27 January – In an interview for Granada Television's World in Action, Leader of the Opposition Margaret Thatcher remarks, "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture".[1] Critics regard the comment as a veiled reference to people of colour, thus pandering to xenophobia and reactionary sentiment. However, she receives 10,000 letters thanking her for raising the subject and the Conservatives gain a lead against Labour in the opinion polls.[2]
February
6 February – The BBC broadcasts the inaugural World Darts Championship run by the British Darts Organisation with evening highlights until 10 February.
8 February –The first episode of the influential Comprehensive school series Grange Hill is broadcast on BBC1. The Phil Redmond devised teenage drama would become one of the longest-running programmes on British television, lasting until 2008.[3][4]
13 February – Anna Ford becomes the first female newscaster on News at Ten.[5]
21 February – The supernatural drama series Armchair Thriller makes its debut on ITV. The series consisted of stand-alone serials of which the most popular, Quiet as a Nun, featured the infamous "Nun with No Face" scene.
22 February – The Police appear in an advert for Wrigley's chewing gum.
24 February – The BBC airs Going Straight. The sitcom is a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the fictional Slade Prison where Porridge had been set. The programme runs for one series.
3 April – ITV begins showing the courtroom drama series Rumpole of the Bailey, having originally debuted as a one-off drama on the BBC's Play for Today in 1975.
6 April – The four-part drama series Law & Order begins on BBC2. Each of the four stories within the series is told from a different perspective, including that of the Detective, the Villain, the Brief and the Prisoner. The series proves to be highly controversial upon its release due to its depiction of a corrupt British law enforcement and legal system.[6]
17 April – The BBC begins broadcasting the World Snooker Championship with daily highlights until the final on 29 April. Previously, they only had highlights of the final on Grandstand with slightly further coverage last year.
13 July – The original series of Top Gear begins airing on BBC2 having started as a locally produced programme at BBC Pebble Mill the previous year.
29 July – ITV airs the first episode of the Yorkshire Television produced game show 3-2-1, presented by Ted Rogers, featuring the character "Dusty Bin". The first episode is also notable for the appearance of DJ Janice Long as a contestant.
August
30 August - The first edition of Midweek Sports Special is broadcast on ITV.
The US soap opera Dallas is broadcast for the first time in the UK on BBC1.
Thames Television launches a lunchtime Thames News bulletin presented by Robin Houston. A late evening bulletin to follow News at Ten is also planned for the same day, but union problems lead to its launch being postponed until 1980.
10 September – Return of the Saint returns with new actor Ian Ogilvy and introducing the Jaguar XJ-S to take over the Volvo P1800 from the Saint 1962 TV series. The first episode is The Judas Game.
15 September – The American sitcom Soap is for broadcast on ITV.
6 November – ITV airs the first episode of Edward & Mrs. Simpson, a seven-part British television series that dramatises the events leading to the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII who gave up his throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.
November – ITV starts broadcasting the ORACLE teletext service. It ends on 31 December 1992.
December
21–22 December – BBC1 and BBC2 are forced off the air due to industrial action at the BBC by the ABS union which starts on Thursday 21 December. The following day the radio unions join their BBC Television counterparts, forcing the BBC to merge their four national radio networks into one national radio station, the BBC All Network Radio Service, from 4pm that afternoon. The strike is settled shortly before 10pm on 22 December with the unions and BBC management reaching an agreement at the British government's industrial disputes arbitration service ACAS. BBC1 resumes broadcast at 3pm on Saturday 23 December with BBC2 resuming at 1pm the same afternoon. Threat of disruption to the BBC's festive television schedules is averted. BBC Radio networks resume normal schedules on the morning of Saturday 23 December.[12][13][14][15]
25 December
BBC1 airs the network television premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 family musical film The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews.[16]
The network television premiere of the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever on ITV, starring Sean Connery in his final official appearance as 007.[9]
28 December – ITV airs the final episode of The Sweeney.
December – A strike forces Yorkshire Television off air throughout the entire Christmas period. The strike commenced on 17 December 1978, with normal service not resumed on Yorkshire Television until 5.45pm on Wednesday 3 January 1979. Many of ITV's Christmas programmes are eventually shown in early 1979 after the dispute has ended, little did anyone know that the seeds for the ITV Strike of 79 were sown.[17]