1990 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1990.

Events

January to April

• No 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. ^[1]

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. ^[2]

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.

September

• No events.

October

• 15 October – BBC1 launches a new weekday morning service called Daytime UK. ^[3] 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. ^{[4] [5]}

December

• No events.

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) ^[6]
• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Top Club (1971–1998)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–present) ^[7]
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• Grampian Today (1980–2009)
• Take the High Road (1980–2003) ^[8]
• Taggart (1983–2010) ^[9]
• James the Cat (1984–1992)
• Crossfire (1984–2004)
• City Lights (1984–1991) ^[10]
• Naked Video (1986–1991) ^[11]
• 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 )

See also

• 1990 in Scotland

References

1. "Broadcasting Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 10 May 1990. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
2. IBA Engineering Announcements 10 July 1990
3. "BBC One London – 15 October 1990 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
4. Dugdale, John (20 November 2000). "Broadcasting Act, 1990". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
5. "The Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996". Ofcom. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
6. Haynes, Richard (17 November 2016). BBC Sport in Black and White. Springer. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-137-45501-7.
7. "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary". BBC Sport. 6 August 2025. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
8. Brown, Ian (13 February 2020). Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities. Springer Nature. p. 194. ISBN   978-3-030-39407-3.
9. McElroy, Ruth (14 October 2016). Contemporary British Television Crime Drama: Cops on the Box. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN   978-1-317-16096-0.
10. Williams, Craig (30 April 2020). "A look back at classic Glasgow comedy show City Lights". GlasgowLive. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
11. Tait, Derek (15 November 2019). A 1980s Childhood. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 104. ISBN   978-1-4456-9242-5.