1979 in Scottish television

Events

• 16 March - The American educational series for preschoolers Sesame Street begins airing for the first time on Scottish Television.
• 3 May - Television coverage of the 1979 general election.
• 10 July - Grampian Television drop their plans to record and broadcast the memorial service to be held in Buckie for the six crew members of a fishing boat lost in waters off Orkney, following a request from family members.
• 12 July - Garnock Way concludes after three years on air. It is axed to make way for Take the High Road, which would be shown across the ITV network. ITV had rejected Garnock Way because they wanted, in their words, "lots of Scotch Lochs and Hills". The new soap was a bigger budget affair and more in keeping with the 'tartan' perception of Scotland as it was deliberately set in a more beautiful part of Scotland.
• Unknown - BBC 1 Scotland airs Can Seo, a 20-part series teaching Scottish Gaelic. Can Seo means "Say This" in Gaelic.
• Unknown - Broadcast of the television film A Sense of Freedom about the Glasgow gangster Jimmy Boyle.

Debuts

BBC

• 13 June - The Omega Factor on BBC 1 (1979)
• Unknown - Can Seo on BBC 1 Scotland (1979)

ITV

• 16 March - USA Sesame Street on Scottish Television (1969–present)
• Unknown - A Sense of Freedom on Scottish Television (1981)

Television series

• Scotsport (1957–2008)
• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Top Club (1971–1998)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–Present)
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–Present)

Ending this year

• 15 August - The Omega Factor (1979)
• Unknown - Garnock Way (1976–1979)

Births

• 23 January - Dawn Porter, television presenter and writer
• 28 January - Ainslie Henderson, singer-songwriter
• 2 February - David Paisley, actor
• 21 April - James McAvoy, actor

Deaths

• 9 July - Roddy McMillan, 56, actor and playwright
• 24 July - Archie Duncan, 65, actor

References

References

1. MacDonald, George. (10 July 1979). "Plan to televise boat crew service dropped". The Glasgow Herald.
2. "Garnock Way".
3. "TV - the history of Scottish soaps".
4. Duncan, Haldane. "Part 04: The Glendhu Factor". Transdiffusion.org.
5. [http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/haldaneduncan/glendhu1.php Historical detail] {{webarchive. link. (2 March 2012 : from an interview with [[Haldane Duncan]], ex-director of ''[[Take the High Road]]''. Retrieved on 16 March 2008.)
6. (2012). "Except for Viewers in Scotland: The Story of Scottish Football on Television". Andrews UK Limited.
7. (6 August 2025). "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary".
8. "Archie Duncan".