# 2007 in British television

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
This is a summary of the year 2007 in British television.

## Events
### January

| Date | Event |
| 2 January | This Life returns for a ten-year reunion special. |
| 2 January | Des O'Connor takes over from Des Lynam as co-presenter (with Carol Vorderman) of Channel 4's long-running quiz show Countdown. |
| 3 January | Celebrity Big Brother 5 is launched on Channel 4, with celebrities such as Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict and Leo Sayer. |
| 3 January | The Bill airs a new set of opening titles, paying homage to the original 1984 opening titles. The titles also include shots of London, interspersed with police work and shots of Sun Hill Police Station. The break bumpers and music are also updated. |
| 5 January | Leslie Ash officially opens the Centre for Healthcare Associated Infections (CHIA), a national facility at the University of Nottingham dedicated to conducting research into superbug infections. Ash is also the Centre's patron. |
| 5 January | Former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody returns to the Big Brother House to take part in the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother. On the same evening musician Donny Tourette walks off the show after just 48 hours. |
| 7 January | Laura Pearce, a 24-year-old civilian employee of Gloucestershire Constabulary, becomes the first contestant to win the £250,000 on the British version of Deal or No Deal. |
| 7 January | Hannah Waterman and Marti Pellow win the second series of BBC One's Just the Two of Us. |
| 7 January | Film director Ken Russell becomes the second contestant to leave Celebrity Big Brother in two days, following a row with Jade Goody. |
| 8 January | Michael Grade takes over as chief executive of ITV plc. |
| 8 January | The Calendar East and Calendar South regions are merged to form a new Calendar South region covering central and east Lincolnshire, east and south east Yorkshire, east Nottinghamshire and north Norfolk. The Calendar North region, broadcasting from the Emley Moor transmitter continues as before. |
| 8 January | STV launches separate news services for the East and West of the STV Central region, initially as a five-minute opt out within the 6:00 pm edition of Scotland Today on weeknights. |
| 9 January | Sky News hires Meridian Tonight presenter Charlotte Hawkins to co-present Sunrise alongside Eamonn Holmes; she makes her debut on 15 January. |
| 12 January | Singer Leo Sayer becomes the third person to leave Celebrity Big Brother 5 after walking out of the show. |
| 13 January | Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton wins the second series of ITV's Soapstar Superstar. |
| 13 January | ITV1 airs the British terrestrial television premiere of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The film achieves the highest audience of the day, with overnight figures indicating an audience of eight million. |
| 17 January | Protests are held in India and the UK against Celebrity Big Brother after Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara are alleged to be racially abusive to Bollywood star, Shilpa Shetty. The programme has also attracted several thousand complaints from viewers to Ofcom, Channel 4 and the police, and is criticised by senior politicians both in the UK and India. |
| 19 January | Jade Goody is evicted from Celebrity Big Brother following the racism row. Goody and Shilpa Shetty had both faced eviction, with Goody receiving 82% of the public vote. During a post-eviction interview, from which the wider public is banned, Goody says that she is "embarrassed and disgusted" by her behaviour. She had also apologised to Shetty before leaving the Big Brother house. |
| 22 January | BBC News 24 is re-branded with new titles and on-screen graphics. |
| 26 January | Jo O'Meara is evicted from Celebrity Big Brother. Viewing clips of her behaviour in the Big Brother house during a post-eviction interview, she says that it looks "very bad", but says she is not a racist. |
| 28 January | The final edition of Grandstand, the flagship BBC sports programme, is aired after nearly 50 years on television screens. |
| 28 January | Shilpa Shetty wins the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother. During the live final, Danielle Lloyd apologises for her behaviour toward the actress during the series. |

### February

| Date | Event |
| 2 February | Plans by Channel 4 to air a series of documentaries about masturbation in March are postponed after the event has attracted controversy and criticism from senior television figures. The programmes are to be shown separately at a later date and not as part of a season. |
| 2 February | Five airs the final episode of In the Grid. |
| 9 February | Paul Merton presents his last edition of Room 101. |
| 14 February | BBC One airs the biopic Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin. |
| 14 February | Samuel Preston walks off live on an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks after insults about his wife Chantelle Houghton. Team captain Bill Bailey replaces him with a member of the audience, Ed Seymour. |
| 15 February | Michael Starke, who played Sinbad in Brookside, is to join the cast of Coronation Street as take-away owner Jerry Morton. He will be seen onscreen from 18 March. |
| 18 February | BBC Two launches 14 new idents designed by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and produced by Red Bee Media, with the "2" becoming a "Windows of the World" a portal through which the world is seen differently. |
| 18 February | Richard & Judy is scrutinised when it is claimed that the winners were already chosen for its premium-rate phone-in quiz, "You Say, We Pay". This results in the start of the phone-in scandal. |
| 20 February | The newly launched Virgin Media launches its new on-demand channel Virgin Central. |
| February | UTV in Northern Ireland splits UTV Live and UTV Life into separate programmes and all bulletins outside of the main early evening programme are retitled UTV News. This continues until April 2009. |

### March

| Date | Event |
| 1 March | A channel agreement between Virgin Media and BSkyB for Virgin to broadcast non-premium Sky channels ends at midnight. Virgin Media and Sky have failed to reach agreement on the issue and subsequently Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Travel, Sky Travel Extra, Sky Sports News and Sky News are removed from the Virgin line-up. |
| 2 March | The Attorney General for England and Wales, Lord Goldsmith, obtains an injunction from the High Court preventing the BBC from broadcasting an item about investigations into the alleged cash for honours political scandal. |
| 5 March | ITV's quiz channel ITV Play is implicated in the phone-in scandal. As a result, ITV allow independent auditor Deloitte to review programmes with phone-ins that generate revenue such as Dancing on Ice and The X Factor. |
| 5 March | Shaun the Sheep first airs. |
| 7 March | The BBC's correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Alan Johnston, who is the only foreign reporter from a major media organisation based in Gaza, is kidnapped. All the main Palestinian militant groups call for his release. |
| 7 March | Louise Redknapp presents the controversial ITV documentary The Truth About Size Zero in which she attempts to drop to a size zero in 30 days by following a strict weight loss regimen in order to highlight eating disorder issues. |
| 7 March | Five's game show BrainTeaser is suddenly axed by the channel after five years. It is later revealed the sudden axing was in relation to the phone-in scandal, as the show's production company Endemol had faked on-air winners by posing production team members as such. Five is fined a record £300,000 by Ofcom over the incidents. |
| 9 March | The BBC's Castaway returns for a second, but shorter, series. |
| 13 March | ITV Play is shut down permanently due to the phone-in scandal. |
| 14 March | BBC children's programme Blue Peter is now involved with the phone-in scandal, after it is discovered they used a girl who was visiting the studio to pose as a caller live on the show. |
| 15 March | Steven Wallis wins the 2007 series of MasterChef Goes Large. |
| 16 March | During Comic Relief night, the last ever episode of The Vicar of Dibley is broadcast. BBC One's Red Nose Day 2007 also includes a special episode of Mr. Bean, a celebrity edition of The Apprentice, and a Catherine Tate sketch in which Lauren Cooper meets Tony Blair while on work experience at 10 Downing Street. |
| 17 March | Rugby player Kyran Bracken and skating partner Melanie Lambert win the second series of Dancing on Ice. |
| 18 March | After 10 years, Formula One on ITV goes 16:9 widescreen, with the opening race, the Australian Grand Prix, watched by 600 million viewers. |
| 19 March | In the Night Garden... premieres on BBC Two in the same month as the Teletubbies 10th anniversary. |
| 20 March | Dancing on Ice reveals they lost 11,500 phone calls, as they were not delivered to Vodafone until next Monday morning (26 March) |
| 22 March | Four years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a special edition of BBC One's Question Time debates the war's legacy. |
| 26 March | Singer Katherine Jenkins will make a cameo appearance in Emmerdale, the soap's producers confirm. Her appearance will be in May, and coincide with the resolution of the Tom King murder storyline. |
| 27 March | Moira Stuart is replaced as presenter of the news bulletin during Sunday AM, leaving her without a regular news slot. The decision to remove her from the programme prompts media allegations of ageism at the BBC, something which is rejected by Director-General Mark Thompson, who in April tells the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee that Stuart was replaced because of the changing role of television news presenting, which is moving towards television journalism rather than traditional news presenting. Stuart continues to present for the broadcaster, but on 3 October, it is confirmed that she will leave BBC News. |
| 27 March | The teleshopping channel iBuy closes after just under two years on air. |
| 30 March | ITV announces that Dermot O'Leary will replace Kate Thornton as host of The X Factor after Thornton was sacked from the programme after presenting three (and one celebrity) series. |
| 30 March | Five celebrates ten years of its launch. |
| 31 March | Freema Agyeman makes her debut as Doctor Who assistant Martha Jones as the science fiction drama returns for a third series. Any Dream Will Do, a search for someone to play Joseph in the Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat also debuts on BBC One. |
| 31 March | The Teletubbies celebrate their 10th anniversary. |

### April

| Date | Event |
| 1 April | The Sky at Night celebrates 50 years with a special anniversary edition. |
| 4 April | Sky Movies rebrands with each channel having its own genre. |
| 5 April | ITV News announces the award of a new six-year contract from ITV, worth £250 million. |
| 7 April | Debut of ITV's Grease is the Word which will search for two actors to play Danny and Sandy in a new stage production of Grease. |
| 10 April | BBC One airs the concluding episode of the second and final series of Life on Mars. |
| 13 April | Have I Got News for You starts to produce a video podcast featuring unbroadcast material. |
| 16 April | The University of Warwick wins the 2006–07 series of University Challenge, beating the University of Manchester 170–140. |
| 21 April | BBC sports journalist Jacqui Oatley becomes the first female commentator to appear on Match of the Day. |
| 23 April | A BBC Panorama discloses that callers to GMTV's phone-in competitions may have been defrauded out of millions of pounds, because the telephone system operator, Opera Interactive Technology, had determined the winners before the phone lines had closed. GMTV responded by suspending the phone-in quizzes, but claims that "it was confident it had not breached regulators' codes". Opera Interactive also denies any wrongdoing. |
| 24 April | It is announced that the BBC celebrity singing contest Just the Two of Us will not return for a third series. |
| 30 April | Channel 4 airs the Cutting Edge documentary Blind Young Things, a programme about students at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford. The film won a Royal Television Society award for Channel 4 and the Cutting Edge team in 2008. |

### May

| Date | Event |
| 12 May | Serbia's Marija Šerifović wins the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with "Molitva". |
| 14 May | BBC One broadcasts "Scientology and Me" a Panorama investigation into Scientology by journalist John Sweeney. A clip from the programme of Sweeney losing his temper and shouting at a disruptive scientologist representative is widely released on the internet and by DVD by scientologists prior to airing. |
| 16 May | Launch of Freesat, a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc. |
| 17 May | In Emmerdale, the Tom King whodunit storyline reaches its conclusion as the identity of the killer is revealed. The killer is Tom's son, Carl King (Tom Lister). The episode also features a cameo appearance by singer Katherine Jenkins, who plays herself attending a village pageant as its guest of honour. |
| 24 May | Ofcom rules that Celebrity Big Brother breached its code of conduct during the last series, and that Channel 4 made "serious editorial misjudgements" in the way it dealt with some of the incidents that sparked the racism row. |
| 29 May | ITV axes its celebrity singing contest, Soapstar Superstar after two series, believing it to be too similar in format to The X Factor. |
| 31 May | The BBC Trust approves plans for several BBC departments, including BBC Sport, to be moved to a new development in Salford. |

### June

| Date | Event |
| 4 June | It is announced that Dannii Minogue will replace Louis Walsh as a judge on the forthcoming series of The X Factor, joining Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne. Walsh had intended to leave the show, but later decides to return after being invited back. |
| 7 June | Following the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy earlier in the year, a contestant on the eighth series of Big Brother is removed from the show after her use of the word "nigger" during a conversation with another contestant. |
| 8 June | Adele Adkins, a 19-year-old singer from London makes her television debut on BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland, performing her song "Daydreamer", becoming one of the first artists to appear on the show without having released a record because producer Alison Howe booked her after hearing a demo tape. Adele's debut album, 19, is released in January 2008. |
| 9 June | Lee Mead wins BBC One's Any Dream Will Do and will take the lead role of Joseph in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre from 17 July. ITV's Grease is the Word is won by Danny Bayne and Susan McFadden, who will play Danny and Sandy in a forthcoming production of Grease beginning at the Piccadilly Theatre on 8 August. |
| 9 June | Debut of Britain's Got Talent, a co-production between Talkback Thames and Simon Cowell's SyCo for ITV. The series is a search for a variety act to perform at this year's Royal Variety Performance. The winner will also receive a prize of £100,000. |
| 11 June | The Mirror reports that Emmerdale actress Adele Silva is to quit her role as Kelly Windsor. |
| 13 June | Simon Ambrose wins the third series of The Apprentice. |
| 15 June | A contestant on Britain's Got Talent is withdrawn from the contest after police contact the series to alert producers that he is on the Sex Offenders Register. |
| 15 June | Nadia Sawalha wins the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef. |
| 17 June | Opera singer Paul Potts wins the first series of Britain's Got Talent. |
| 19 June | Nick Ross announces he is leaving Crimewatch, with July's edition of the show being the final one he will present. The announcement renews media speculation that the BBC has an ageist policy towards its presenters. |
| 25 June–8 July | Live coverage of Wimbledon 2007 is aired by the BBC with the last Wimbledon season to be shot in 4:3 fullscreen and the second season to be shot in 16:9 widescreen. |

### July

| Date | Event |
| 1 July | BBC One airs the Concert for Diana on what would have been the 46th birthday of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. |
| 2 July | Nick Ross presents his final episode of Crimewatch after 23 years at the helm. He had been on the programme since it began in 1984. |
| 2 July | Launch of Press TV, an English-language global news channel owned by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. |
| 11 July | BBC Two debuts The Alastair Campbell Diaries, a series in which Campbell reads extracts from his memoirs over footage of key moments in the recently ended Blair government. The three part series is aired over three nights, concluding on 13 July. |
| 15 July | The 28th series of Last of the Summer Wine begins on BBC One. |
| 18 July | Six BBC programmes, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Sport Relief, TMi and two radio programmes (The Liz Kershaw Show and White Label) have been discovered to have been involved in the phone in scandals. |
| 23 July | All music channels have permanently suspended their viewer selection aspects due to the ongoing premium rate phone-in scandals. |
| 25 July | The acclaimed US science fiction series Heroes makes its debut on BBC Two. |
| 26 July | The 2005 British Comedy Awards broadcast on ITV now become involved with the phone-in scandal, when it is discovered that people phoning in to vote for the People's Choice Award called when the programme was not being broadcast live, and the last half-hour of the show had been recorded when ITV showed a news broadcast. |

### August

| Date | Event |
| 2 August | 2007 sees the BBC celebrating their 75-year service in television (85 years for radio). The first BBC Television Service began on 2 August 1932. |
| 8 August | Former Peak Practice actor Gray O'Brien joins the cast of Coronation Street as catalogue salesman Tony Gordon. |
| 9 August | The success of Australian soaps such as Neighbours on British television has led to the wide use of phrases such as "no worries" in British English since the late 1980s, a report on Australia's Nine News suggests. |
| 26 August | The last episode of the BBC children's television series Smile is broadcast presented by Barney Harwood and Kirsten O'Brien, from 7:30 until 10:00 on BBC Two. |
| 31 August | Brian Belo wins series eight of Big Brother. |

### September

| Date | Event |
| 3 September | CBBC identity relaunched, with its third marketing campaign since the launch of the CBBC channel. Escape from Scorpion Island premieres. |
| 3 September | Lauren McAvoy wins Cycle 3 of Britain's Next Top Model. |
| 4 September | BBC One airs the 2004 romantic comedy Raising Helen, starring Kate Hudson. |
| 5 September | The BBC scraps plans for Planet Relief, a programme like Comic Relief and Sport Relief for fear of bias against critics of climate change and that people would prefer more factual programmes on the subject. |
| 5 September | ITV1 airs the British terrestrial television premiere of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. |
| 7 September–20 October | ITV provides coverage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, hosted by France. |
| 9 September | In an advertising first, eBay begin showing live auction adverts between programmes, showing an auction with picture, current bid, time auction ends, and postage and packaging charges |
| 9 September | The BBC One Sunday morning political programme Sunday AM is renamed The Andrew Marr Show when it returns after its summer break. |
| 10 September | ITV and Trevor McDonald are cleared of racism by Ofcom over remarks made on McDonald's News Knight show. The remarks concerned comedian Bernard Manning, who had died a few months previously, with McDonald referring to Manning as a 'fat, white bastard'. |
| 13 September | The BBC signs a two-year deal to provide coverage of the Super Bowl, the first time the event will be aired by the BBC. Super Bowl XLII will air in 2008, and Super Bowl XLIII in 2009. |
| 17 September | Children's show Mister Maker is first aired on CBeebies. |
| 18 September | It is announced that E.ON is to end its sponsorship of ITV Weather after 16 years. The sponsorship deal was the longest on UK terrestrial TV to date, beginning on 22 September 1991 (when sponsorship of ITV programmes was first allowed). Until June 2007, ITV Weather was sponsored by the energy supplier Powergen, and since then by Powergen's parent company E.ON. |
| 18 September | Dame Kelly Holmes presents the weekly round-up of sports news on BBC London News as an apparent substitute for regular presenter Mark Bright; she is introduced by anchorwoman Riz Lateef without explanation. |
| 21 September | ITV postpone broadcasting the 2007 British Comedy Awards due to the phone-in scandals. |
| 26 September | ABC1 ceases broadcasting. |
| 26 September | The Bionic Woman returns after a break of nearly 30 years but is axed again 2 months later. |
| 28 September | Trapped! appears as CBBC's first ever Halloween-themed game show since CITV's Terror Towers. |
| 29 September | Date on which the BBC finally airs an unedited version of the 1990 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The High Ground", which caused controversy at the time when one of the characters made reference to an Irish reunification occurring in 2024. |

### October

| Date | Event |
| 1 October | Virgin1 launches at 9 pm, replacing Ftn. |
| 1 October | The BBC announces that former 5 News presenter Kirsty Young will replace Fiona Bruce as presenter on Crimewatch from January 2008. Bruce is to take over as presenter of The Antiques Roadshow from Michael Aspel, who plans to retire. |
| 4 October | It is announced that ITV News and the ITV regional newsrooms are to switch from the traditional 4:3 format to 16:9 widescreen on 2 December. |
| 5 October | BBC newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky is to leave the broadcaster to present Five News, it is reported. She will take up the new presenting role in the New Year. |
| 8 October | Five has bought the rights to 8 Simple Rules starting on 21 October. |
| 9 October | Sky One apologises to viewers after a "technical fault" during a public vote on the 7 October edition of its show, Cirque de Celebrite, meant some of the votes were not registered. |
| 14 October | UKTV Bright Ideas ceases broadcasting to be replaced on Freeview by Dave. |
| 15 October | UKTV G2 is rebranded as Dave and becomes a free-to-air channel replacing newly defunct UKTV Bright Ideas. The name for the channel, aimed at a young male audience, was chosen by UKTV because "everyone knows a bloke called Dave". |
| 17 October – 14 November | The town of Whitehaven in Cumbria becomes the first place in the UK to lose their analogue television signals and start the digital switchover, starting with BBC Two. The other four channels were switched off on 14 November. |
| 20 October | The BBC Switch teenage block of shows is launched to cater for the underserved 12- to 16-year-olds. |
| 29 October | Sky News issues an apology after an aside from presenter Julie Etchingham was accidentally broadcast during live coverage of a speech by Conservative Party leader David Cameron when Etchingham's microphone was accidentally left switched on. |
| 29 October | The BBC announce that Patsy Palmer will return to EastEnders to reprise her role as Bianca Jackson. The following day it is also confirmed that Sid Owen, who played her on-screen husband, Ricky Butcher, will also return to the series. |
| 31 October | ITV confirms that Julie Etchingham will join the broadcaster to present a relaunched News at Ten alongside Sir Trevor McDonald from January 2008. |

### November

| Date | Event |
| 2 November | Emily Nakanda withdraws from The X Factor due to a "happy slapping" video she had been involved in at her university. |
| 21 November | Insurance firm esure is revealed as E.ON's successor as the sponsor of ITV's national weather bulletins. The two-year deal, rumoured to be worth £10 million, was negotiated by Carat Sponsorship and will take effect from 1 January 2008, with esure and Sheilas' Wheels as the sponsors, alternating between the two brands every two months. |
| 27 November | The BBC announces that Billie Piper will reprise her role as Rose Tyler in the fourth series of Doctor Who after leaving at the end of the second series. |
| 29 November | Kelly Brook is forced to withdraw from Strictly Come Dancing following the death of her father, Kenneth. |
| 30 November | Christopher Biggins wins the seventh series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. |

### December

| Date | Event |
| 1 December | ITV News and the ITV regional newsrooms cease being broadcast in 4:3 aspect. Freeview Channel in the UK also sees ITV News and the ITV regional newsrooms cease being cropped to 14:9 format. |
| 2 December | ITV News and the ITV regional newsrooms began using 16:9 widescreen. |
| 3 December | Jay Hunt is confirmed as the next Controller of BBC One, replacing Peter Fincham. She will take up the role in early 2008. |
| 9 December | Boxer Joe Calzaghe is named as this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year. |
| 15 December | Leon Jackson wins the fourth series of The X Factor. |
| 22 December | Singer Alesha Dixon and her dancing partner Matthew Cutler win the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing. |
| 25 December | BBC One gets its highest rated Christmas Day schedule in years, with "Voyage of the Damned", the Christmas special of Doctor Who, getting the shows' biggest audience since 1979 (13.31 million) and a special episode of EastEnders getting 14.38 million, that shows' biggest rating in three years and the highest rated show of 2007. Another success is a one-off special of To the Manor Born, returning after 26 years, with an audience of 10.25 million. |
| 25 December | BBC iPlayer, an online service for watching previously aired shows, is launched. |
| 27–28 December | "Assault on Sun Hill", a two-part The Bill story, features an armed siege at the fictional police station that leaves several characters traumatised. |
| 30 December | Babe is aired on BBC One for the last time. |

## Debuts
### BBC One

| Date | Debut |
| 1 January | The Sarah Jane Adventures |
| 8 January | M.I. High |
| 12 January | Lilies |
| 12 January | After You've Gone |
| 25 January | Five Days |
| 25 February | Recovery |
| 5 March | Shaun the Sheep |
| 16 March | Celebrity Apprentice |
| 23 March | A Class Apart |
| 25 March | Play It Again |
| 31 March | Any Dream Will Do |
| 8 April | Inspector George Gently |
| 13 April | Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul |
| 24 April | Life Line |
| 8 May | HolbyBlue |
| 25 May | Ronni Ancona & Co |
| 16 June | Jekyll |
| 16 June | Would I Lie to You? |
| 4 August | Empathy |
| 6 August | How to Live Longer |
| 28 August | Outnumbered |
| 2 September | Coming Down the Mountain |
| 3 September | Bear Behaving Badly |
| 16 September | Michael Palin's New Europe |
| 28 September | Trapped! |
| 15 October | Real Rescues |
| 26 October | The Armstrong & Miller Show |
| 17 November | The Omid Djalili Show |
| 17 November | Who Dares Wins |
| 4 November | Joe's Palace |
| 10 November | A Real Summer |
| 12 November | Capturing Mary |
| 18 November | Cranford |
| 19 November | Animalia |
| 18 December | Oliver Twist |
| 26 December | Ballet Shoes |
| 30 December | The Shadow in the North |

### BBC Two

| Date | Debut |
| 2 January | This Life + 10 |
| 11 January | Bill Oddie Back in the USA |
| 11 February | The Verdict |
| 22 February | Fear, Stress & Anger |
| 19 March | In the Night Garden... |
| 20 March | The Underdog Show |
| 12 April | Roman's Empire |
| 16 April | Get 100 |
| 4 May | Maxwell |
| 25 July | Heroes |
| 30 July | India with Sanjeev Bhaskar |
| 29 August | The Restaurant |
| 23 September | Stuart: A Life Backwards |
| 4 October | The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle |
| 4 October | The Peter Serafinowicz Show |
| 5 October | The Tudors |

### BBC Three

| Date | Debut |
| 19 March | Rush Hour |
| 21 May | Coming of Age |
| 23 May | Gavin & Stacey |
| 27 September | How Not To Live Your Life |

### BBC Four

| Date | Debut |
| 9 May | Miss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall |
| 31 May | World News Today |
| 15 October | Doctors to Be: 20 Years On |
| 22 October | Fanny Hill |
| 30 October | The History of the World Backwards |

### ITV (1/2/3/4/CITV)

| Date | Debut |
| 1 February | Benidorm |
| 10 February | Primeval |
| 19 February | The Bad Mother's Handbook |
| 26 February | Instinct |
| 11 March | Fallen Angel |
| 11 March | Atomic Betty |
| 22 March | The Yellow House |
| 4 April | City Lights |
| 22 April | Kingdom |
| 10 June | Talk to Me |
| 11 June | 24 Hours with... |
| 18 June | Golden Balls |
| 18 June | The Time of Your Life |
| 9 June | Britain's Got Talent |
| 24 June | News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald |
| 26 August | The Man Who Lost His Head |
| 3 September | The Alan Titchmarsh Show |
| 19 September | Torn |
| 27 September | Secret Diary of a Call Girl |
| 27 September | The Whistleblowers |
| 8 October | Emu |
| 24 October | Frankenstein |
| 28 October | Half Broken Things |
| 4 November | A Room with a View |
| 11 November | My Boy Jack |

### Channel 4

| 3 January | Embarrassing Bodies |
| 5 January | Ugly Betty |
| 21 January | Consent |
| 25 January | Skins |
| 14 April | Trick or Treat |
| 30 May | Big Brother 8 |
| 16 July | Win My Wage |
| 4 October | Britz |
| 5 October | Other People |
| 12 October | Ladies and Gentlemen |
| 19 October | Plus One |
| 2 November | Free Agents |
| 9 November | The Kevin Bishop Show |
| 26 November | Boy A |

### Five

| Date | Debut |
| 28 February | Kitchen |
| 12 March | The Beeps |
| 9 April | The Milkshake! Show |
| 7 May | Roary the Racing Car |
| 3 September | Big School |

### Other channels

| Date | Debut | Network |
| 3 February | The Replacements | Disney Channel |
| 5 March | Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! | Boomerang |
| 9 July | Skunk Fu! | CBBC |
| 6 August | Lola & Virginia | Pop Girl |
| 29 October | Storm Hawks | Cartoon Network |

## Channels
### New channels/streaming services

| Date | Channel |
| 1 March | Discovery Turbo |
| 24 May | Cartoonito |
| 20 July | Film 24 |
| 6 August | Pop Girl |
| 9 August | Ftn +1 |
| 20 August | Channel 4 +1 |
| 1 October | Virgin1 |
| 1 October | Virgin1 +1 |
| 7 November | Sky Real Lives |
| 7 November | Sky Real Lives +1 |
| 7 November | Sky Real Lives 2 |
| 10 December | Channel 4 HD |

### Defunct channels

| Date | Channel |
| 28 February | Discovery Kids |
| 1 March | Discovery Wings |
| 13 March | ITV Play |
| 27 March | iBuy |
| 23 May | Toonami |
| 20 July | Bonanza |
| 26 September | ABC1 |
| 1 October | Ftn |
| 1 October | Ftn +1 |
| 5 October | Radio Music Shop |
| 15 October | UKTV Bright Ideas |
| 7 November | Sky Travel |
| 7 November | Sky Travel +1 |
| 7 November | Sky Travel Extra |

### Rebranded channels

| Date | Old name | New name |
| 13 March | ITV Play | ITV Bingo |
| 15 October | UKTV G2 | Dave |
| 15 October | UKTV G2 +1 | Dave +1 |

## Television shows
### Changes of network affiliation

| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
| TNA Impact | TWC Fight | Bravo 2 |
| The Apprentice | BBC Two | BBC One |
| Top of the Pops | BBC Two | BBC One |
| American Dad! | BBC Two | BBC Three |
| Prison Break | Five | Sky One |
| Robot Wars | Five | Challenge |
| 8 Simple Rules | ABC1 | Five |
| Fraggle Rock | CITV | Cartoonito |
* ^1 It later moved to Bravo in early 2008

### Returning this year after a break of one year or longer

| Programme | Date of original removal | Original channel | Date of return | New channel(s) |
| Dale's Supermarket Sweep | 6 September 2001 | ITV | 12 February 2007 | N/A (Same channel as original) |
| Teletubbies | 16 February 2001 | CBBC (BBC Two) | 31 March 2007 | CBeebies |
| The Hoobs | 13 June 2003 | Channel 4 | May 2007 | N/A (Same channel as original) |
| The Bionic Woman | 13 May 1978 | ITV | 26 September 2007 | N/A (Same channel as original) |
| To the Manor Born | 29 November 1981 | BBC One | 25 December 2007 | N/A (Same channel as original) |

## Continuing television shows
### 1920s

* BBC Wimbledon (1927–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)

### 1930s

* Trooping the Colour (1937–1939, 1946–2019, 2023–present)
* The Boat Race (1938–1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present)

### 1950s

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

### 1960s

* Coronation Street (1960–present)
* Songs of Praise (1961–present)
* Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
* Match of the Day (1964–present)
* The Money Programme (1966–2010)

### 1970s

* Emmerdale (1972–present)
* Newsround (1972–present)
* Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010)
* Arena (1975–present)
* One Man and His Dog (1976–present)
* Top Gear (1977–2001, 2002–present)
* Grange Hill (1978–2008)
* Ski Sunday (1978–present)
* Antiques Roadshow (1979–present)
* Question Time (1979–present)

### 1980s

* Children in Need (1980–present)
* Postman Pat (1981, 1991, 1994, 1996, 2004–2008)
* Timewatch (1982–present)
* Countdown (1982–present)
* The Bill (1984–2010)
* Channel 4 Racing (1984–2016)
* Thomas & Friends (1984–2021)
* EastEnders (1985–present)
* Comic Relief (1985–present)
* Casualty (1986–present)
* ChuckleVision (1987–2009)
* Fireman Sam (1987–1994, 2005–2013)
* This Morning (1988–present)
* The Simpsons (1989–present)

### 1990s

* Have I Got News for You (1990–present)
* A Touch of Frost (1992–2010)
* Heartbeat (1992–2010)
* Time Team (1994–2013)
* Room 101 (1994–2007, 2012–2018)
* The National Lottery Draws (1994–2017)
* Top of the Pops 2 (1994–2017)
* Hollyoaks (1995–present)
* Arthur (1996–present)
* Never Mind the Buzzcocks (1996–2015)
* Silent Witness (1996–present)
* Midsomer Murders (1997–present)
* King of the Hill (1997–2010)
* South Park (1997–present)
* Airline (1998–2007)
* Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1998–2014)
* Bob the Builder (1998–present)
* Bremner, Bird and Fortune (1999–2010)
* British Soap Awards (1999–2019, 2022–present)
* Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999–2009)
* SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–present)
* Family Guy (1999–2002, 2005–present)
* Holby City (1999–2022)

### 2000s

* The Weakest Link (2000–2012, 2017–present)
* Big Brother (2000–2010, 2011–2018)
* My Family (2000–2011)
* Real Crime (2001–2011)
* Flog It! (2002–2020)
* Foyle's War (2002–2015)
* I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2002–present)
* Harry Hill's TV Burp (2002–2012)
* Spooks (2002–2011)
* Daily Politics (2003–2018)
* New Tricks (2003–2015)
* Peep Show (2003–2015)
* All Grown Up! (2003–2008)
* Tiny Pop (2003–2008)
* Politics Show (2003–2011)
* QI (2003–present)
* The Royal (2003–2011)
* This Week (2003–2019)
* Doc Martin (2004–2022)
* Sea of Souls (2004–2007)
* Supernanny (2004–2008, 2010–2012)
* Shameless (2004–2013)
* Strictly Come Dancing (2004–present)
* The X Factor (2004–2018)
* More4 News (2005—2009)
* Love Soup (2005–2008)
* Come Dine with Me (2005–present)
* The Jeremy Kyle Show (2005–2019)
* It's Me or the Dog (2005–2012)
* Deal or No Deal (2005–2016)
* Sunday AM (2005–2021)
* Mock the Week (2005–2022)
* Dancing on Ice (2006–2014)
* Don't Get Done, Get Dom (2006–2016)
* Hotel Babylon (2006–2009)
* Numberjacks (2006–2009)
* Robin Hood (2006–2009)
* That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006–2010)
* Torchwood (2006–2011)
* Waterloo Road (2006–2015)
* Star Stories (2006–2008)
* Ugly Betty (2006–2010)

## Big Brother racism controversy

2007 saw Channel 4 reality show Big Brother involved in two high-profile race-rows.

### Celebrity Big Brother 5

In January, Jade Goody, her mother Jackiey Budden and boyfriend Jack Tweed, along with Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara, were accused of racist bullying towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. This resulted in protests in India and a record number of complaints to British TV regulator Ofcom and to Channel 4.

### Big Brother 8

At the end of May, Channel 4 broadcast an apology for not intervening in the bullying just moments before the eight non-celebrity series started; all housemates in this series were given strict warnings about racism before entering. Just one week after the launch, Emily Parr was removed from the house in the early hours of the morning for saying the word "nigger" to black housemate Charley Uchea just hours before. This incident was widely discussed in the media; viewers complained about Channel 4 broadcasting the word, however, other viewers complained that Emily had been treated unfairly, as she did not use the word in a spiteful context, instead possibly imitating rappers who use the word in their songs.

## Ending this year

| Date | Show | Channel(s) | Debut(s) |
| 4 January | Green Wing | Channel 4 | 2004 |
| 4 January | CITV weekday afternoon block | ITV | 1983 |
| 4 January | The Holiday Programme | BBC | 1969 |
| 4 January | What Not to Wear | BBC | 2001 |
| 7 January | Just the Two of Us | BBC | 2006 |
| 12 January | The Price Is Right | ITV | 1984 |
| 13 January | Soapstar Superstar | ITV | 2006 |
| 19 January | Airline | ITV | 1998 |
| 28 January | Grandstand | BBC | 1958 |
| 13 February | Bill Oddie Back in the USA | BBC | 2007 |
| 15 February | The Verdict | BBC | 2007 |
| 3 March | PokerFace | ITV | 2006 |
| 7 March | BrainTeaser | Channel 5 | 2002 |
| 13 March | Fallen Angel | ITV | 2007 |
| 16 March | The Vicar of Dibley | BBC | 1994 |
| 10 April | Life on Mars | BBC | 2006 |
| 19 April | Sea of Souls | BBC | 2004 |
| 23 April | Rush Hour | BBC | 2007 |
| 31 May | The Last Detective | ITV | 2003 |
| 13 July | Art Attack | ITV | 1990 |
| 14 July | Popworld | Channel 4 | 2001 |
| 21 July | PointlessBlog | BBC Two | 2003 |
| 23 July | The Time of Your Life | ITV | 2007 |
| 28 July | Jekyll | BBC | 2007 |
| 10 August | Win My Wage | Channel 4 | 2007 |
| 26 August | The Chase | BBC | 2006 |
| 31 August | Dale's Supermarket Sweep | ITV | 1993 & 2007 |
| 1 September | School's Out | BBC | 2006 |
| 13 September | Born to Be Different | Channel 4 | 2003 & 2006 |
| 3 October | Torn | ITV | 2007 |
| 28 October | Michael Palin's New Europe | BBC | 2007 |
| 28 November | The Bionic Woman | ITV | 1976 & 2007 |
| 16 December | Cranford | BBC | 2007 |
| 22 December | Oliver Twist | BBC | 2007 |
| 22 December | Parkinson | ITV | 1971 |

## Top 10 highest rated shows of 2007

| Rank | Show | Rating |
| 1 | EastEnders | 14.34 million |
| 2 | Doctor Who | 13.31 million |
| 3 | Rugby World Cup 2007 | 13.10 million |
| 4 | Coronation Street | 13.08 million |
| 5 | The Vicar of Dibley | 13.08 million |
| 6 | X Factor results | 12.23 million |
| 7 | Concert for Diana | 12.22 million |
| 8 | Strictly Come Dancing | 12.09 million |
| 9 | The X Factor | 11.78 |
| 10 | Britain's Got Talent | 11.58 million |

## Deaths

| Date | Name | Age | Broadcast credibility |
| 7 January | Magnus Magnusson | 77 | television presenter (Mastermind) |
| 15 January | Barbara Kelly | 83 | actress and panelist (What's My Line?) |
| 22 January | Anna Cropper | 68 | actress (The Jewel in the Crown, Midsomer Murders) |
| 30 January | Griffith Jones | 97 | actor |
| 6 February | Dick Allen | 62 | television film editor (Hotel du Lac, Portrait of a Marriage) |
| 9 February | Ian Richardson | 72 | Scottish actor (House of Cards) |
| 20 February | Derek Waring | 79 | actor (Z-Cars) |
| 21 February | Keith Kyle | 81 | television presenter (Tonight) |
| 8 March | John Inman | 71 | actor (Are You Being Served?) |
| 14 March | Gareth Hunt | 65 | actor (Upstairs, Downstairs, The New Avengers) |
| 30 March | Dave Martin | 72 | television scriptwriter (Doctor Who, Z-Cars) |
| 2 April | George Sewell | 82 | actor (Softly, Softly, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Manhunt, The Sweeney) |
| 3 April | Terry Hall | 80 | ventriloquist on television |
| 27 April | Al Hunter Ashton | 49 | actor and scriptwriter |
| 26 May | Aubrey Singer | 80 | television executive |
| 18 June | Bernard Manning | 76 | comedian |
| 19 June | Tommy Eytle | 80 | actor (Jules Tavernier in EastEnders) |
| 27 June | Hugh Johns | 83 | football commentator |
| 9 July | Penny Thomson | 56 | television producer |
| 9 July | Peter Tuddenham | 88 | voice actor (Blake's 7) |
| 13 July | Frank Maher | 78 | television stuntman |
| 20 July | Ivor Emmanuel | 79 | actor |
| 26 July | John Normington | 70 | actor (Softly, Softly, Crown Court; Upstairs, Downstairs, My Family and Other Animals) |
| 29 July | Phil Drabble | 93 | television presenter, author and countryman (One Man and His Dog) |
| 29 July | Mike Reid | 67 | comedian and actor (EastEnders, Runaround) aka Frank Butcher |
| 5 August | Peter Graham Scott | 83 | television producer and director |
| 16 August | Clive Exton | 77 | scriptwriter (Poirot, Jeeves and Wooster, Rosemary & Thyme) |
| 30 August | Michael Jackson | 65 | writer and television presenter (The Beer Hunter) |
| 6 September | Ronald Magill | 87 | actor (Emmerdale) |
| 1 October | Ronnie Hazlehurst | 79 | theme tune composer (Only Fools and Horses, Yes Minister, Are You Being Served?, The Two Ronnies) |
| 1 October | Ned Sherrin | 76 | television producer (That Was The Week That Was, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life) |
| 6 October | Rodney Diak | 86 | actor |
| 12 October | Noel Coleman | 87 | actor (Doctor Who, Emergency – Ward 10, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, The Avengers) |
| 16 October | Deborah Kerr | 86 | actress (A Woman of Substance) |
| 21 October | Peter Moffatt | 85 | television director (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who) |
| 27 October | Moira Lister | 84 | South African-born actress (Danger Man, The Avengers) |
| 6 November | Hilda Braid | 78 | actress (Citizen Smith, Nana Moon in EastEnders) |
| 9 November | Trish Williamson | 52 | TV weather presenter, journalist, producer and director |
| 19 November | Dick Wilson | 91 | actor |
| 22 November | Verity Lambert | 71 | TV producer (Doctor Who) |
| 28 November | Tony Holland | 67 | television writer (EastEnders) |
| 1 December | Anton Rodgers | 74 | actor (Fresh Fields, French Fields, May to December) |
| 5 December | Christine Finn | 77 | actress (Quatermass and the Pit) |
| 5 December | Peter Orton | 72 | television producer |
| 8 December | Donald Burton | 83 | actor (Upstairs, Downstairs, Public Eye, Minder) |
| 25 December | Pat Kirkwood | 86 | actress |