2020

**2020**

**MMXX**

* FA Cup Winners: Arsenal (beat Chelsea FC 2-1). Played on Saturday, 01 August.
* Christmas Number One: [1]
* Eurovision Song Contest: cancelled because of coronavirus pandemic (televised event from Rotterdam, 16 May)
	+ UK Eurovision Entry: James Newman - My Last Breath[2]
	+ Contest Winner: none [3]

* *Blue Peter* Team: Lindsey Russell, Richie Driss.
* *Doctor Who*: Jodi Whittaker (S12)
* Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ: Greg James
* Big Christmas Day Film On BBC1: none (Christmas specials of *Strictly Come Dancing, Blankety Blank, Call the Midwife, EastEnders, Mrs. Brown's Boys*)

## Main events

* **January**: massive bush fires continue in Australia, 'Megxit', coronavirus outbreak in China, Brexit begins.
* **February**: coronavirus continues to spread worldwide, more Brexit developments, bad storms hit parts of the UK.
* **March**: coronavirus declared global pandemic, many European countries on lockdown
* **April**: coronavirus and COVID-19 crisis continue worldwide, contagion slows down in China.
* **May**: George Floyd death sparks protests, 6 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, Dragon 2 launched.
* **October**. Three-tier anti-COVID system introduced in England; on 31 October new lockdown announced for whole of England.
* **November**: New anti-coronavirus lockdown begins in England, Joe Biden elected US President
* **December**: 3-tiers system re-adopted in England, Coronavirus vaccine approved and administered

TV
--

(channel and first broadcast date in brackets)

### New shows

* *Dracula* (BBC1, 01 January), *King Gary* (BBC1, 10 January), *Deadwater Fell* (C4, 10 January), *Crackerjack!* (17 January), *Feel Good* (C4, 18 March), *The English Game* (Netflix, 20 March), *Malory Towers* (CBBC, 06 April), *A Suitable Boy* (BBC1, 26 July), *All Creatures Great & Small* (C5, 01 September), The Wheel (BBC1, 28 November)

*full list*

### Shows ending

* *This Country* (BBC3, 23 March)

*full list*

### Other TV events

* *Doctor Who* (S12, BBC1), *After Life* (S2, Netflix), *Killing Eve* (S3, 12 April), *The Great British Bake-Off* (S11, C4, 22 September), *The Crown* (S5, 15 November, Netflix), *Strictly Come Dancing* (S16, BBC1, 17 October)

## Radio

* April: BBC radio channels adjust schedule timings to accommodate new daily routines due to coronavirus lockdown
* November: Graham Norton announces he is leaving his BBC Radio 2 weekend show and later confirms he will begin with Virgin Radio in the New Year.

## Music

see also [4]

* Biggest selling singles: The Weeknd - Blinding Lights, Saint Jhn - Roses, Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go (*full list*)
* Biggest selling albums: Dua Lipa - *Future Nostalgia*, Pop Smoke - *Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon*, Taylor Swift - *Folklore*, The Weeknd - *After Hours* (full list). NB biggest selling album Lewis Capaldi - *Divinely Uninspired.*. (2019), second biggest Harry Styles - *Fine Line* (2019)
	+ Compilation albums: *Title*
* Debut albums: Pop Smoke - Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, (*full list*)
	+ Eponymous debuts - Artist, Artist,
* Alternative/independent: Artist - Title

## Films

* *Tenet, Enola Holmes, The Secret Garden,*
* *Dolittle*, ...

##### Biggest selling DVD/Blu-ray:

* *Downton Abbey - The Movie* (2019), *Star Wars IX - The Rise of Skywalker* (2019), *Joker* (2019), *Frozen II* (2019) , *1917* (2019) (full list)

## Birthdays

* **30**: Emma Watson, Giovanni Pernice
* **40**: Tom Ravenscroft, Jessica Simpson, Harry Potter, Ben Whishaw, Kim Kardashian, Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera
* **50**: Alexander Armstrong, Zoe Ball, Andre Agassi, Melania Trump, Uma Thurman, Rachel Weisz, John Simm, Jason Orange, Tamzin Outhwaite, Gareth Southgate
* **60**: Greta Scacchi, Linford Christie, Paul Humphreys, Bono Vox, Tony Hadley, Vince Clarke, Antonio Banderas, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Richard Jobson, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Diego Maradona (dec.), Tilda Swinton, Stanley Tucci, Kim Wilde, Gary Lineker, Kenneth Branagh
* **70**: Billy Ocean, Malcolm MacDonald, Peter Gabriel, Mark Spitz, Agnetha Fältskog, Billy Currie, Suzi Quatro, Princess Anne
* **80**: Tom Jones, David Jason, Annie Nightingale, Penelope Keith, Ringo Starr, Cliff Richard, Geoffrey Boycott, Manfred Mann.
* **90**: Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery (dec. Oct.)

## Deaths

(Date of death and age, where known)

* Derek Fowlds (17 January), Terry Jones (21 January), Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna (26 January)
* Kirk Douglas (05 February, aged 103) Max von Sydow (08 March, 90), Roy Hudd (15 March, 83)
* Eddie Large (02 April, 78), Honor Blackman (05 April, 94), Tim Brooke-Taylor (12 April, 79), Stirling Moss (12 April, 90), Jill Gascoine (28 April, 83), Florian Schneider (Kraftwerk, 30 April, 73)
* Dave Greenfield (03 May, 61), Steve Priest (Sweet, 04 June, 72), Ian Holme (19 June, 88), Dame Vera Lynn (18 June, 103)
* Ennio Morricone (06 July, 91), Alan Parker (31 July, 76).
* Diana Rigg (10 September, 82)
* Frank Bough (21 October?, 87), Bobby Ball (28 October, 76), Nobby Stiles (30 October, 78) Sean Connery (31 October, 90)
* Geoffrey Palmer (06 November, 93), Peter Sutcliffe (13 November), Des O'Connor (14 November, 88), Ray Clemence (15 November, 72), Diego Maradona (25 November, 60)
* Paolo Rossi (09 December, 64), Barbara Windsor (10 December, 83)

## See also

* 2020 Category page
* 2020 Calendar
* 2021
* 2019