This is a list of events that took place in 2024 relating to television in the United Kingdom.
Events January Date Event1BBC One sees in the New Year with the concert Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve. Rick Astley is joined by various guests, including Rylan Clark-Neal with whom he performs a rendition of the Dead or Alive track "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)".STV's Bringing in the Bells is hosted by Alex Norton, Blythe Duff, Martin Compston and others to see in the New Year.2TV chef Simon Rimmer announces that Greens, a Manchester-based vegetarian restaurant of which he is co-owner, is closing with immediate effect after 33 years.The running times of BBC Breakfast and Morning Live are extended. BBC Breakfast runs until 9.30 with Morning Live airtime extended to 75 minutes, giving that programme a transmission slot of 9.30 to 10.45.3Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi makes a guest appearance in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office as himself, questioning Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells in a 2015 House of Commons committee inquiry into the Horizon computer system.That's TV 2 begins airing episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H.5ITV criticises ex-footballer Joey Barton after he likened Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, who were commentating on a football match the previous evening, to serial killers Fred and Rose West. ITV describes the remarks on X as "vindictive".Lawyers representing potential victims of the British Post Office scandal say they have been contacted by a further 50 people following the broadcast of the four-episode series ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.8Ofcom delays the publication of research into politicians presenting news programmes until it has ruled on investigations open into GB News. The BBC wins the free to air rights to rugby league's Super League and World Club Challenge, beating Channel 4. The rights are on a three-year contract, and matches will be shown on BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.The weekday editions of Sky News Breakfast are refreshed. The programme starts at the earlier time of 6am, and new presenters join the programme.9Provisional viewing figures indicate that 9.2 million people have watched the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, making it the most watched programme of 2024 so far. Subsequent data, which includes catch-up, put the figure at 9.75m.11The Liberal Democrats ask Ofcom to investigate GB News over alleged bias in its coverage of the Post Office scandal, including what the party's deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, describes as "a fictitious monologue" Nigel Farage delivered about leader Sir Ed Davey, which she says contained "a number of factual inaccuracies".13Gladiators returns for its third run on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with Bradley Walsh and his son Barney presenting. The show was previously aired on ITV from 1992 to 2000 and Sky One from 2008 to 2009. The revival has attracted an audience of 6 million viewers, becoming the biggest entertainment launch for the BBC in seven years.EastEnders confirms that Patsy Palmer is to briefly reprise her role as Bianca Jackson later in the year following her departure from the series in 2019.14 Dancing on Ice returns for its sixteenth series on ITV with Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby presenting, Mulhern having succeeded Phillip Schofield as co-presenter. Willoughby makes her return to television following her departure from This Morning.Debut of Smooth Radio's new television advertising campaign featuring famous UK landmarks and its new strapline, "Always the best music", which launches in a commercial break during the opening edition of Dancing on Ice.15 Love Island returns with an "All Stars" series, with the launch show episode being broadcast simultaneously on ITV1 and ITV2, featuring former contestants from the past ten series. The BBC announces that Shini Muthukrishnan will become the 43rd presenter of Blue Peter.Sky Showcase begins simulcasting selected programming from Sky Atlantic.16Rhodri Williams announces he has written to the UK government to ask them not to consider him for a second term as chairman of S4C following controversy at the TV channel.17The BBC has agreed a deal with insurance company Axa to sell its Elstree Studios, which includes the EastEnders set. The set will be leased back from Axa so that filming can continue there.An error with the calculation of viewing figures that had given GB News a million viewers for its New Year's Eve coverage is corrected by BARB, and shows the channel actually had 33,000 viewers that evening. 18 Kim Medcalf makes an unannounced departure from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, two years after returning to the soap as the character Sam Mitchell.22The World launches on Sky News. The hour-long international news programme airs Monday to Thursday at 9pm and is part of Sky News' evening sequence of individually branded, and focussed, hour-long programmes.The UK government announces plans to give Ofcom more powers over the BBC's online content, including BBC News.The UK government rejects calls from Welsh MPs to add the Six Nations Championship to the list of guaranteed free-to-air sporting events on British television. 24The 2024 Brit Award nominees are announced. Raye received the most nominations with seven in total, breaking the record for the most nominations received by a single artist in a year.25Campaigners for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) have criticised BBC One's Dragons' Den for promoting a product with "unfounded" claims after a businesswoman appeared on the show promoting a product she claimed had helped improve her ME. The episode is subsequently edited to include an onscreen message during the businesswoman's appearance.26Harry Clark wins series two of The Traitors.29Channel 4 announces the loss of 200 jobs as it seeks to slim down the organisation and focus on digital services.30The BBC releases around 3,000 emails relating to Martin Bashir's 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales after a judge ordered their release.Sky announces plans to cut 1,000 jobs in the UK during 2024 as it moves towards internet-based services.ITV announces that Alison Hammond will replace Paul O'Grady as presenter of For the Love of Dogs.
February Date Event2Construction work begins on The Tea Factory, the BBC's new Birmingham & West Midland headquarters.5Kate Garraway makes her first television appearance since the death of her husband, Derek Draper, and gives an interview to Good Morning Britain.8Kate Garraway returns to her presenting role on Good Morning Britain, presenting alongside Ben Shephard.TalkTV airs the final edition of Piers Morgan Uncensored to be shown regularly on the channel. In a subsequent interview with The Times, Morgan announces he is moving the show to his YouTube channel, where he can conduct longer and more in-depth interviews without the "unnecessary straitjacket" of television, and build a global following. TalkTV says some of Morgan's shows will continue to air on the channel.ITV announces that 25 James Bond films will be made available through the ITVX platform from March.10ITV and Guinness trial live audio described commentary for blind and partially sighted viewers of the 2024 Six Nations match between England and Wales.12Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears on an hour long GB News People's Forum, where a selected audience of undecided voters are invited to ask him questions. The programme is presented by Stephen Dixon.13The BBC announces the closure of the BBC iPlayer downloads service for desktop and laptop computers from 8 April; downloads will still be available for users of the BBC iPlayer app on mobile and tablet, and streaming remains possible on all devices.The US entertainment website Deadline Hollywood reports that Gavin & Stacey will be returning for a 2024 Christmas special, five years after the last one. But there is some official announcement from BBC Studios.15The BBC confirms that Asif Munaf, a contestant on The Apprentice, will not appear on the spin-off show, The Apprentice: You're Fired, when he exits the show after posting antisemitic comments on social media.16BBC Four airs four editions of Top of the Pops that were presented by Steve Wright as a tribute to the disc jockey following the announcement of his death a few days earlier.ITV confirms that Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley will be the new permanent presenters of This Morning following the departure of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield in 2023.18The 2024 BAFTA Awards are held at London's Royal Festival Hall and presented by David Tennant.19Ofcom launches an impartiality investigation into GB News's Q&A session with prime minister Rishi Sunak.Piers Morgan Uncensored begins airing regularly on Morgan's YouTube channel.Molly Smith and Tom Clare win the first series of Love Island All Stars. Overnight viewing figures from BARB estimate the finale, aired on ITV2, is viewed by an audience of just over a million, while ITV says that with catch-up viewing the total figure is 1.3 million.20The BBC announces plans to reshape the BBC Scotland TV channel, including axing the hour-long news programme The Nine and replacing it with a 30-minute programme.Idles singer Joe Talbot becomes the latest celebrity to appear on CBeebies Bedtime Stories, where he reads Under The Love Umbrella by Davina Bell.21Maryam Moshiri relaunches The World Today at 7pm as an evening programme on BBC News.McFly band members Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones will share a chair on the judging panel of The Voice UK when the series returns. US country singer LeAnn Rimes will also join the panel, alongside Sir Tom Jones and Will.i.am.The Metropolitan Police says it would take further action over allegations that Dan Wootton offered to pay colleagues for sexually explicit pictures of themselves.23Ben Shephard presents his final edition of Good Morning Britain ahead of his new role co-presenting This Morning.24Lee Anderson is suspended from the Conservative Party after "refusing to apologise" for claiming "Islamists" had "got control" of London Mayor Sadiq Khan during an edition of his GB News show the previous day.27The BBC apologises for the way it dealt with a complaint about the newsreader Huw Edwards, saying the issue was not escalated quickly enough.Comedian Jason Manford is to join the cast of Waterloo Road when the series returns later in the year.
March