The BBC announces details of Just the Two of Us, a singing contest following the Strictly Come Dancing format that will air in February and March. Vernon Kay and Tess Daly will present the series which will pair celebrities with professional singers, who will then compete to become series champion.[7]
16 January
To coincide with the introduction of a new identity across ITV plc stations, UTV replaces its 2003 idents with a brand new set.[8] The new idents featured newly recorded films shot across Northern Ireland, again in the form of panoramas.[8] The landscape films used in these idents are updated in July 2007 and October 2008.
27 January
Chantelle Houghton, a model from Essex wins the fourth series of Celebrity Big Brother after entering the series as a "fake" celebrity. In order to remain as a contestant she was required to convince the other participants that she was a famous singer.[9]
BBC One debuts Davina, a chat show presented by Davina McCall. Guests on the first edition include Charlotte Church, Tess Daly and Vernon Kay.[12] The show proves to be a disaster, with The Guardian's Gareth Maclean noting that McCall "found herself floundering and foundering, struggling through [interviews], and exposing herself in a way from which even the hardiest flasher would recoil", while Jonathan Ross blames a poor guest line up. The 8 March edition gives BBC One its worst ever peak time ratings of 2.75 million.[13][14] By the time the show ends on 12 April ratings have fallen to below 2.5 million. It is axed shortly afterwards.[15][16]
19 February
Channel 4 airs the penultimate and final episode of Gene Simmons' Rock School where the band Hoax UK (formerly No Comment) opened for Judas Priest at Long Beach Arena. Members included the late Lil' Chris, Ellie Chapman, Samanie Warren-Close, Sammi Reeve, Lindsey Rose, Jess Reid and others.
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.
Tony Blair becomes the first serving Prime Minister to be interviewed by Michael Parkinson on his chat show. Blair volunteers the information that he believes he will be judged by God for the Iraq War.[20]
ITV launches a CITV channel, which broadcasts during the downtime hours of ITV4, replacing the ITV News Channel.[22]
18 March
Christopher Napier, performing as George Formby wins the fourth and final junior series of Stars in Their Eyes. The programme continues with a number of special editions during 2006, before a final celebrity special on 23 December.
Coronation Street bosses dismiss as untrue media reports that the child actress who plays the soap's Amy Barlow is being replaced because her parents felt her storylines were "too harrowing", and her workload too heavy.[23]
24 March
ITV announces plans to air World of Chat, a show on ITV2 featuring the best from chatshows around the world.[24]
25–26 March
UKTV Gold presents its Mitchells Weekend to coincide with the return of Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) to EastEnders. The weekend includes The Mitchells – The Full Story, a documentary about the soap family presented by actress Kim Medcalf.[25]
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 (now Charles III) makes a televised address in tribute.
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.
ITV secures the terrestrial television screening rights to Casino Royale, the new James Bond film that will be released in November.[30] The film receives its terrestrial television premiere on 19 September 2009.[31]
The BBC announces that Grandstand, its flagship sports TV programme, will be phased out within the next year after nearly 50 years on air.[32]
May
Date
Event
5 May
The BBC's local election coverage goes off air shortly before 3:00 am, 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
ITV1 broadcasts the network premiere of Peter Pan.
UTV changes its registered company name from 'Ulster Television plc' to 'UTV plc', the company's belief being that the existing name no longer reflected the full scope of the company's business.[37]
27 May
The BBC's first scheduled HDTV broadcast on BBC HD.
The first ever Soccer Aid football match takes place at Old Trafford and is broadcast live on ITV1. England defeat the Rest of the World 2–1 and £2 million is raised for UNICEF, the event's charity partner.
28 May
It was announced that the traditional live Saturday morning kids' programmes was to be axed after 38 years on either channels, ending on July 1. This is because children had more choice to digital multichannels and ITV would rival Saturday Kitchen with Saturday Cooks!.
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.
Live coverage of the Wimbledon 2006 is aired by the BBC with the first Wimbledon season to be shot in 16:9 widescreen.
July
Date
Event
1 July
The last live Saturday morning regular-based children's show Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown was aired for the very last time after 38 years of broadcasting Saturday morning kids' shows on both channels. They have been replaced by cookery programmes ever since.
Launch of Only Fools on Horses on BBC One, a celebrity showjumping contest airing over nine successive nights in aid of Sport Relief.
11 July
It is announced that actress Wendy Richard will leave EastEnders as Pauline Fowler at Christmas. She is one of the only remaining cast members from the show's 1985 launch.[45]
16 July
Sarah Lang wins one million pounds in the final of the ITV1 gameshow PokerFace.[46] 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.
19 July
CITV transmits its last ever episode of Thomas and Friends. From there, Channel 5 will take over the license to broadcast the series on free-for-air television.
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.
ITV secures a deal to sell its 45% stake in Ireland's TV3 for £70m.[51]
Central Tonight presenter Joanne Malin apologises after swearing during a live broadcast from Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent. Central subsequently claims to have received no viewer complaints as a result of her description of the inclement weather, but Trentham says several people contacted them offering the presenter their support.[52]
ITV Lunchtime News now moves to 1.30pm and now returns to run for 30 minutes.
13 September
Ingram Wilcox, a civil servant and quiz show fanatic, has become the fifth person to win the £1 million prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, it is reported. The episode showing his win, the first in two and a half years, is aired on 16 September.[53]
16 September
Connie Fisher wins BBC One's How Do You Solve a Problems Like Maria?. She will make her debut in the role in a revival of The Sound of Music at London's Palladium Theatre on 14 November.[54]
The BBC defends presenter Graham Norton after he admits to having taken recreational drugs, including ecstasy in an interview for Marie Claire magazine. Of Norton's revelation the broadcaster says: "The issues that Graham discusses in this interview are aimed at an adult audience and reflect the frank and open nature of his personality".[58]
ITV confirms the axing of its prison drama, Bad Girls after eight series.[61]
29 October
After a six-year absence from television, The Royle Family returns for what is billed as its final episode, an hour-long show titled "The Queen of Sheba".[62]
30 October
In the Grid, a 70-part primetime game show premieres on Five.
Long running animated series for children Horrid Henry begins on CITV.
31 October
Pop star Madonna appears on Newsnight, where she gives her first British television interview about her controversial adoption of an African baby.[63]
November
Date
Event
8 November
Virgin Media comes into being when NTL Telewest does a deal to license the Virgin name.[64]
BBC Parliament broadcasts in full screen format for the first time on the Freeview service, having previously only been available in quarter screen format.[65] The BBC eventually found the bandwidth to make the channel full-screen after receiving "thousands of angry and perplexed e-mails and letters",[66] not to mention questions asked by MPs in the Houses of Parliament itself.
ITV launches some new idents themed around "alive with colour", replacing the previous "Emotions" set which had been in use since January.
14 November
Cadbury announces its intention to end its £10m a year sponsorship deal with Coronation Street after a decade. The current sponsorship contract is due to expire at the end of 2007, but Cadbury says it would end the deal earlier if another sponsor is found.[67]
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.
The Berwick-upon-Tweed transmitter transfers from Border to Tyne Tees as part of the preparations for the digital switchover of the Border region in 2008.[73]
16 December
At 5.30am BBC Two airs the final Open University course-related television broadcast. With Open University course content now available through media such as podcasts and DVDs it is no longer necessary for the programmes to be aired on television and radio. However, the Open University continues to make programming for a broader audience, with series including Coast, Child of Our Time and Battle of the Geeks.[74][75]
Stars in Their Eyes ends, with the last special celebrity episode presented by Cat Deeley; it was due to the fact that she had moved to the US by that point. The show was revived in 2015, fronted by Harry Hill.
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. Richard died in February 2009 at the age of 65.[80]
Launch of Emmerdale's whodunit storyline involving the murder of Tom King (played by Ken Farrington). Tom is hit over the head and falls through a window to his death on his wedding day.[81][82]