1980 in Scottish television

Last updated August 12, 2025

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1980.

Events

January

7 January - Grampian Today is relaunched as North Tonight, as part of an effort to reflect northern Scotland as a whole. 1980 also sees Grampian introduces weekday lunchtime and closedown news bulletins, called North News and North Headlines respectively.

February

19 February - Debut of the Scottish Television's soap Take the High Road .^[1]

March to November

No events.

December

1 December – BBC Scotland carries out a one-week experiment in breakfast television. It is a simulcast of BBC Radio Scotland's breakfast show Good Morning Scotland .^[2]
28 December – The IBA announces the results of the 1980 franchise round, revealing that all three of Scotland's ITV broadcasters have retained their franchises.

Unknown

Future British Prime Minister Gordon Brown becomes a journalist with Scottish Television.

Debuts

ITV

7 January - Grampian Today (1980–2009)
19 February - Take the High Road (1980–2003)^[1]

Television series

Scotsport (1957–2008)^[3]
Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
Top Club (1971–1998)
Scotland Today (1972–2009)
Sportscene (1975–Present)^[4]
The Beechgrove Garden (1978–Present)

Births

8 May - Michelle McManus, singer-songwriter, actress, radio and television presenter
2 August - Kate Heavenor, Children's television presenter
21 November - Lisa McAllister, model and actress
Unknown - Bryan Swanson, television reporter

Deaths

9 February - Renée Houston, 77, comedy actor
12 February - Moultrie Kelsall, 78, actor

References

1 2 "Popular Scottish TV shows you'll remember". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
↑ BBC Genome Project BBC1 Scotland listings 1 December 1980
↑ Haynes, Richard (17 November 2016). BBC Sport in Black and White. Springer. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-137-45501-7.
↑ "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary". BBC Sport. 6 August 2025. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2025.

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[scotsman-1] 1 2 "Popular Scottish TV shows you'll remember". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.

[2] BBC Genome Project BBC1 Scotland listings 1 December 1980

[3] Haynes, Richard (17 November 2016). BBC Sport in Black and White. Springer. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-137-45501-7.

[4] "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary". BBC Sport. 6 August 2025. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2025.

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