BBC The BBC ( British Broadcasting Corporation ) was one of the UK broadcasters of " Star Trek " and is the parent company of , which in turn operates BBC America . The corporation had the rights to show , , , and . They also have the terrestrial rights to show , , and – the rights to broadcast were obtained by Channel 5 and the remaining film rights are held by Channel 4 . The BBC produced and broadcast two special evenings of " Star Trek " programming , each known as " Star Trek Night " , one in and another in . The BBC is also known for producing the science fiction franchise " Doctor Who " . " Star Trek " . Initially , the BBC was the first - run broadcaster of " Star Trek " ( - ) . The series was not shown in airdate or production order , and the BBC edited some episodes for violent content . The series was shown in four seasons , the first on Saturday evenings at 5 : 15 pm ( in the time slot usually taken by " Doctor Who " ) , the second on Monday evenings at 7 : 10 pm . The final two seasons were shown on Wednesday evenings at 7 : 10 pm . " Star Trek " was one of BBC ' s bigger ratings winners and was repeated throughout the 1970s and early ' 80s . ( ) During their original run of " The Original Series " , the BBC had chosen not to show the episodes , , and , deeming them unsuitable for the series time slot , due to their assessment that " " ( . . . ) they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness , torture , sadism and disease " " , as stated in a letter sent to the UK - based " Star Trek " Action Group in 1976 . These episodes were eventually shown during the 1992 repeat run . was not repeated by the BBC until for similar reasons , following audience complaints after its original transmission . ( ) At the time of first airing , BBC was still broadcasting in black and white . The first episode transmitted in color was . Following the huge success of the series in the UK , BBC subsequently repeated the series throughout the 1970s and early 1980s , but in order which followed the original NBC schedule . Spin - offs . The first season of was broadcast from to , with the second season being incorporated into a broadcast run the following year . From , the BBC instead repeated " The Original Series " , ending on . This screening mirrored the original US airdate order , and restored all of the edited content . The run of " The Next Generation " started again on , and once the run ended in 1996 the entire series repeated in its now regular Wednesday 6 pm time slot . All of the " Trek " spin - offs were shown in an early - evening 6pm slot – TNG on Wednesdays , DS9 on Thursdays , VOY on Sundays – and as a result , several episodes had to be cut for violence and disturbing imagery , most notably the TNG episodes and . The BBC also refused to show the episode due to political sensitivity over its content ( stating that terrorism had succeeded in re - unifying Ireland ) , broadcasting the episode for the first time on , nine years after the brought the conflict in question to a largely peaceful end . The BBC lost out in the bidding to broadcast on terrestrial re - run to Channel 4 in , and did not renew its repeat rights for the other series until , when in July , " Star Trek " and " Star Trek : The Next Generation " returned to the screen – " Star Trek " in a late - night Friday slot , with TNG in a mid - afternoon Saturday slot ( later following on from TOS in the Friday slot ) . " Voyager " repeat rights were taken by Five in .