2009 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 2009.

Events

January

• No events.

February

• No events.

March

• 20 March – STV North's regional news programme North Tonight ends after 29 years on air.
• 22 March – STV Central's regional news programme Scotland Today ends after 37 years on air.
• 23 March – Launch of the new look news programme STV News at Six in STV's North and Central regions.

April

• No events.

May

• No events.

June

• No events.

July

• July – The BBC Trust writes to the UK government asking for it to guarantee that future Scotland football internationals are broadcast on terrestrial television. ^[1]
• July – Launch of STV Player allowing Internet users to view STV programmes online.
• July – STV announces that it is withdrawing some ITV1 networked programmes such as The Bill , Doc Martin , Midsomer Murders , Poirot and Lewis from its schedules, instead preferring to concentrate on programming made within Scotland. ^[2]

August

• 28 August – At the Edinburgh International Television Festival News Corporation Chairman James Murdoch delivers the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in which he launches an attack on the BBC and UK media regulator Ofcom. ^[3]

September

• 22 September – ITV plc launches legal proceedings against STV for a quoted unpaid debt of £38 million from network programming contributions, following STV's practice of dropping a number of network programmes on the STV franchise. At the same time, STV claims it is also following procedures against ITV plc, for up to £40 million owed to STV under its advertising sales agreements. ^[4]

October

• 26 October – The BBC Trust announces a review of the Gaelic language channel BBC Alba to assess its impact on viewers. ^[5]

November

• No events.

December

• No events.

Debuts

BBC

• 22 March – Sport Nation on BBC Two (2009–present)
• 21 October – Gary: Tank Commander (2009–2012)

ITV

• 17 January – wknd@stv (2009)
• 23 March – STV News at Six (2009–present)
• 6 September – STV Rugby (2009–2010; 2011–present)

Television series

• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Sportscene (1975–present) ^[6]
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• 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)
• Trusadh (2008–present)

Ending this year

• 20 March – North Tonight (1980–2009)
• 22 March – Scotland Today (1972–2009)

Deaths

• 30 April – Maurice Lindsay, 91, broadcaster ^[9]
• 15 September – Troy Kennedy Martin, 77, screenwriter

See also

• 2009 in Scotland

References

1. "BBC in Scotland football TV plea". BBC News. BBC. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
2. Tryhorn, Chris (11 September 2009). "STV defends dropping ITV dramas". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
3. Robinson, James (28 August 2009). "James Murdoch hits out at BBC and regulators at Edinburgh TV festival". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
4. Holmwood, Leigh (22 September 2009). "ITV takes legal action over STV's network programme payments". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
5. "Gaelic TV channel being reviewed". BBC News. BBC. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
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.
9. Riach, Alan (12 May 2009). "Obituary: Maurice Lindsay". the Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2021.