1963 in British television

Events

7 January – Granada Television first broadcasts World in Action, its influential investigative current affairs series, which will run for 35 years.

13 January – BBC TV broadcasts the play The Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre strand. The play co-stars a young American folk music singer named Bob Dylan.

23 March – The 8th Eurovision Song Contest is held at the BBC Television Centre in London. Denmark wins the contest with the song "Dansevise", performed by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann.

9 August – Ready Steady Go! premieres on ITV.

30 September – BBC TV begins using a globe as their symbol. They would continue to use it in varying forms until 2002.

22 November – BBC TV interrupts regular programming to report the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

23 November

That Was The Week That Was broadcasts its famous, non-satirical Kennedy tribute episode on BBC TV.

Doctor Who premieres on BBC TV with the first episode of the four-part serial An Unearthly Child. The First Doctor is portrayed by William Hartnell.

21 December – First episode of the seven-part serial The Daleks broadcast in the Doctor Who series, introducing the titular aliens (revealed fully in the following week's episode).

28 December – The satirical BBC show That Was The Week That Was (TW3) airs for the last time.

BBC Television Service/BBC TV

23 November – Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present)

Unknown – Bleep and Booster (1963–1977)

ITV

7 January – World in Action (1963–1998)

30 March – The Human Jungle (1963–1964)

9 August – Ready Steady Go! (1963–1966)

2 October – Espionage (1963–1964)

9 November – Emerald Soup (1963)

1940s

Watch with Mother (1946–1973)

Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005)

Rag, Tag and Bobtail (1953–1965)

The Good Old Days (1953–1983)

Panorama (1953–present)

Picture Book (1955–1965)

Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–1967, 1973–1974)

Take Your Pick (1955–1968, 1992–1998)

Double Your Money (1955–1968)

Dixon of Dock Green (1955–1976)

Crackerjack (1955–1984)

Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990)

This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992)

Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)

What the Papers Say (1956–2008)

The Sky at Night (1957–present)

Blue Peter (1958–present)

Grandstand (1958–2007)

Noggin the Nog (1959–1965)

1960s

Sykes and A... (1960–1965)

The Flintstones (1960–1966)

Coronation Street (1960–present)

Ghost Squad (1961–1964)

The Avengers (1961–1969)

Points of View (1961–present)

Songs of Praise (1961–present)

Compact (1962–1965)

Steptoe and Son (1962–1965, 1970–1974)

Hugh and I (1962–1967)

The Saint (1962–1969)

Z-Cars (1962–1978)

Animal Magic (1962–1983)

Ending this year

Zoo Quest (1954–1963)

That Was The Week That Was (1962–1963)

The Jetsons (1962–1963, 1985–1987)

Births

16 January – James May, motoring journalist and television show host

19 January – Martin Bashir, television journalist

22 January – Nicola Duffett, actress

10 February – Philip Glenister, actor

16 March – Jerome Flynn, British actor

20 March – David Thewlis, English actor

16 April – Nick Berry, actor and singer

11 May – Natasha Richardson, actress (died 2009)

20 May – Jenny Funnell, radio and television actress

22 May – David Schneider, actor

6 June – Jason Isaacs, actor

2 July – Mark Kermode, British film critic

3 July - Jo Wheeler, weather forecaster

31 August – Todd Carty, actor and director

11 September – Colin Wells, actor

26 September

Lysette Anthony, English actress

Jo Caulfield, actress, writer and comedian.

5 October – Nick Robinson, journalist, BBC News political editor

3 November – Ian Wright, footballer and radio and television presenter

10 November – Hugh Bonneville, actor

28 November – Armando Iannucci, Scottish comedian, satirist and radio producer

24 December – Caroline Aherne, comic actress/writer (died 2016)

Unknown

Ruth Goodman, historian and television presenter

Judy Flynn, British actress, (Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom)