This is a list of events that took place in 2008 related to British television.
Events
January Date Event2 JanuaryITV announces that it will move its Sunday episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street. From the week beginning on 12 January, Coronation Street will have an additional Friday episode, while Emmerdale will air for an hour on Tuesdays. Dancing on Ice would move to a Sunday night slot.11 JanuaryITV News at 10.30 is shown for the last time. News at Ten then replaces it from Mondays to Thursdays, and ITV Late News on Fridays.14 JanuaryNews at Ten returns to ITV with Sir Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham. The programme will air four nights a week from Mondays to Thursdays, with an 11.00pm bulletin on Fridays.16 JanuaryActress Leslie Ash wins a record £5 million out of court settlement from Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust after contracting a hospital acquired bug that left her partially paralysed while undergoing hospital treatment in 2004.22 JanuaryBBC Three has its identity relaunched, showcasing new shows such as Lily Allen and Friends.23 JanuaryKonnie Huq presents her last episode of Blue Peter after over ten years, having become the longest-running female presenter and third longest-running overall in the shows' 50-year history.31 January"Pretty Baby....", a unique episode of the soap opera EastEnders is broadcast, consisting of just one character (Dot Cotton) with a single monologue in the form of a taped message to her husband. This 'one-hander' is a first in UK soap history.All the UKTV network channels such as UKTV Gold switch to widescreen.
February Date Event6 FebruaryThe BBC announces that children's drama Grange Hill is to be axed after exactly 30 years on air.7 FebruaryIn an address to the Royal Television Society, the comedian Lenny Henry criticises the lack of ethnic diversity in the media.BBC One airs the debut episode of Ashes to Ashes, a spin-off series of Life on Mars.8 FebruaryAfter 22 years Neighbours is shown on BBC One for the last time.11 FebruaryAustralian soap opera Neighbours debuts in its new home on Five.12 FebruaryThe BBC Three "Blobs" are played out for the last time at 4 am. A new set of idents debuted the same day, this is the channels first ever rebrand since launching in early 2003.14 FebruaryThe Big Bang Theory debuts on Channel 4.18 FebruaryNatasha Kaplinsky makes her Five News debut as Britain's highest paid newsreader, on a reported annual salary of £1 million.Carrie and David's Popshop debuts on CBeebies.20 FebruaryIt is announced that music video channel The Hits will be replaced by 4Music later in the year.25 FebruaryBBC One soap EastEnders is reprimanded by Ofcom for the level of violence in an episode aired in November 2007 which saw a gang attack on a pub. The scenes, which showed a sustained level of violence, were deemed to be inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience.The Mr. Men Show debuts on Five.27 FebruaryLaunch of the black entertainment channel BET International.28 FebruaryJames Nathan wins the 2008 series of MasterChef.
March Date Event3 MarchChrist Church, Oxford wins the 2007–08 series of University Challenge, beating the University of Sheffield 220–170.7 MarchThe MS Society criticises a recent The Bill plotline as "grossly irresponsible" after it featured a multiple sclerosis patient being told about a fictional treatment for the condition.10 MarchA blanket ban on filming in and around Stormont Castle is lifted when the restrictions on the presence of cameras in the building are lifted, thus allowing proceedings in the Northern Ireland Assembly to be televised.ITV2 signs a deal with social networking site Bebo, allowing some of the channel's content to be aired free online.12 MarchOvernight viewing figures indicate that the debut episode of the US TV series Bionic Woman, which aired on ITV2 on 11 March was watched by 2.2 million viewers, giving the channel its largest audience to date.15 MarchLaunch of BBC One's I'd Do Anything, a search for actors to appear in the West End musical Oliver!. Three boys will be chosen to play Oliver Twist and an actress to play the role of Nancy.16 MarchSuzanne Shaw and skating partner Matt Evers win the third series of Dancing on Ice.19 MarchBBC Four attracts its highest ever ratings after broadcasting the one-off drama The Curse of Steptoe, with 1.41 million viewers.21 MarchDirty Sexy Money makes its debut airing in the UK and proves to be a popular hit for Channel 4.22 MarchITV1 airs the Network television premiere of the 2005 musical film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.24 March(Easter Monday)BBC Four broadcasts a revived, special two-hour-long episode of the 1960s satire The Frost Report.26 MarchAmerican Hit Dramedy, Desperate Housewives finally makes its Fourth season debut. The show was due to start in the first two weeks of January, but this was shelved due to the WGA Strike.
April Date Event1 AprilPatsy Palmer returns to EastEnders as Bianca Jackson nine years after leaving the series.15 AprilITV has decided to drop the second episode of the nine-part US supernatural drama Pushing Daisies because it only has scheduling space to show eight episodes before the start of Euro 2008. The second episode was the only one considered not crucial to the storyline, but it will be shown when the series is repeated.21 AprilBBC News has a major relaunch with BBC News 24 becoming BBC News and BBC World becoming BBC World News. All the news programmes on BBC One and BBC Two have also had new looks including all regional news programmes.26 AprilA report in The Sun suggests seven characters will be axed from Coronation Street over the coming months. Those leaving include five members of the Morton family, who run the street's kebab shop, and Jack Ellis and Matthew Crompton, who play father and son bookies Harry and Dan Mason.28 AprilFive Life is renamed to Fiver.
May Date Event1 MayVH1 takes on a general entertainment focus, matching the American network, though due to the American VH1's programmes being licensed to other networks or broadcasters, it also carries content from Channel 5 and MTV. VH1 completes its transition to a general entertainment format in October 2018, though music programmes continue in non-prime timeslots.6 MayFreesat officially launches. ITV HD launches its full service.19 MayKix! was launched in the UK for the first time.20 MayIn a press release, the BBC announce that Russell T Davies is resigning as head writer and executive producer on Doctor Who following the fourth series, the 2008 Christmas special and a series of four hour-long episodes in 2009, after which he will be replaced by fellow writer Steven Moffat.22 MayScotsport airs for the last time on Scottish television. By the time it ended it was recognised as the world's longest running sports television magazine.24 MayAfter Britain's entry in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest comes last, Sir Terry Wogan suggests he may step down as the BBC's Eurovision commentator because the contest is "no longer a music contest". Andy Abraham receives 14 points for the United Kingdom with "Even If", while the contest is won by Russia's Dima Bilan with "Believe", which scores 272 points. The result is partially due to the number of former Soviet states giving Russia the maximum 12 points, prompting Wogan to tell viewers that "Russia were going to be the political winners from the beginning" and to suggest "western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in because their prospects are poor".29 MayIt is announced that What the Papers Say, the second longest running programme on British television after Panorama, is to be axed by the BBC.30 MaySeveral newspapers report that George Galloway, MP has issued legal proceedings against The Bill for defamation after a storyline aired in November 2007 that featured a corrupt MP who smuggled antiques out of Iraq before the war, which Galloway alleges was a portrayal of him.ITV airs the 5000th episode of Emmerdale.31 MayJodie Prenger will play the role of Nancy in the West End musical Oliver! after winning BBC One's I'd Do Anything.Break dancer George Sampson wins the second series of Britain's Got Talent, netting a £100,000 prize and a chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance.
June Date Event3 JuneAll Virgin Media channels including Bravo (also Bravo 2), Living (also Living2), Challenge, Trouble and Virgin 1 switch to widescreen.4 JuneMTV UK and several other MTV Networks Europe channels are fined £255,000 by Ofcom for "widespread and persistent" breaches of the broadcasting code, including breaking the pre-watershed content ban.5 JuneThe Big Brother 9 launch night proves to be not as good as Channel 4 had hoped with the loss of around 1 million viewers who had watched the previous year's launch night6 JuneSharon Osbourne quits as a judge on the ITV series The X Factor shortly before filming is due to begin on a new series.7–29 JuneEuro 2008 are held in Austria and Switzerland.9 JuneChannel 4 apologises after broadcasting an episode of The Simpsons that included the use of the word "wankers" at 6.00 pm on 15 April. The incident, blamed on an administrative error, led to 31 viewers complaining to Ofcom that such language was unacceptable at a time when children would be watching.10 JuneGirls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole is revealed as Sharon Osbourne's replacement as a judge on The X Factor.11 JuneLee McQueen wins the fourth series of The Apprentice.UKTV announces that, following the successful launch of Dave, it will rebrand all its channels from generic, UKTV-prefixed names to individual and separate brands.17 June Comedian Joan Rivers is asked to leave the ITV afternoon talk show Loose Women after swearing live on air. She was removed during the commercial break, and said that she didn't realise the show was going out live and thought her comments would be bleeped.23 JuneAn EastEnders storyline involving the live burial of a character that aired over Easter is criticised as "offensive" by Ofcom. The scenes, which saw Tanya Branning getting revenge against her unfaithful husband Max by drugging and burying him, attracted 116 complaints from viewers. Ofcom says the episodes had "a seriously disturbing element to them".
July