1999 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1999.

Events

January

• 20 January – The UK government says no political pressure was applied to the BBC over its decision not to give Scotland a separate version of the Six O'Clock News . ^[1]

February

• No events.

March

• No events.

April

• 30 April – Launch of the digital channel S2, the Scottish equivalent of ITV2.

May

• 6–7 May – Television coverage of the 1999 Scottish Parliament general election. ^[2]
• 12 May – The Scottish Parliament meets in Edinburgh for its first session. Proceedings have been televised from the outset.

June

• 6 June – The final edition of political current affairs programme Scottish Lobby is broadcast on BBC2 Scotland.

July

• No events.

August

• No events.

September

• No events.

October

• 1 October – Death of Lena Zavaroni, the Scottish child singer and television presenter.
• 4 October – Launch of Newsnight Scotland , the BBC Scotland opt-out of the main Newsnight programme on BBC Two.
• 31 October – Establishment of TeleG, Scotland's first daily Gaelic language digital channel.

November

• 8 November – Border Television drops its famous 'chopsticks' logo which it had used since it launched in 1961 when it adopts the ITV 'hearts' idents. ^[3]

December

• No events.

Debuts

BBC

• 13 January – Chewin' the Fat on BBC One Scotland (1999–2002)
• 4 October – Newsnight Scotland on BBC Two Scotland (1999–2014)

Television series

• Scotsport (1957–2008) ^[4]
• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–present) ^[5]
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• Grampian Today (1980–2009)
• High Road (1980–2003) ^[6]
• Taggart (1983–2010) ^[7]
• Crossfire (1984–2004)
• Wheel of Fortune (1988–2001)
• Win, Lose or Draw (1990–2004)
• Telefios (1993–2000)
• Only an Excuse? (1993–2020) ^[8]

Ending this year

• 6 April - Machair (1993–1999) ^[9]
• 3 December – Fun House (1989–1999)

Deaths

• 1 October – Lena Zavaroni, 35, child singer and television presenter

See also

• 1999 in Scotland

References

1. "BBC 'not pressured' over Scottish Six". BBC News. BBC. 20 January 1999. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
2. McVeigh, Karen (8 May 1999). "BBC get viewers' votes and win by a landslide". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
3. Ident Central - Border Television
4. Haynes, Richard (17 November 2016). BBC Sport in Black and White. Springer. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-137-45501-7.
5. "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.
6. Brown, Ian (13 February 2020). Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities. Springer Nature. p. 194. ISBN   978-3-030-39407-3.
7. McElroy, Ruth (14 October 2016). Contemporary British Television Crime Drama: Cops on the Box. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN   978-1-317-16096-0.
8. "Hogmanay favourite Only an Excuse says cheerio. What did you think?". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
9. Berberich, Christine; Campbell, Neil (9 March 2016). Affective Landscapes in Literature, Art and Everyday Life: Memory, Place and the Senses. Routledge. p. 35. ISBN   978-1-317-18472-0.