1983 in Scottish television

Events

January

• 17 January – Breakfast Time, Britain's first breakfast show, launches on BBC1. The new service includes four opt-outs, which allow BBC Scotland to broadcast its own news bulletin.

February

• 1 February – TV-am launches, with Good Morning Britain. However this is a national service with no opt-outs for Scottish news.

May

• After 15 years on air, the final edition of current affairs programme Current Account is broadcast on BBC1 Scotland.

June

• 9–10 June – Television coverage of the 1983 general election.

September

• 6 September – ITV broadcasts the STV-produced Killer. It would later be turned into a series and re-titled Taggart.

October

• 24 October – Sixty Minutes launches on BBC1, replacing Nationwide, and the Reporting Scotland name is dropped, becoming Scotland Sixty Minutes due to the regional news programmes being incorporated into the new programme.

Debuts

ITV

• 6 September – Taggart (1983–2010)

Television series

• Scotsport (1957–2008)
• Top Club (1971–1998)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–present)
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• Grampian Today (1980–2009)
• Take the High Road (1980–2003)
• Now You See It (1981–1986)

Ending this year

• 21 October – Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)

Births

• March – Mark Prendergast, actor

References

References

1. (3 July 2004). "Fifty years on, STV set for studio switch". [[The Scotsman]].
2. (6 September 2018). "Ten people you didn't know appeared in Taggart as show marks 35th anniversary".
3. (17 November 2016). "BBC Sport in Black and White". Springer.
4. (6 August 2025). "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary".
5. (13 February 2020). "Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities". Springer Nature.