1938 in British television

January

• No events.

February

• 21 February – The BBC Television Service broadcasts the first ever piece of television science-fiction, a 35-minute adaptation of a segment of the play R.U.R. by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek.

March

• 12 March – First news bulletin carried by the BBC Television Service, in sound only. Previously, the service had aired British Movietone News cinema newsreels.

April

• 1 April – The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is first televised on the BBC Television Service.
• 19 April – The first televised football (soccer) match, England v Scotland, shown on the BBC Television Service.
• 30 April – The FA Cup Final is televised for the first time on the BBC Television Service.

May

• 14 May – The first quiz show, Spelling Bee, is televised on the BBC Television Service.

June

• 24 June -
  • Test Match Cricket is broadcast for the first time on the BBC Television Service, with coverage of the second test of The Ashes series between England and Australia, live from Lord's Cricket Ground.
  • John Logie Baird gives the world's first public demonstration of a colour television broadcast.^[1] The 120-line image is projected at the Dominion Theatre, London on a 12 by 9 feet (3.7 by 2.7 m) screen in front of an audience of 3,000.

July - December

• No events.

by the end of the year 9,315 television sets have been sold in England.

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2024)

1930s

• Picture Page (1936–1939, 1946–1952).
• The Disorderly Room (1937–1939)
• For the Children (1937–1939, 1946–1950)