
| 21 July | James Dreyfus takes over from Ardal O'Hanlon as George Sunday AKA Thermoman in the sixth and final series of My Hero the series ended in September due to low viewing figures. |
| 23 July | FilmFour is relaunched as a free-to-air channel. It had originally been a subscription service, but this had ended four days previously. |
| 30 July | Top of the Pops axes weekly episodes from TV before revival by Christmas. |
| 6 August | While anchoring from Israel during the Israel-Lebanon war, Sky News presenter Anna Botting famously interviews the British MP, George Galloway about the conflict. During the nine minute heated discussion Galloway criticises Sky News, News Corporation, and even Botting herself for being biased towards Israel. |
| 23 August | ITV secures a deal to sell its 45% stake in Ireland's TV3 for £70m. |
| 20 September | Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond is seriously injured after crashing a jet-powered car at 280 mph. |
| 30 September | It is announced that Des Lynam will leave Countdown at the end of 2006. |
| 5 October | QI publishes its first book: The Book of General Ignorance. The book becomes a No. 1 bestseller for amazon.co.uk. |
| 7 October | After four and a half years, the BBC 'Rhythm & Movement' idents are shown for the final time on BBC One at 1:10am, as part of a special montage (2:55am on BBC One Northern Ireland). Their replacements, the 'Circle' idents, debut at 10am. |
| 15 October | Five Life is launched. |
| 16 October | Five US is launched. |
| 13 November | BBC Parliament broadcasts in full screen format for the first time on the Freeview service, having previously only been available in quarter screen format. The BBC eventually found the bandwidth to make the channel full-screen after receiving "thousands of angry and perplexed e-mails and letters", not to mention questions asked by MPs in the Houses of Parliament itself. |
| 28 November | ITV confirms that BBC chairman Michael Grade is to become its chief executive in early 2007. |
| November | Launch of 4 on demand, a service which allows some internet, Virgin Media Television, Tiscali TV and BT Vision users to view programming recently shown on Channel 4, E4 or More4, or from their archives. |
| 3 December | The last edition of Central News South is aired. From tomorrow the Central South region will cease to exist. The east of the region including Oxford becomes part of ITV Thames Valley, the west half of the region, covering Cheltenham and Gloucester is absorbed into the ITV West region, while Herefordshire rejoins the Central West region. |
| 4 December | The ITV Thames Valley region, a composite of the old Meridian West and eastern part of the Central South regions, goes on air with a new regional news programme Thames Valley Tonight. |
| 23 December | Stars in Their Eyes is also axed after the last special episode. |
| 25 December | Actress Wendy Richard makes her final appearance in EastEnders after her character, Pauline Fowler, is killed off in a dramatic storyline. She had been in the show since its inception in 1985. |
Read more about this topic: 2006 In British Television
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