This is a timeline of the history of breakfast television in the United Kingdom.
1970s 1973 18 May – The UK's first ever regular breakfast television programme is broadcast. It airs on The Bristol Channel via that city's cable system. It airs between 7:30am and 8:15am and is then repeated twice.
1974 30 January – BBC2 shows the first early morning Open University programming, airing between 6:40am and 7:30am.
1975 No events.
1976 4 February – Early morning programming from the Open University begins on BBC1, with Electrons in motion airing at 7:05am.
1977 28 March–27 May – Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television carry out a nine-week breakfast television experiment. Airing at 8:30am, YTV's programme is called Good Morning Calendar and Tyne Tees' programme is called Good Morning North. They air six years before the launch of full-time breakfast television in the UK.
1978 No events.
1979 No events.
1980s 1980 24 January – The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces that in the next ITV franchise round it will offer a national licence for breakfast television. 1 December – BBC Scotland carries out a one-week experiment in breakfast television. It is a simulcast of BBC Radio Scotland's breakfast show Good Morning Scotland. 28 December – The IBA announces the results of the 1980 franchise round, which includes the winner of a national franchise to provide a breakfast television service on ITV. TV-am is awarded the contract to begin broadcasting in 1983.
1981 March – TV-am purchases a former car showroom in Camden as its headquarters. The building is subsequently renovated to create the Breakfast Television Centre.
1982 3–9 October – As part of its coverage of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the BBC broadcasts a two-hour breakfast programme Breakfast with Brisbane. It includes regular news summaries and comes three months ahead of the launch of Breakfast Time.
1983 17 January – At 6:30am, Britain's first-ever breakfast television show, Breakfast Time, launches on BBC1. 1 February – TV-am launches on ITV, with Daybreak and Good Morning Britain. 14 February – Following the launch of Breakfast Time, the Open University (OU) programmes previously shown on BBC1 on weekday mornings move to BBC2, resulting in the weekday early morning OU transmission on BBC2 being extended from 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours 5 minutes. BBC1 continues to broadcast early morning OU transmissions at the weekend until September 1992. 28 February TV-am cuts its Daybreak programme to thirty minutes, allowing Good Morning Britain to begin half an hour earlier. Original Daybreak presenters Robert Kee and Angela Rippon are both replaced, with Gavin Scott (Weekdays) and Lynda Barry (weekends).TV-am to start main show earlier. By Kenneth Gosling. The Times (London, England), 25 February 1983; pg. 2;Breakfast TV battle claims first victim. By Kenneth Gosling. The Times (London, England), Thursday, 17 February 1983; pg. 1 BBC1 begins broadcasting a 30-minute Ceefax slot prior to the start of Breakfast Time. It is called Ceefax AM. It is first mentioned in the Radio Times on 21 March. 18 March – Amid falling ratings and mounting pressure from investors, Peter Jay steps aside as TV-am's Chief Executive allowing Jonathan Aitken to take on the role.Move to oust Jay at ailing TV-am. The Times (London, England), Friday, 18 March 1983; pg. 1Jay ousted as backers move to save TV-amBarker, Dennis;Simpson, DavidThe Guardian (1959–2003); 19 March 1983; P1TV-am shake-up expected after Peter Jay quits. The Times (London, England), Saturday, 19 March 1983 1 April – Roland Rat makes his first appearance on TV-am. Created by David Claridge and launched by TV-am Children's editor Anne Wood to entertain younger viewers during the Easter holidays, Roland is generally regarded as TV-am's saviour, being described as "the only rat to join a sinking ship". 12 April – Timothy Aitken succeeds his cousin Jonathan as chief executive of TV-am due to the IBA rules regarding MPs operating a television station. 19 April – Angela Rippon and Anna Ford are dismissed from TV-am. 29 April – Michael Parkinson is appointed to TV-am's board of directors. 23 May – TV-am's new look starts. Daybreak is axed, with Good Morning Britain now the sole weekday programme, beginning at 6:25am. Commander David Philpott is moved to weekends only, with Wincey Willis becoming the new weekday weather presenter.
1984 Bruce Gyngell is appointed as TV-am's chief executive. To make the company financially viable, he introduced cost-cutting measures which were brought sharply into focus in the Brighton hotel bombing. The night before the terrorist attack, TV-am sent the production team home as it could not afford to pay for hotel rooms and TV-am's response was limited to a caption of reporter John Stapleton reporting over the phone. Trade union agreements at the time meant that technical staff at the local ITV station TVS could not provide cover for another commercial television company, and TV-am's previous conflicts with ITN meant that the latter would not share its footage. The IBA told the company to invest and improve its news coverage, or it would lose its licence. 4 August – The BBC airs its first weekend edition of Breakfast Time as part of its coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. For the duration of the Games, with the exception of news and weather, the programme was entirely devoted to Olympic coverage and the time difference meant that Olympic Breakfast Time was given over to highlights of the overnight action. Frank Bough presents the programme with David Icke providing "Olympic Action Summaries" at 7:05, 8:05 and 8:50.BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 30 July 1984 The weekend editions saw news summaries broadcast on the hour and is also the first time that the BBC has broadcast a full service of pre-lunchtime news bulletins at the weekend.BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 4 August 1984 13 October – TV-am launches a new Saturday morning children's series called the Wide Awake Club. The live programme replaces pre-recorded shows such as Data Run and SPLAT.
1985 3 January – TV-am expands its broadcasting hours. Weekday programmes begin ten minutes earlier during the week, at 6:15am and weekend programmes begin at 6:55am. 18 February – Breakfast Time moves to a later slot, now running between 6:50am and 9:20am. Consequently, Ceefax AM is now on air for an extra 20 minutes each day, from 6am until 6:50am. TV-am launches After Nine. It is only broadcast during term time as children's programmes are shown during the school holidays. 14 September – TV-am's Wide Awake Club is doubled in length, broadcasting for almost two hours from 7:30am until 9:25am. 3 October – Roland Rat, the puppet rodent who saved an ailing TV-am transfers to the BBC. With only a week until October half term was due to start, TV-am launches Wacaday, a spin-off of the existing and successful Saturday morning programme, Wide Awake Club.
1986 25 July – Selina Scott presents Breakfast Time for the final time. 10 November – BBC1 revamps its breakfast programming. Breakfast Time is relaunched with a more formal news and current affairs format. It now begins at the later time of 7am. Prior to Breakfast Time, BBC1 starts showing The Flintstones at 6:30am, reducing Ceefax AM to a 30-minute broadcast.
1987 July – TV-am reintroduces a weekday news programme, GMB Newshour, airing initially from the start of programmes until 7am. Good Morning Britain now airs between 7am and 9am. 7 September – TV-am recommences broadcasting each day from 6am. This is the first time since 1983 that TV-am has transmitted throughout its allocated broadcast hours. 16 October – Following the Great Storm of 1987, electrical power to TV-am's studios is lost and an emergency programme has to be transmitted from facilities at Thames Television's Euston Road centre using reports from TV-am's own crews and those of ITN, TSW and TVS, while the BBC's Breakfast Time, which would usually come from Lime Grove, was unable to broadcast as the studios were without power, as was most of BBC Television Centre at Wood Lane. The early part of the programme was broadcast from the continuity suite at TV Centre usually used for Children's BBC presentation as this area had generator support, before a larger studio was able to be brought into use. 23 November – The TV-am strike begins after members of the technicians' union the ACTT walk out in a dispute over the station's ‘Caring Christmas Campaign’. What is meant to be a 24-hour stoppage continues for several months when staff are locked out by Managing Director Bruce Gyngell. TV-am is unable to broadcast Good Morning Britain, replacing it with shows such as Flipper, Batman and Happy Days. By December, a skeleton service that sees non-technical staff operating cameras and Gyngell himself directing proceedings, begin to allow Good Morning Britain to start broadcasting again. The strikers are eventually sacked and replaced with non-union staff. Viewing figures remain high throughout the disruption, which continues well into 1988. 7 December – TV-am is able to switch from airing 100% pre-recorded material with the introduction of a 30-minute live segment each morning presented by Anne Diamond. 14 December – TV-am extends its live broadcasting to an hour a day. 18 December – Frank Bough, who launched breakfast television on 17 January 1983, presents Breakfast Time for the final time.
1988 14 January – Talks between TV-am's management and the ACTT begin aimed at resolving the ongoing strike. 25–29 January – TV-am airs a week of live broadcasts from Sydney to celebrate Australia's bicentenary, and featuring Anne Diamond and Mike Morris. 1 February TV-am celebrates its fifth birthday, with Anne Diamond joined by Richard Keys, Gyles Brandreth, Su Pollard and Jimmy Greaves. It is the first time TV-am has been able to get its daily output down to an hour of pre-recorded material since the beginning of the strike. However, the station continues to air imports of old American shows for several more months. The deadline on which the ACTT must accept TV-am's "Ten Point Plan" aimed at resolving the strike. However, the plan is rejected by a ballot and the union refuses to resume negotiations. 16 February – TV-am Managing Director Bruce Gyngell sacks the station's locked out staff, and calls a meeting of its remaining employees the following morning to announce that the ACTT will never again organise itself at TV-am's studios. His decision fails to resolve the crisis, however, as picketing continues and the quality of its output remains unchanged. 30 May – TV-am does not go on air, with its airtime instead taken up by coverage of ITV's Telethon '88. The ACTT had asked its members to boycott the programme on this date, and fearful of sparking a nationwide dispute, TV-am's acting managing director, Adrian Moore, allows ITV to use the early morning airtime. July – Stephen Barden is appointed TV-am's new Managing Editor. With the station facing criticism from the IBA over the quality of its output, he acts quickly to improve matters. Repeats of imported American programmes finally come to an end. New programming is launched, and programmes such as Frost on Sunday (off air since the strike began) are restored. 19 August – Following concerns about the quality of TV-am's programming, an emergency meeting of the IBA considers whether to review the station's franchise in early 1989. However, it is ultimately decided not to proceed with the review since the next franchise round is approaching, and the IBA feels the success of both organisations is mutually exclusive.