This is a list of British television related events from 1946.
British television broadcasts resumed this year. They had been suspended during World War II, for fear that the signals would help German bombers.
Events January – May No broadcasts: British television remains off the air.
June 1 June – The first television licence is introduced in the United Kingdom, costing £2. 7 June – The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting again. The first words heard are "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". The Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premier that had been the last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, is reshown later in the re-opening programme. 29 June – BBC's coverage of Wimbledon returns, after not being seen since 1939 due to the service's discontinuation during World War II. It was among the earliest pre-war programming on the BBC Television Service, annual coverage of the event debuting in 1927.
July 7 July – The BBC's children's programme For the Children returns, one of the few pre-war programmes to resume after the reintroduction of the BBC Television Service.
August 4 August – Children's puppet Muffin the Mule makes his first appearance in an episode of For The Children.
October 19 October – The first live televised post-war football match is broadcast by the BBC. Twenty minutes of Barnet's home game against Wealdstone are televised in the first half and thirty five minutes of the second half before it becomes too dark. 22 October – Telecrime, which first aired over five episodes in 1938 and 1939, and is the first television crime series, returns for a 12-episode series on the BBC Television Service, retitled Telecrimes.
November 29 November – Pinwright's Progress, British television's first sitcom, is broadcast for the first time on the BBC Television Service.
December 31 December – The BBC ends the day's television broadcasting with Seeing the New Year In.
Debuts 5 May – Rory The Tiger and Friend (1939–1965, 1974–1981) 7 June – The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1946) 12 June – Cookery (1946–1951) 2 July – Jeannie (1946) 7 July – Frieda (1946) 21 July – The Shop at Sly Corner (1946) 4 August – Muffin the Mule (1946–1955, 2005–2006) 9 August – The Playboy of the Western World (1946) 20 August – The Man with the Cloak Full of Holes (1946) 27 August – The Rose and Crown (1946) 2 November – Kaleidoscope (1946–1953) 29 November – Pinwright's Progress (1946–1947) 1 December – Morning Departure (1946) 21 December – Alice (1946) 29 December – Toad of Toad Hall (1946)
Television shows returning after the war 1920s BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)
1930s Picture Page (1936–1939, 1946–1952) Starlight (1936–1939, 1946–1949) For the Children (1937–1939, 1946–1952) Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present) Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946) The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019) BBC Cricket (1939, 1946–1999, 2020–2024)
Ending this year Telecrime (1938–1939, 1946)
Births 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress, Doctor Who (died 2011) 5 February – Charlotte Rampling, English actress 7 February – Pete Postlethwaite, English character actor (died 2011) 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor, Dad's Army (died 2024) 18 February – Michael Buerk, journalist and news presenter 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, English actress 21 February – Alan Rickman, English actor (died 2016) 21 March – Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor 28 March – Tricia Ingrams, journalist and television presenter (died 1996) 5 April – Jane Asher, actress 11 April – Bob Harris, radio and television presenter 13 April – Christopher Strauli, actor 18 April – Hayley Mills, actress 19 April – Tim Curry, English actor, vocalist and composer (died 2026) May – Jock Brown, football commentator 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress 10 May – Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, actor (died 2017) 3 June – Penelope Wilton, actress 15 June – Noddy Holder, English singer (Slade) 5 July – Gwyneth Powell, English actress (died 2022) 14 July – Sue Lawley, broadcaster 17 July – Jeffrey Holland, actor 17 July – Alun Armstrong, actor 26 August – Alison Steadman, actress 11 September – Julie Covington, singer and actress 19 September – Michael Elphick, actor (died 2002) 25 September – Felicity Kendal, actress 28 September – Helen Shapiro, singer and actor 29 September – Patricia Hodge, English actress 10 October – Chris Tarrant, broadcaster and television presenter 14 October – Katy Manning, English actress 17 October – Vicki Hodge, English actress 22 October – Kelvin MacKenzie, media executive 31 October – Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor 18 November – Andrea Allan, Scottish actress 20 December – Lesley Judd, English actress and television presenter 23 December – John Sullivan, English scriptwriter (died 2011) 27 December – Janet Street-Porter, English journalist, broadcast presenter and television executive
Deaths 14 June – John Logie Baird, 57, engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system.
See also 1946 in British music 1946 in the United Kingdom List of British films of 1946
References
External links List of 1946 British television series at IMDb