This is a list of British television related events from 1958. Events January 14 January – TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England, goes on the air.
February 13 February – A by-election is covered on UK television for the first time when Granada broadcasts coverage of the 1958 Rochdale by-election;Granada Goes to Rochdale Broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy takes second place for the Liberals, considerably increasing their share of the vote. 17 February – Pope Pius XII designates St. Clare of Assisi as the patron saint of television. Thereafter, placing her icon on a television set is said to improve reception. 18 February – Footage of the annual Shrove Tuesday Atherstone Ball Game is shown on television for the first time.
March 31 March – Debut of the BBC's serial Starr and Company, set in an engineering firm. The programme is aired for nine months.
April 14 April — The newly magnetic videotape machine Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus or VERA for short, is given a live demonstration on air in Panorama where Richard Dimbleby seated by a clock, talks for a couple of minutes about the new method of vision recording with an instant playback. The tape is then wound back and replayed. The picture is slightly watery, but reasonably watchable, and instant playback is something completely new. May 5 May – First experimental transmissions of a 625-line television service. 10 May – The BBC broadcasts rugby league's Challenge Cup final for the third time and this marks the start of annual coverage of the final. July 13–19 July – ITV shows coverage of the Commonwealth Games. This is the only time that ITV has covered the event.
August 30 August – Southern Television, the ITV franchise for the South of England, goes on the air. September 13 September – ITV first screens Oh Boy!, the first teenage all-music show on British television, produced by Jack Good, made by ABC Weekend TV and broadcast live on early Saturday evenings from the Hackney Empire with Lord Rockingham's XI assembled as the house band. This follows late-night pilots screened in the midlands on 15 and 29 June.
October 11 October – The long running Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand debuts on the BBC Television Service. It airs until 2007. 16 October – Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's TV programme, debuts on the BBC Television Service. It continues to air into the 2020s. 28 October – The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time. November 30 November – During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre play Underground on the ITV network, actor Gareth Jones has a fatal heart attack between two of his scenes while in make-up. December 22 December – The BBC begins showing the acclaimed science fiction drama series Quatermass and the Pit, starring André Morell as Professor Bernard Quatermass.
Undated Oxo stock cubes are first promoted on television in a series of advertisements depicting "Life with Katie" and the "Oxo family" which run until 1999.
Debuts BBC Television Service/BBC TV 1 January – Big Guns (1958) 4 January – Saturday Playhouse (1958–1961) 24 January – Pride and Prejudice (1958) February – Your Life in Their Hands (1958–1964; 1979–1987; 1991) 2 February – Monitor (1958–1965) 7 February – Run To Earth (1958) 9 February – The Government Inspector (1958) 12 February – More Than Robbery (1958) March – Starr and Company (1958) 7 March – The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1958) 22 March – Captain Moonlight – Man of Mystery (1958) 26 March – Sammy (1958) 8 April – Television Playwright (1958–1959) 11 April – The Common Room (1958–1959) 22 April – Railway Roundabout (1958–1962) 7 May – White Heather Club (1958–1968) 13 May – The Dangerous Game (1958) 17 May – Duty Bound (1958) 1 June – The Adventures of Ben Gunn (1958) 14 June – The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–1978) 24 June – The Firm of Girdlestone (1958) 5 July – Fair Game (1958) 20 July – Queen's Champion (1958) 16 August – Charlesworth at Large (1958) 6 September – Jennings at School (1958) 12 September – Champion Road (1958) 14 September – Little Women (1958) 29 September – Leave It to Todhunter (1958) 11 October – Grandstand (1958–2007) 14 October – Yesterday's Enemy (1958) 16 October – Blue Peter (1958–2025) 4 November – The Mad O'Haras (1958) 7 November – Our Mutual Friend (1958–1959) 10 November – Solo for Canary (1958) 11 November – Charlie Drake (1958–1960) 4 December – Private Investigator (1958–1959) 22 December – Quatermass and the Pit (1958–1959) ITV 1 January – Junior Criss Cross Quiz (1958–1967) 3 January Let's Get Together (1958–1959) People and Places (1958–1963, 1967–1973) 5 January – Ivanhoe (1958–1959) 14 January – Gwlad y Gan (1958–1964) 15 January – Amser Te (1958–1968) 27 January – Popeye (1958–1975) 4 February – East End, West End (1958) 14 February – Sea Hunt (1957–1961) 22 February – Sword of Freedom (1958–1961) 18 March – Hotel Imperial (1958–1960) 22 March Cheyenne (1957–1963) The Killing Stones (1958) 30 March – Time Out for Peggy (1958) 5 April – African Patrol (1958–1959) 7 April – Wagon Train (1957–1962) 13 April – The Sunday Break (1958–1967) 15 April – Lucky Dip (1958–1959) 26 April – The Truth About Melandrinos (1958) 30 June – My Wife and I (1958) 1 July – The Verdict is Yours (1958–1962) 6 July – Dial 999 (1958–1959) 13 September Oh Boy! (1958–1959) Mary Britten, M.D. (1958) Maverick (1957–1962) 14 September Dotto (1958–1960) The Invisible Man (1958–1959) 15 September – Make Me Laugh (1958) 19 September – The Larkins (1958–1960; 1963–1964) 20 September – The Adventures of William Tell (1958–1959) 26 September – Educating Archie (1958–1959) 6 October – Cannonball (1958–1959) 12 October – After Hours (1958–1959) 6 December – All Aboard (1958–1959) Unknown Dick and the Duchess (1958–1959) Martin Kane, Private Eye (1958–1959)
Continuing television shows 1920s BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present) 1930s Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present) The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present) BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–present) 1940s The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) Come Dancing (1949–1998) 1950s Andy Pandy (1950–1970, 2002–2005) What's My Line? (1951–1964, 1984–1996) All Your Own (1952–1961) Watch with Mother (1952–1975) Rag, Tag and Bobtail (1953–1965) The Good Old Days (1953–1983) Panorama (1953–present) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1960) 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 (1955–1970, 1972–1984, 2020–2021) Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961) ITV Wimbledon (1956–1968) Opportunity Knocks (1956–1978, 1987–1990) This Week (1956–1978, 1986–1992) Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)Mark Duguid "Armchair Theatre (1956–74)", BFI screenonline What the Papers Say (1956–2008) The Army Game (1957–1961) The Sky at Night (1957–present) The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957–1997)
Ending this year The Flower Pot Men (1952–1958, 2001–2002) The Woodentops (1955–1958) Educated Evans (1957–1958) Living It Up (1957–1958) Six-Five Special (1957–1958) Births 10 January – Caroline Langrishe, actress 24 January – Jools Holland, pianist and television presenter 29 January – Linda Smith, comedian (died 2006) 11 February – Michael Jackson, television executive 20 February – James Wilby, actor 3 March – Miranda Richardson, comedy actress 7 March – Rik Mayall, actor, comedian and writer (died 2014) 13 March – Linda Robson, actress 14 March – Francine Stock, radio and television presenter and author 21 March – Gary Oldman, actor 14 April – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director 3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born comedy performer, media presenter and writer 17 May – Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedy writer-performer 18 May – Toyah Willcox, actress and singer 22 May – Denise Welch, actress and television presenter 6 July – Jennifer Saunders, comedy writer-performer 24 July – Joe McGann, actor 29 July – Simon Nye, screenwriter 31 July – Sue Jenkins, actress 29 August – Lenny Henry, actor and comedian 30 August – Muriel Gray, Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist 13 September – Bobby Davro, actor and comedian 18 September – Linda Lusardi, model, actress and television presenter 21 September Simon Mayo, television and radio presenter Penny Smith, television presenter 25 October – Simon Gipps-Kent, actor (died 1987) 31 October – Debbie McGee, television, radio and stage performer 1 December – Keith Chapman, children's television programme creator 6 December – Nick Park, animated film maker
Deaths 30 November – Gareth Jones, Welsh actor (born 1925) See also 1958 in British music 1958 in the United Kingdom List of British films of 1958 References
External links List of 1958 British television series at IMDb