2008 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 2008.

Events

January

• No events.

February

• 27 February – In a speech to the Royal Television Society in Glasgow, Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond criticises broadcasters such as BBC Scotland and STV for not providing live coverage of Scotland's international football matches. ^[1]

March

• No events.

April

• No events.

May

• 22 May – After over 50 years on air STV's Scotsport airs for the last time.
• 24 June – SMG plc announces another name change – this time to STV Group plc.

June

• No events.

July

• No events.

August

• No events.

September

• 8 September – A report by the Scottish Broadcasting Commission recommends that up to £75 million of public funds should be used to create a high quality Scottish television channel. ^[2]
• 19 September – Launch of the Scottish Gaelic television channel BBC Alba. ^[3]
• 22 September – The launch of BBC Alba sees the first edition of a new Scottish Gaelic news bulletin called An Là .

October

• 1 October – Scottish Media Group is rebranded STV Group plc. It does this because it wants to highlight its renewed focus on television. ^{[4] [5]}

November

• November – A History of Scotland presented by historian Neil Oliver debuts on BBC One in Scotland. It is shown national on BBC Two from January 2009.
• November – STV announces its intention to opt out of ITV1 programmes they claim are not performing well in their broadcast region. These include series such as Sharpe's Peril , Al Murray's Happy Hour , Moving Wallpaper , Benidorm and The Alan Titchmarsh Show . ITV's coverage of the FA Cup is also dropped.

December

• No events.

Debuts

BBC

• November – A History of Scotland on BBC One
• Unknown – Trusadh on BBC Alba (2008–present)

Television series

• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–present) ^[6]
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• North Tonight (1980–2009)
• Taggart (1983–2010) ^[7]
• Only an Excuse? (1993–2020) ^[8]
• River City (2002–present)
• Politics Now (2004–2011)
• The Adventure Show (2005–present)
• GMTV Scotland (2007–present)

Ending this year

• 22 February – That Was The Team That Was (2006–2008)
• April – VideoGaiden (2005–2008)
• 22 May – Scotsport (1957–2008)

Deaths

• 13 June – John Malcolm, 72, actor
• 27 July – Bob Crampsey, 78, historian, author and broadcaster

See also

• 2008 in Scotland

References

1. "Salmond hits out over TV football". BBC News. BBC. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
2. "Scotland 'needs national channel'". BBC News. BBC. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
3. "BBC - Press Office - BBC Alba launching on 19 September". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
4. Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (24 June 2008). "SMG reborn as STV Group". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
5. "Goodbye SMG... Hello STV Group". BroadcastNow. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
6. "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.
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.