15 February – BBC1 airs the Ken Russell film Dance of the Seven Veils as part of its Omnibus strand. The film, about German composer Richard Strauss, attracts complaints because of its sex scenes and controversy by depicting Strauss as a Nazi sympathiser. Strauss's family subsequently withdraw their permission for the use of his music, meaning the film cannot be shown again until the copyright on his work has expired. It is not until 2020 that the film is given a second airing, at that year's Keswick Film Festival.[3][4]
20 February – The popular US children's show The Banana Splits airs on BBC1, 2 months after NBC cancelled it.
March
07 March – Another US children's show H.R. Pufnstuf airs on selected ITV regions.[5]
30 March – The first episode of the sitcom Up Pompeii, starring Frankie Howerd, is broadcast on BBC1.
April
6 April – HTV starts broadcasting in colour from the Wenvoe transmitting station and from this day, the station becomes known on air as HTV rather than Harlech Television.
May
31 May–21 June – ITV introduces a studio panel, joining presenters Brian Moore and Jimmy Hill to analyse the latest action in the 1970 World Cup. This is the first time a studio panel of pundits had been used as part of UK sporting coverage.
June
18 June – General election results are shown on BBC1 and ITN in colour for the first time.
July
8 July – Jack Walker dies off-screen of a heart attack in Coronation Street as a result of the death of actor Arthur Leslie. Jack becomes the first major character to be written out due to the death of an actor.
16–25 July – The BBC covers the 1970 Commonwealth Games with the afternoon events broadcast live, resulting in approximately three hours a day of live coverage each day plus a highlights programme broadcast at 8pm during the week.
3 August – The UK's final 405-lines television transmitter is switched on at Newhaven, East Sussex. All future transmitters are at the higher definition 625-lines.
19 August – ITV airs what is billed as the 1000th episode of Coronation Street. A souvenir edition of TVTimes is also published for the episode, even though it is in fact, the 999th.
The first colour edition of Blue Peter is aired on BBC1, but the last black and white edition will be transmitted on 24 June 1974. The programme alternates between colour and black and white depending on studio allocation.
The Nine O'Clock News is first broadcast on BBC1. The programme airs until 13 October 2000 when the station's main evening bulletin is switched to 10pm.
16 September – Gerry Anderson's live action science fiction series UFO airs on ITV.
13 November – The Colour Strike begins when ITV staff refuse to work with colour television equipment following a dispute over pay with their management.
18 November – The first episode of the long-running children's movie themed quiz show Screen Test is broadcast on BBC1.
9 December – 10th anniversary of the first episode of Coronation Street.
10 December – BBC1 show the acclaimed folk horror drama Robin Redbreast, as part of the Play for Today series, however a power outage blacks out the ending of the broadcast in many areas, resulting in the BBC reshowing the drama on 25th February 1971.
