2007 in British television

This is a summary of the year 2007 in British television.

Events

January Date Event2 JanuaryThis Life returns for a ten-year reunion special.Des O'Connor takes over from Des Lynam as co-presenter (with Carol Vorderman) of Channel 4's long-running quiz show Countdown.3 JanuaryCelebrity Big Brother 5 is launched on Channel 4, with celebrities such as Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict and Leo Sayer.The Bill airs a new set of opening titles, paying homage to the original 1984 opening titles. The titles also include shots of London, interspersed with police work and shots of Sun Hill Police Station. The break bumpers and music are also updated.5 JanuaryLeslie Ash officially opens the Centre for Healthcare Associated Infections (CHIA), a national facility at the University of Nottingham dedicated to conducting research into superbug infections. Ash is also the Centre's patron.Former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody returns to the Big Brother House to take part in the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother. On the same evening musician Donny Tourette walks off the show after just 48 hours.7 JanuaryLaura Pearce, a 24-year-old civilian employee of Gloucestershire Constabulary, becomes the first contestant to win the £250,000 on the British version of Deal or No Deal.Hannah Waterman and Marti Pellow win the second series of BBC One's Just the Two of Us.Film director Ken Russell becomes the second contestant to leave Celebrity Big Brother in two days, following a row with Jade Goody.8 JanuaryMichael Grade takes over as chief executive of ITV plc.The Calendar East and Calendar South regions are merged to form a new Calendar South region covering central and east Lincolnshire, east and south east Yorkshire, east Nottinghamshire and north Norfolk. The Calendar North region, broadcasting from the Emley Moor transmitter continues as before.STV launches separate news services for the East and West of the STV Central region, initially as a five-minute opt out within the 6:00 pm edition of Scotland Today on weeknights.9 JanuarySky News hires Meridian Tonight presenter Charlotte Hawkins to co-present Sunrise alongside Eamonn Holmes; she makes her debut on 15 January.12 JanuarySinger Leo Sayer becomes the third person to leave Celebrity Big Brother 5 after walking out of the show.13 JanuaryCoronation Street actor Antony Cotton wins the second series of ITV's Soapstar Superstar.ITV1 airs the British terrestrial television premiere of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The film achieves the highest audience of the day, with overnight figures indicating an audience of eight million.17 JanuaryProtests are held in India and the UK against Celebrity Big Brother after Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara are alleged to be racially abusive to Bollywood star, Shilpa Shetty. The programme has also attracted several thousand complaints from viewers to Ofcom, Channel 4 and the police, and is criticised by senior politicians both in the UK and India.19 JanuaryJade Goody is evicted from Celebrity Big Brother following the racism row. Goody and Shilpa Shetty had both faced eviction, with Goody receiving 82% of the public vote. During a post-eviction interview, from which the wider public is banned, Goody says that she is "embarrassed and disgusted" by her behaviour. She had also apologised to Shetty before leaving the Big Brother house.22 JanuaryBBC News 24 is re-branded with new titles and on-screen graphics.26 JanuaryJo O'Meara is evicted from Celebrity Big Brother. Viewing clips of her behaviour in the Big Brother house during a post-eviction interview, she says that it looks "very bad", but says she is not a racist.28 JanuaryThe final edition of Grandstand, the flagship BBC sports programme, is aired after nearly 50 years on television screens.Shilpa Shetty wins the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother. During the live final, Danielle Lloyd apologises for her behaviour toward the actress during the series.

February Date Event2 FebruaryPlans by Channel 4 to air a series of documentaries about masturbation in March are postponed after the event has attracted controversy and criticism from senior television figures. The programmes are to be shown separately at a later date and not as part of a season.Five airs the final episode of In the Grid.9 FebruaryPaul Merton presents his last edition of Room 101.14 FebruaryBBC One airs the biopic Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin.Samuel Preston walks off live on an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks after insults about his wife Chantelle Houghton. Team captain Bill Bailey replaces him with a member of the audience, Ed Seymour.15 FebruaryMichael Starke, who played Sinbad in Brookside, is to join the cast of Coronation Street as take-away owner Jerry Morton. He will be seen onscreen from 18 March.18 FebruaryBBC Two launches 14 new idents designed by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and produced by Red Bee Media, with the "2" becoming a "Windows of the World" a portal through which the world is seen differently.Richard & Judy is scrutinised when it is claimed that the winners were already chosen for its premium-rate phone-in quiz, "You Say, We Pay". This results in the start of the phone-in scandal.20 FebruaryThe newly launched Virgin Media launches its new on-demand channel Virgin Central.FebruaryUTV in Northern Ireland splits UTV Live and UTV Life into separate programmes and all bulletins outside of the main early evening programme are retitled UTV News. This continues until April 2009.

March Date Event1 MarchA channel agreement between Virgin Media and BSkyB for Virgin to broadcast non-premium Sky channels ends at midnight. Virgin Media and Sky have failed to reach agreement on the issue and subsequently Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Travel, Sky Travel Extra, Sky Sports News and Sky News are removed from the Virgin line-up. The Sky Movies and Sky Sports channels (aside from Sky Sports News) are unaffected and continue to broadcast on Virgin as normal.2 MarchThe Attorney General for England and Wales, Lord Goldsmith, obtains an injunction from the High Court preventing the BBC from broadcasting an item about investigations into the alleged cash for honours political scandal.5 MarchITV's quiz channel ITV Play is implicated in the phone-in scandal. As a result, ITV allow independent auditor Deloitte to review programmes with phone-ins that generate revenue such as Dancing on Ice and The X Factor.Shaun the Sheep first airs.7 MarchThe BBC's correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Alan Johnston, who is the only foreign reporter from a major media organisation based in Gaza, is kidnapped. All the main Palestinian militant groups call for his release.Louise Redknapp presents the controversial ITV documentary The Truth About Size Zero in which she attempts to drop to a size zero in 30 days by following a strict weight loss regimen in order to highlight eating disorder issues.Five's game show BrainTeaser is suddenly axed by the channel after five years. It is later revealed the sudden axing was in relation to the phone-in scandal, as the show's production company Endemol had faked on-air winners by posing production team members as such. Five is fined a record £300,000 by Ofcom over the incidents.9 MarchThe BBC's Castaway returns for a second, but shorter, series.13 MarchITV Play is shut down permanently due to the phone-in scandal.14 MarchBBC children's programme Blue Peter is now involved with the phone-in scandal, after it is discovered they used a girl who was visiting the studio to pose as a caller live on the show.15 MarchSteven Wallis wins the 2007 series of MasterChef Goes Large.16 MarchDuring Comic Relief night, the last ever episode of The Vicar of Dibley is broadcast. BBC One's Red Nose Day 2007 also includes a special episode of Mr. Bean, a celebrity edition of The Apprentice, and a Catherine Tate sketch in which Lauren Cooper meets Tony Blair while on work experience at 10 Downing Street.17 MarchRugby player Kyran Bracken and skating partner Melanie Lambert win the second series of Dancing on Ice.Pop group Scooch are selected to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Flying the Flag (For You)". The Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up show however ends in disarray when a mix-up results in presenters Fearne Cotton and Terry Wogan both simultaneously declaring Scooch and runner-up Cyndi as the winner respectively. Following several seconds of confusion, Scooch were confirmed as the winners of the public vote.18 MarchAfter 10 years, Formula One on ITV goes 16:9 widescreen, with the opening race, the Australian Grand Prix, watched by 6 million viewers.19 MarchIn the Night Garden... premieres on BBC Two in the same month as the Teletubbies 10th anniversary.20 MarchDancing on Ice reveals they lost 11,500 phone calls, as they were not delivered to Vodafone until next Monday morning (26 March), but confirm that the affected votes would not have altered the final result.22 MarchFour years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a special edition of BBC One's Question Time debates the war's legacy.26 MarchSinger Katherine Jenkins will make a cameo appearance in Emmerdale, the soap's producers confirm. Her appearance will be in May, and coincide with the resolution of the Tom King murder storyline.27 MarchMoira Stuart is replaced as presenter of the news bulletin during Sunday AM, leaving her without a regular news slot. The decision to remove her from the programme prompts media allegations of ageism at the BBC, something which is rejected by Director-General Mark Thompson, who in April tells the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee that Stuart was replaced because of the changing role of television news presenting, which is moving towards television journalism rather than traditional news presenting. Stuart continues to present for the broadcaster, but on 3 October, it is confirmed that she will leave BBC News.The teleshopping channel iBuy closes after just under two years on air.30 MarchITV announces that Dermot O'Leary will replace Kate Thornton as host of The X Factor after Thornton was sacked from the programme after presenting three (and one celebrity) series.Five celebrates ten years of its launch.31 MarchFreema Agyeman makes her debut as Doctor Who assistant Martha Jones as the science fiction drama returns for a third series. Any Dream Will Do, a search for someone to play Joseph in the Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat also debuts on BBC One.The Teletubbies celebrate their 10th anniversary.

April