The rapper and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant Lady Sovereign is scheduled to appear on BBC One's political magazine programme, This Week to discuss the laws regarding self-defence for householders. She is shown backstage early in the show, waving to camera in anticipation of her appearance, but has disappeared by the time the segment begins. Presenter Andrew Neil apologises to viewers, explaining she has "done a runner" and instead discussed the topic with regular contributors Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott.[8] In a subsequent interview with The Guardian's Rich Pelley, the rapper says she had a panic attack. "My hands went stiff and I started hyperventilating. I didn't want to do it hours before but I went anyway, then I just changed my mind at the last minute, I guess."[9]
CBeebies aired the last re-run of series 3 & 4 of Balamory, due to rights issues. Re-runs of the first 2 series continued until 2016.
25 January
Long running children's television series and giant children's favourite Thomas and Friends is back on Channel 5 with a brand new series brought to life with fully CGI animation by Vancouver-based animation studio Nitrogen Studios.
While giving evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, former Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses the interview he gave to Fern Britton in December, telling the hearing it was a mistake to say he would have got rid of Saddam Hussein regardless of whether or not the Iraqi leader had weapons of mass destruction. The inquiry is also told the interview had been recorded in July 2009, some months before the hearing was convened.[11][12]
BSkyB becomes the first broadcaster in the world to show a live sports event in 3D when Sky Sports screens a football match between Manchester United and Arsenal to a public audience in several selected pubs.[14]
On an edition of the BBC's regional Inside Out programme, broadcaster Ray Gosling confesses to killing a former lover who had AIDS[23] He is arrested on suspicion of murder by Nottinghamshire Police two days later.[24] The confession was later deemed to have been false. Gosling was charged with wasting police time, and given a 90-day suspended sentence at Nottingham Magistrates Court on 14 September.[25]
ITV announces a pre-tax profit of £25m for 2009, compared with a loss of £2.7bn in 2008.[28]
3 – 31 March
Analogue is switched off in the Wenvoe area.
4 March
Penny Smith announces she is to leave GMTV after 17 years to pursue other projects.[29]
Carol Vorderman appears as a panellist on BBC One's Question Time. Her performance is subsequently described by the New Statesman's James Macintyre as "one of the worst by any panel member I have ever seen" because of her "clichéd, shrill, pub-boring, parochial approach" and because "she trotted out sluggish conventional wisdom at every turn".[30]
13 March
ITV announces that This Morning will air seven days a week, with two new one-hour shows being broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays from Saturday 20 March. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby will present the extra shows.[31]
18 March
A debate on The Alan Titchmarsh Show in which the actress Julie Peasgood emphasises the negative effects of violent video games attracts criticism due to her contribution to the 2000 release Martian Gothic: Unification, and because her arguments were based on a single unfavourable report on the subject.[32][33]
24 March – 7 April
Analogue is switched off in the Mendip area.
26 March
Primary school programming is shown during the day on BBC Two for the final time.[34] From next term, primary schools broadcasts become part of the overnight BBC Learning Zone with series shown as a back-to-back set rather than over several weeks.
ITV announced its intention to cancel its long running police drama The Bill from autumn 2010,[36] saying that the decision was made as it reflects the "changing tastes" of viewers.[37]
Channel 4 quiz show Countdown celebrates its 5000th edition with a letter of congratulations from The Queen.[38]
28 March
Gray O'Brien begins filming new scenes as Coronation Street villain Tony Gordon, who will break out of prison brandishing a gun after faking a heart attack.[39]
BSkyB is told by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom that it must cut the price it charges rival cable, terrestrial and internet broadcasters to show its premium sports channels. Sky says that it will appeal against the ruling.[45]
ITV newsreader Katie Derham is to join the BBC. She will be given an arts brief, including fronting the coverage of the Proms for BBC Two and BBC Radio 3.[56]
22 April
The second election debate is aired by Sky News, and is viewed by an audience of 3.355 million, giving the channel its largest ever peak time audience. The debate is also shown on Sky Three and the BBC News Channel, and collectively attracts a viewership of 4.1 million.[57]
29 April
BBC News hosts the final leaders debate before the election.[58]
Channel 4 premieres a live telecastgame showThe Million Pound Drop which became an international game show franchise shortly after the broadcast. The series (that would rename to The £100K Drop in 2018) would continue to run until its finale episode on 23 August 2019.[66][67]
Television schedules are changed in the wake of the Cumbria shootings. BBC One alters their programming to broadcast two BBC News Specials about the shootings, at 14:15 and 19:30 on the same day.[69] The scheduled 21:00 episode of ITV's Coronation Street is cancelled as it contained a violent storyline featuring a gun siege.[70] Episodes for 3 and 4 June were also cancelled and rescheduled to air the following week.[71] An episode of the Channel 4 panel game You Have Been Watching, which was due to be broadcast on 3 June, was postponed because it is a crime special.[72]
Mathematics student Arjun Rajyagor wins the first series of Junior Apprentice and a £25,000 investment from Lord Sugar to kick start his business career.[77]
GMTV announces plans to rebrand itself in September, dropping the GMTV name after 17 years in a £1.5million overhaul. On the same day presenter Andrew Castle announces his intention to leave the station after 10 years on air.[78]
Thousands of hours of programming from STV's archives will be made available online from later in the year after the Scottish broadcaster signed a deal with YouTube, the Daily Record reports.[80]
ITV is to suspend production of Heartbeat to catch up on a backlog of unbroadcast episodes, it is reported.[82]
27 June
ITV experiences its lowest viewing figures in its history. Less than one in ten people watched the channel and no more than 4 million people watched a single programme. On the day, the BBC broadcast the 2010 FIFA World Cup last-16 match between England and Germany (with 17.8 million viewers). Lack of viewers was also blamed on good summer weather.[citation needed]
BSkyB completes its deal to buy Virgin Media Television after receiving regulatory approval in the Republic of Ireland. Sky will rename its new acquisition Living TV Group.[84]
14 – 28 July
Analogue is switched off in the Skriaig area.
16 July
Essex teenager Gabriella Darlington wins Five's Be a Star on Neighbours competition, and will make a four-week appearance in the show as Poppy Rogers. She will be seen on UK screens from 10 November.[85]
19 July
S4C begins broadcasting in high definition when it launches a channel called 'Clirlun'.[86]
20 July
The Teletext games magazine GameCentral is to move to the Metro website following an online petition by fans to keep it running.[87]
Viewers in Scotland complain to the BBC after hearing newsreader Kate Silverton swear at the end of a bulletin. The presenter had not realised the mic was still on when she uttered the expletive, which is only picked up by BBC One Scotland. The BBC later apologises for the incident.[89]
After 26 years, the long-running police drama The Bill is aired on ITV for the last time, concluding with the second part of the series finale, Respect.[97][98]
New ITV breakfast show Daybreak begins with former The One Show hosts Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley presenting. The inaugural edition features an interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, while overnight viewing figures published the following day indicate the programme had an audience of over a million.[101]
8 – 22 September
Analogue is switched off in the Knockmore area.
9 September
Five airs a special evening edition of its morning news themed programme The Wright Stuff to celebrate its tenth anniversary.[102]
Brian Dowling becomes Big Brother's Ultimate Housemate after winning Ultimate Big Brother which was the last ever series of the reality television show to air on Channel 4 before returning on 18 August 2011 this time on Channel 5.[104]
12 September
Heartbeat airs its last ever episode after 18 years with the episode watched by 6.00 million viewers.[105]
14 September
Jay Hunt announces she is leaving the post of Controller of BBC One to take up the role of chief creative officer at Channel 4.[106]
15 September
BSkyB announces that it is to close down Bravo (and also Bravo 2) on 1 January 2011 and Channel One (formerly Virgin 1) on 1 February 2011 to focus on the Living brand as well as their own channels such as Sky1, Sky2 and Sky3. The gameshow channel Challenge is to take over Channel One's slot on Freeview, which will boost ratings for Challenge.[107]
ITV confirms that the noted 1950s red landmark "Granada TV" sign on the roof and entrance of Granada Studios on Quay Street, Manchester, has been removed for safety reasons after maintenance found it was badly corroded.[110]
The Apprentice returns to BBC One for a sixth series, having been delayed from earlier in the year because of the general election, and concerns Lord Sugar's role as a government adviser could present a conflict of interest if the series was on air in the run up to polling day.[111]
6 – 20 October
Analogue is switched off in the Rosemarkie area.
8 October
During a review of the following day's newspapers, Sky News presenter Steve Dixon is forced to make a hasty apology after asking Bee GeeRobin Gibb if his brother, Maurice (who died in 2003) is watching while discussing an article that makes reference to the late singer.[112]
Release of A Simples Life, the autobiography of the real-life meerkat Aleksandr Orlov, star of the Compare the Meerkat television adverts that first appeared on screen in January 2009. The commercials have proved popular with viewers, and have seen pre-order sales of the book on Amazon.co.uk out-perform those of autobiographies by people such as Tony Blair, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue.[118]
Members of the National Union of Journalists at the BBC begin a 48-hour strike in a dispute over proposed changes to the corporation's pension scheme. BBC News operates a reduced service.[121]
Ofcom revokes the broadcast licenses of the four Tease Me television sex line channels for broadcasting sexually explicit content before the watershed.[124]
30 November
In Wales, S4C2 is removed from Freeview channel 86.
BBC journalist Ben Brown conducts an interview for the BBC News Channel with Jody McIntyre, a political activist with cerebral palsy who had been dragged from his wheelchair by Metropolitan police officers during a recent student protest march through London. Brown is subsequently criticised by viewers for adopting a "highly accusatory" tone during the interview.[129]
Responsibility for media and broadcasting policy is transferred from Business SecretaryVince Cable's Department to that of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt after Cable was secretly recorded by Daily Telegraph journalists saying that he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch over News Corporation's plans to take full control of BSkyB.[134][135]
^Masters, Tim (2 April 2010). "Meet the 11th Doctor: Matt Smith". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
^Conlan, Tara (19 April 2010). "Adrian Chiles quits BBC for ITV". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
^Robinson, James (21 April 2010). "Katie Derham leaving ITN for BBC". TheGuardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^"Simon MacCorkindale Obituary". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 15 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.