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1982 |
1 January | ITV franchise changes. ATV, Southern and Westward are replaced by Central, TVS and TSW | |
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18 January | A Complaint of Rape, the third episode of Roger Graef and Charles Stewart's fly-on-the-wall Police series, is broadcast, and the ensuing controversy leads to a change in practice for police interviews of rape victims. | |
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26 January | Unemployment passes 3 million mark for the first time since the 1930s. Opposition figures claim true figure is much higher. | |
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4 March | The government authorises the BBC to start broadcasting two satellite services in 1986 | |
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2 April | Argentina invades Falkland islands. Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington resigns | |
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14 June | Argentinians surrender the Falkland Islands. | |
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12 July | Actor Kenneth More (b. 1914) dies in London from Parkinson's disease | |
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22 July | The Promised Land? Documentary looking at the experiences of West Indian immigrants to Britain, who arrived between the late 1940's and the Mid-60's, and the attitudes to their race and colour which they encountered here, using achive news-reel and current affairs material. | |
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26 July |  Alasdair Milne becomes BBC Director-General, after working as a producer, editor (Tonight), Controller of BBC Scotland, Director of Programmes, Managing Director of Television and Deputy Director-General.
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10 October |  Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff (BBC) begins. One of the defining TV dramas of the Thatcher era, the series introduces the desperate Yosser Hughes, whose refrain - 'Gis a job' - seems, for many, to define the period.
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1 November | The BBC's Welsh-language programmes are transferred to the new S4C | |
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2 November |  Channel Four, the first new national UK television channel for 18 years, begins broadcasting, with a remit to cater for minorities. First evening's programming includes Countdown and Brookside.
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3 November | Ebony (Channel 4) black magazine series | |
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5 November | The Tube (Channel 4). Fresh and irreverant music show, presented by new-to-TV Jools Holland and Paula Yates | |
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9 November | The Young Ones (BBC). Britain's first alternative comedy sitcom. | |
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30 November | Eastern Eye begins broadcasting | |
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|  Channel 4 releases first fruits of its investments in film production, including Neil Jordan's Angel and Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract.
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