1985 in British television

January

• 1 January – Brookside is moved from Wednesdays to Mondays which means the soap can now be seen on Mondays and Tuesdays.
• 2 January – Channel 4 begins airing the acclaimed series A Woman of Substance, a miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The series airs over three consecutive nights.
• 3–6 January – The UK's last VHF 405-line television transmitters close down.
• 4 January – Channel 4 achieves its highest ever audience as 13.8 million viewers tune in for the final part of the mini-series A Woman of Substance.
• 7 January – The BBC ends its experiment with afternoon broadcasting and from this date afternoon Pages from Ceefax is shown on BBC1 between the end of lunchtime programmes and the start of children's programmes and on BBC2 Ceefax pages are shown continuously between 9am and 5.25pm apart from when Daytime on Two is in season and when sporting events are being shown.
• 11 January – BBC2 debuts Victoria Wood as Seen on TV.^[1]
• 18 January – Debut of The Practice, a twice-weekly medical drama intended to become Granada's second soap produced for the ITV network. But viewing figures are not as healthy as had been hoped, and the series first run ends in May. It returns for a second series in 1986 before being axed.
• 20 January – American television sitcom The Cosby Show is broadcast in the United Kingdom for the first time.
• 23 January – A debate in the House of Lords is televised for the first time.

February

• 4 February – US detective drama Miami Vice makes its British television debut on BBC1, with the feature-length episode "Brother's Keeper".^[2]
• 12 February – Debut of Television, a thirteen part Granada documentary series narrated by Ian Holm that explores the history of television.
• 18 February – BBC1 undergoes a major relaunch. At 5.35 p.m., the legendary mechanical "mirror globe" ident, in use in varying forms since 1969, is seen for the last time in regular rotation on national BBC1. Its replacement, the COW (Computer Originated World, a computer generated globe) debuts at 7pm. On the same day, computer-generated graphics replace magnetic weather maps on all BBC forecasts, and Terry Wogan's eponymous talk show is relaunched as a thrice-weekly live primetime programme. EastEnders launches the following day.
• 19 February – EastEnders, the BBC1 soap opera, goes on air.^[3]

March

• 29 March – Play School is shown in the afternoon for the final time.
• 30 March – Doctor Who goes on an unexpected hiatus following the broadcast of part 2 of Revelation of the Daleks due to a dispute between the show's staff and BBC controller Michael Grade, a notorious detractor of the show; Doctor Who would resume airing the following year.
• 31 March – BBC1 begins airing a season of films directed by Francis Ford Coppola, beginning with the Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, a film inspired by the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness. This is the first showing of Apocalypse Now on British television.^[4]

April

• 28 April – The World Snooker Championship Final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis draws BBC2's highest ever rating of 18.5 million viewers.

May

• 5 May – As part of the VE Day 40th anniversary celebrations, ITV airs A Royal Celebration: 40 Years Of Peace, featuring the music of British artists such as Lonnie Donegan, Paul Jones, Brian Poole, Joe Brown, Wayne Fontana, Marty Wilde, and Cliff Richard.
• 8 May – The 40th anniversary of VE Day is marked by a service of remembrance at Westminster Abbey attended by politicians and members of the Royal family; the event is broadcast on television.^[5]
• 11 May – A fire breaks out at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford during a football match between Bradford City and Lincoln City. The match is being recorded by Yorkshire Television for transmission on their Sunday afternoon regional football show The Big Match the following day. Coverage of the fire is transmitted minutes after the event on the live ITV Saturday afternoon sports programme World of Sport. BBC's Grandstand also transmits live coverage of the fire.
• 29 May – Heysel Stadium Disaster televised live by BBC1; at the European Cup final in Brussels, Belgium, between Liverpool and Juventus, 39 Juventus fans are killed when a wall collapses during a riot at the Heysel Stadium.

June

• 5 June – The first episode of Bulman airs.

July

• 4 July – Debut of Tandoori Nights, a sitcom about rival Indian restaurants in London's Brick Lane starring Saeed Jaffrey, and Channel 4's first Asian comedy.
• 6 July – For the first time ever on British television, US sitcom Family Ties starts airing on Channel 4.
• 13 July – Live Aid pop concerts are held in Philadelphia and London and televised around the world. Over £50 million is raised for famine relief in Ethiopia.^[6]
• 14 July – Watchdog launches as a stand-alone programme^[7] having previously been a segment within teatime news magazine programmes Nationwide and Sixty Minutes.
• 27 July – BBC2 airs "Blues Night", an Arena special dedicated to the Blues, and featuring artists from the genre, including Sonny Boy Williamson, B. B. King, Blind John Davis, and Big Bill Broonzy.^[8]
• 30 July – Debut of the pop music culture series No Limits on BBC2.^[9]
• 31 July –
  • The BBC announces it has pulled At the Edge of the Troubles, a documentary in the Real Lives strand in which filmmaker Vincent Hanna secured an interview with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and his wife. The announcement leads to a one-day strike by members of the National Union of Journalists, and the eventual overturning of the ban. A slightly edited version of the programme is shown in October. The controversy damages the Director-Generalship of Alasdair Milne, who eventually resigns from the post in 1987.^[10]
  • The War Game, made for the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand in 1965 but banned from broadcast at the time, is finally shown on television as part of BBC2's After the Bomb season.^[11]

August

• August – After a series of high-profile football hooliganism and a dispute between the Football League and the broadcasters over revenue, televised league football is missing from British screens until the second half of the season. The Charity Shield and international games are the only matches screened.
• 1 August – The nuclear war docudrama Threads is repeated on BBC2 as part of the After the Bomb series.^[12]
• 13 August – ITV airs the US intergalactic whodunit Murder in Space. The film is shown without the ending, and a competition held for viewers to identify the murderer(s). The film's concluding 30 minutes are shown a few weeks later, with a studio of contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly solves the mystery. There is a prize of £10,000.
• 30 August –
  • Debut of Granada's ill-fated "continuing drama series", Albion Market. The series – set in a market in Salford and intended as a companion for Coronation Street – is panned by critics and suffers from poor ratings. It is axed a year later.
  • The weekday lunchtime Financial Report, broadcast on BBC1 in London and the south east, is broadcast for the final time ahead of the launch of a lunchtime regional news bulletin for viewers in the BBC South East region.

September

• 2 September – A regional news bulletin is broadcast after the Nine O'Clock News for the first time.
• 3 September – BBC1's EastEnders moves from 7.00pm to 7.30pm to avoid clashing with ITV's Emmerdale Farm, which airs in the 7.00pm timeslot on Tuesdays and Thursdays in many ITV regions.
• 7 September – The American sci-fi adventure series Otherworld makes its British television debut in the HTV region. The series is aired by the Anglia, Border, Central, Grampian and Granada regions from 2 November 1985, with most other companies starting to screen it in 1986 (the exception being Thames/LWT which never aired it).
• 9 September – Children's BBC premieres on BBC1.^[13]
• 10 September – ITV airs the Wales vs Scotland World Cup qualifier from Cardiff's Ninian Park. The match – played against the backdrop of escalating football hooliganism – is notable for the death of Scotland manager Jock Stein, who collapsed shortly before Scotland secured their place in the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
• 15 September – ITV airs Murder in Space: The Solution, in which the puzzle of the sci-fi murder mystery is finally solved.
• 28 September – After 20 years ITV's Saturday afternoon sports programme World of Sport is aired for the last time.

October

• 3 October – Roland Rat, the puppet rodent who saved an ailing TV-am in 1983 transfers to the BBC. Commenting on the move, he says, "I saved TV-am and now I'm here to save the BBC."^[14]
• 5 October – The first weekend horse racing is shown on Channel 4.
• 28 October – A documentary in ITV's World in Action series casts doubt on evidence used to convict the Birmingham Six of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.^[15]

November

• 11 November – The 1,000th episode of Emmerdale Farm, which airs the following day, is celebrated with a special lunch attended by Princess Michael of Kent. Not recognising any of the cast members she later admits that she never watches the show.
• 14 November – A special edition of Tomorrow's World examines how effective the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) might be at destroying any nuclear weapons launched at the United States.^[16]

December

• 6 December – BBC1 airs John Lennon: A Journey in the Life, an Everyman special marking the fifth anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. The programme includes archive footage of Lennon, dramatisations of parts of his life, and contributions from some of his friends.^[17]
• 9 December – 25th anniversary of the first episode of Coronation Street.
• 25 December –
  • Christmas Day highlights on BBC1 include the premiere of Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, and a Wogan special in which Terry Wogan travels to Denver to meet the actors who portray members of the Carrington family from US soap Dynasty.^[18]
  • Minder on the Orient Express, a feature-length episode of the television series Minder, receives its UK television debut as the highlight of ITV's Christmas Day schedule.^[19]
• 31 December – New Year's Eve highlights on BBC1 include Gone with the Wind, The Magnificent Seven, and a version of Terence Ratigan's The Browning Version with Ian Holm, while Terry Wogan welcomes in 1986 from BBC Television Centre.^[20]

BBC1

• 3 January – / Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981–1982)
• 4 February – Miami Vice (1984–1989)
• 5 February – Maelstrom (1985)
• 19 February – EastEnders (1985–present)
• March – Comic Relief (1985–present)
• 12 March – Who Sir? Me Sir? (1985)
• 19 March – The Day the Universe Changed (1985)
• 1 April – Bertha the Machine (1985–1986)
• 15 April – Three Up, Two Down (1985–1989)
• 17 May – Catchword (1985–1995)
• 1 September –
  • Howards' Way (1985–1990)
  • In Sickness and In Health (1985–1992)
• 3 September – Telly Addicts (1985–1998)
• 9 September – CBBC on BBC One (1985–2012)
• 27 September – Friday Film Special (1985–1989)
• 1 October – Galloping Galaxies! (1985–1986)
• 13 October – Oliver Twist (1985)
• 17 October – Happy Families (1985)
• 21 October – Masterteam (1985–1987)
• 4 November – Fingermouse (1985)
• 7 November – / Ulysses 31 (1981–1982)
• 11 November – Jonny Briggs (1985–1987)
• 25 December – Muppet Babies (1985–1991)

BBC2

• 11 January – Victoria Wood as Seen on TV (1985–1987)
• 6 February – Blott on the Landscape (1985)
• 10 April – Bleak House (1985)
• 30 July – No Limits (1985–1987)
• 30 August – Cool It (1985–1990)
• 4 November – Edge of Darkness (1985)

BBC Alba

• 17 October – Dòtaman (1985–present)

ITV

• 2 January – Gems (1985–1988)
• 3 January – The Little Green Man (1985)
• 6 January – The Beiderbecke Affair (1985)
• 7 January –
  • Chocky's Children (1985)
  • Full House (1985–1986)
• 11 January – Dempsey and Makepeace (1985–1986)
• 18 January – The Practice (1985–1986)
• 20 January –
  • The Cosby Show (1984–1992)
  • Supergran (1985–1987)
• 18 February – Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest (1985–1986)
• 26 February – Busman's Holiday (1985–1993)
• 3 April – Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers (1985)
• 4 April –
  • T-Bag (1985–1992)
  • Fox Tales (1985)
• 12 April – C.A.T.S. Eyes (1985–1987)
• 16 April – The Wall Game (1985)
• 19 April – Home to Roost (1985–1990)
• 27 April – Crosswits (1985–1998)
• 1 May – Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden (1985–1987)
• 13 May – Connections (1985–1990)
• 26 May – Connie (1985)
• 3 June – Jenny's War (1985)
• 5 June – Bulman (1985–1987)
• 28 June – And There's More (1985–1988)
• 2 August – High & Dry (1985–1987)
• 6 August – Murder of a Moderate Man (1985)
• 13 August – Murder in Space (1985)
• 30 August –
  • Albion Market (1985–1986)
  • Drummonds (1985–1987)
• 2 September – She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985–1986)
• 4 September – The Brothers McGregor (1985)
• 5 September – Children of the Dog Star (1984)
• 7 September – Otherworld (1985)
• 14 September – The Gummi Bears (1985–1993)
• 16 September – The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (1985)
• 19 September – The Giddy Game Show (1985–1987)
• 23 September – From the Top (1985–1986)
• 3 October – Puddle Lane (1985–1989)
• 23 October – Girls on Top (1985–1986)
• 1 November – Your Mother Wouldn't Like It (1985–1988)
• 10 November – Golden Pennies (1985)
• 13 November – Alias the Jester (1985–1986)
• 17 November – Romance on the Orient Express
• 30 November –
  • Copy Cats (1985–1987)
  • Blind Date (1985–2003, 2017–present)
• 26 December – The Joke Machine (1985–1986)
• 30 December – All in Good Faith (1985–1988)

Channel 4

• 2 January – A Woman of Substance (1985)
• 14 January – Relative Strangers (1985–1987)
• 6 April – The Max Headroom Show (1985–1987)
• 4 July – Tandoori Nights (1985–1987)
• 6 July – Family Ties (1982–1989)
• 6 October – Pob's Programme (1985–1988)

The Children's Channel

• Unknown –
  • / Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984–1985)
  • / Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats (1984–1986)
  • / Rocky Hollow (1985)

New channels

Defunct channels

Changes of network affiliation

Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

• The Jetsons (1962–1963, 1985–1987)
• Open All Hours (BBC2 1976, BBC1 1981–1982, 1985, 2013)
• Sorry! (1981–1982, 1985–1988)

1920s

• BBC Wimbledon (1927–present)

1930s

• BBC Cricket (1939–1999, 2020–2024)

1940s

• Come Dancing (1949–1998)

1950s

• Panorama (1953–present)
• What the Papers Say (1956–2008)
• The Sky at Night (1957–present)
• Blue Peter (1958–present)
• Grandstand (1958–2007)

1960s

• Coronation Street (1960–present)
• Songs of Praise (1961–present)
• Doctor Who (1963–1989, 2005–present)
• World in Action (1963–1998)
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006)
• Match of the Day (1964–present)
• Crossroads (1964–1988, 2001–2003)
• Play School (1964–1988)
• Mr. and Mrs. (1964–1999)
• Jackanory (1965–1996, 2006–present)
• Sportsnight (1965–1997)
• Call My Bluff (1965–2005)
• The Money Programme (1966–2010)
• The Big Match (1968–2002)

1970s

• The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971–1987)
• The Two Ronnies (1971–1987, 1991, 1996, 2005)
• Pebble Mill at One (1972–1986)
• Rainbow (1972–1992, 1994–1995)
• Emmerdale (1972–present)
• Newsround (1972–present)
• Weekend World (1972–1988)
• We Are the Champions (1973–1987)
• Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010)
• That's Life! (1973–1994)
• Wish You Were Here...? (1974–2003)
• Arena (1975–present)
• Jim'll Fix It (1975–1994)
• One Man and His Dog (1976–present)
• 3-2-1 (1978–1988)
• Grange Hill (1978–2008)
• Terry and June (1979–1987)
• The Book Tower (1979–1989)
• Blankety Blank (1979–1990, 1997–2002)
• The Paul Daniels Magic Show (1979–1994)
• Antiques Roadshow (1979–present)
• Question Time (1979–present)

1980s

• Cockleshell Bay (1980–1986)
• Children in Need (1980–present)
• That's My Boy (1981–1986)
• Razzamatazz (1981–1987)
• Bergerac (1981–1991)
• 'Allo 'Allo! (1982–1992)
• Wogan (1982–1992)
• Saturday Superstore (1982–1987)
• The Tube (1982–1987)
• Brookside (1982–2003)
• Countdown (1982–present)
• Let's Pretend (1982–1988)
• No. 73 (1982–1988)
• Timewatch (1982–present)
• Right to Reply (1982–2001)
• Inspector Gadget (1983–1986)
• Bananaman (1983–1986)
• Just Good Friends (1983–1986)
• Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983–1986)
• Breakfast Time (1983–1989)
• Dramarama (1983–1989)
• Don't Wait Up (1983–1990)
• Good Morning Britain (1983–1992)
• First Tuesday (1983–1993)
• Highway (1983–1993)
• Blockbusters (1983–93, 1994–95, 1997, 2000–01, 2012)
• Robin of Sherwood (1984–1986)
• The Trap Door (1984–1986)
• We Love TV (1984–1986)
• How Dare You (1984–1987)
• The Snorks (1984–1988)
• Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–1989)
• Wide Awake Club (1984–1992)
• Bob's Full House (1984–1990)
• Spitting Image (1984–1996)
• The Bill (1984–2010)
• Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (1984–present)
• Channel 4 Racing (1984–2016)