1990 in Scottish television

Events

May

• 10 May – The Broadcasting Act 1990 receives its third reading in the House of Commons and is passed with 259 votes to 180.

June

• 20 June – Archie MacPherson commentates his last football match for BBC Scotland with the Scotland v Brazil World Cup match in Italy. Brazil won 1-0, leaving Scotland eliminated from the finals.

July

• 27 July – Stereo transmissions begin from the Durris transmitting station.

August

• 25 August – Jock Brown transfers from Scotsport to BBC Scotland to replace Archie MacPherson as *Sportscene'''s lead football commentator. Jock is replaced at *Scotsport'' by Gerry McNee.

October

• 15 October – BBC1 launches a new weekday morning service called Daytime UK. Linked live from Birmingham and running for four hours, from 8.50am until lunchtime, the new service includes hourly Scottish news summaries, broadcast after the on-the-hour network news bulletins.

November

• November – The Broadcasting Act 1990 receives Royal Assent. The Act paves the way for the deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry, and will have many consequences for the ITV system.

Unknown

• Scottish Television introduces a supplementary ident adding to the ITV generic logo. It features several circles rolling in over the thistle and falling over as one to reveal the name Scottish Television.

Debuts

BBC2

• 18 September – Over the Moon with Mr Boon (1990–1996)

ITV

• 20 January – Win, Lose or Draw (1990–2004)

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)
• Grampian Today (1980–2009)
• Take the High Road (1980–2003)
• Taggart (1983–2010)
• James the Cat (1984–1992)
• Crossfire (1984–2004)
• City Lights (1984–1991)
• Naked Video (1986–1991)
• Wheel of Fortune (1988–2001)
• Fun House (1989–1999)

Ending this year

• September – The Campbells (1986–1990)

Deaths

• 17 March - Paul Kermack, 58, actor (Take the High Road)

References

References

1. (10 May 1990). "Broadcasting Bill". [[Hansard.
2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94g9gOFfQWI IBA Engineering Announcements 10 July 1990]
3. "BBC One London – 15 October 1990 – BBC Genome".
4. Dugdale, John. (20 November 2000). "Broadcasting Act, 1990". The Guardian.
5. "The Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996". Ofcom.
6. (17 November 2016). "BBC Sport in Black and White". Springer.
7. (6 August 2025). "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary".
8. (13 February 2020). "Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities". Springer Nature.
9. (14 October 2016). "Contemporary British Television Crime Drama: Cops on the Box". Taylor & Francis.
10. (30 April 2020). "A look back at classic Glasgow comedy show City Lights".
11. (15 November 2019). "A 1980s Childhood". Amberley Publishing Limited.