3 January – CITV celebrates its twentieth birthday with the CITV Birthday Bash.[3]
4 January – ITV1 airs the first live edition of Blind Date, on which presenter Cilla Black announces she is quitting the show after 18 years. She later tells ITV bosses the programme should be shelved because of falling ratings which have dropped from 17 million at its peak to 4 million.[4]
6 January – Scottish and Grampian adopt the ITV celebrity idents package, introduced on 28 October 2002, albeit with their own logos attached and with idents featuring a lot more Scottish personalities alongside those of ITV1.
11 January
Girls Aloud singer and former Popstars: The Rivals contestant Cheryl Tweedy is involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in The Drink nightclub in Guildford. She is subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault after allegedly calling Amogbokpa a "jigaboo"[5] and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.[6]
Debut of Channel 4's The Salon, a fly-on-the-wall series documenting events in a purpose-built beauty salon in London.[7] The series airs for three months, before returning for a second run in October. It finishes in March 2004.
ITV1 soap Crossroads is relaunched under the stewardship of producer Yvon Grace and with a decidedly camp feel. However, Grace is criticised by fans for her ambivalence towards unresolved storylines from the 2001–2002 run.[9]
28 January – Los Angeles-based police drama Boomtown debuts on Five.
31 January – The Campaign Week website reports that TBWA have used characters from the 1970s children's television show Hector's House for an ad campaign relaunching Virgin One bank account as The One account. The campaign has been created on behalf of the Royal Bank of Scotland which bought the name from Virgin and AMP in July 2001.[10]
Postman Pat returns to CBeebies with a new series 6 years after the last series aired. The first episode is titled Postman Pat and the Greendale Rocket: in the episode, The children set off on a school outing to the old Greendale Station and are very excited when they discover Greendale's old forgotten steam train, the Greendale Rocket. Everyone volunteers to get the Station refurbished and back to operational condition. Pat and Ted try to get the engine working again with a new friend Ajay and his Family.
3 February – The Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson is broadcast on ITV1.[11] The revelations of Jackson's controversial personal life in the programme is one of the many factors that leads to his trial for child molestation.[12] Launch of Channel U.
6 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair appears on BBC Two's Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman and a live audience where he is questioned about the Iraq crisis. Blair is also taken aback when Paxman asks him about his Christian faith and whether he and US President George W. Bush have prayed together.[14][15]
9–10 February – ITV1 screens the controversial two-part drama The Second Coming, set around the return to Earth of Jesus Christ in modern-day Manchester.[18][19]
12 February – In the weeks leading up to the Iraq War, the BBC screens a series of programmes examining the case for and against war. The centrepiece of this is Iraq Day: The Case For and Against War, a 90-minute programme on BBC One on that day. Presented by Peter Snow, the programme analyses the possible implications of a war in the Middle East and attempts to gauge public opinion on the subject with a viewers poll.[21]
20 February – The 2003 BRIT Awards are held at London's Earls Court. Two of the acts, Ms. Dynamite and Coldplay, use their awards acceptance speeches to criticise plans for US-led military action in Iraq.[22]
22 February – After an absence of six years, After Dark returns to television.[23]
Mersey Television boss Phil Redmond criticises broadcasting watchdogs for forcing television to "dumb down" after the Independent Television Commission rules that episodes of Brookside that aired in November 2002 showing an armed siege had breached broadcasting regulations and were inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience.[26]
3 March – Five airs Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, the "rebuttal video" issued in response to the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson. Having previously been aired on Sky One, this airing of the programme is watched by 2.4 million viewers, enjoying a 9.8% audience share.[28]
5 March – BBC One airs Mandela: The Living Legend, a two-part documentary series whose film crew had six months of unprecedented access to Nelson Mandela.[29] The second part airs on 12 March.[30]
7 March
Singer George Michael makes his first appearance on BBC One's Top of the Pops in 17 years, with a cover of Don McLean's protest song The Grave, but runs into conflict with the show's producers for an anti-war, anti-Blair T-shirt worn by some members of his band.[31]
EastEnders announces the casting of a new family, the Ferreiras who will be the first Asian family to join the soap for a decade. They will move to Albert Square in the Summer.[32]
8 March – Debut of ITV1's Reborn in the USA, a reality show in which ten British pop acts of the 1980s and 1990s tour the United States in the hope of reviving their careers. Those participating in the series include Sonia Evans, Leee John, Michelle Gayle and Tony Hadley. The show has already prompted controversy after Mark Shaw of Then Jericho decided to quit the series shortly before it went on air.[33]
9 March
Teletext's often surreal and acerbic games magazine, Digitiser is published for the final time after ten years on air. The magazine is replaced the following day by GameCentral which features less of the humour favoured by its predecessor.
The 1982 American horror slasher film Friday the 13th Part III makes its UK television debut on ITV1 as part of the channel's Sunday night lineup.
10 March – Channel 4 is reprimanded by the Independent Television Commission for showing a documentary in which a Chinese artist appeared to eat a stillborn baby which the watchdog felt demonstrated a "lack of respect for human dignity". Graham Norton is also criticised for his joke about the late Maurice Gibb.[34]
11 March – The BBC ends the deal with Sky Digital under which BBC channels are carried exclusively by Sky, meaning that satellite viewers will be able to watch BBC content without a viewing card. The changes will take effect from 30 May.[35]
12 March
ITV announce that Cat Deeley will take over as presenter of the junior version of Stars in Their Eyes because regular host Matthew Kelly will be busy touring as part of a stage production when the series is scheduled to be recorded.[36]
The climax to the Richard Hillman plot in Coronation Street is aired in which the serial killer attempts to kill himself and his wife Gail Platt and her children by driving their people carrier into the local canal. The conclusion marks the exit of the actor Brian Capron, who played Richard, from the soap.
Procter & Gamble announces it is ending its Daz Doorstep Challenge advertising campaign after ten years, feeling it is "old fashioned". It will be replaced with the soap-opera style campaign Cleaner Close.[38][39]
As the 2003 invasion of Iraq begins, many broadcasters adjust their regular schedules to provide up to date coverage of unfolding events. BBC One's news programmes are all slightly extended in length in addition to blanket coverage on BBC News 24 across each day. ITV moves its main evening bulletin forward by an hour to 9pm, anchored by Trevor McDonald live from nearby Kuwait, and abandons its usual overnight schedule to provide a through the night simulcast of the ITV News Channel during the war.
George McGhee is appointed as Controller of BBC Programme Acquisition and will take up the position from early April.[41]
22 March – ITN journalist Terry Lloyd is killed while covering the events of the Iraq War after he and his team of two cameramen and an interpreter are caught in a crossfire during fighting near the Shatt Al Basra Bridge in Basra.[42] between US and Iraqi forces. His body and that of his Lebanese interpreter, Hussein Osman, are recovered and it is later discovered they were both shot by United States forces.[43]
23 March – The Truth, the season nine finale of The X-Files and the last episode in the series original run, makes its terrestrial television debut on BBC Two.[44]
26 March – BBC defence correspondent Paul Adams criticises BBC News coverage of the Iraq war in a memo to bosses, describing the coverage as painting an untruthful picture.[45]
28 March – Debut of Extraordinary People on Five, each programme follows the lives of people with a rare medical condition and/or an unusual ability, many of these people do activities previously thought impossible for people in their condition.
30 March – Channel 4 News reporter Gaby Rado is found dead in Iraq, having apparently fallen from the roof of the Abu Sanaa hotel in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah. His death is believed to be unconnected to the ongoing military campaign in that country.[46]
5 April – BBC Two launches The Big Read, a nationwide search for Britain's favourite book. The project is designed to encourage the nation to read, while people will be asked to vote for their favourite novel.[48][49]
Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court lasting seven weeks, the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contestant Charles Ingram, his wife Diana and Tecwen Whittock are convicted by a majority verdict of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception". The Ingrams are each given 18-month prison sentences suspended for two years, each are fined £15,000 and each ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs.[50] This is later increased to a joint £65,000 fine, but following another hearing in 2004 this is reduced to £30,00 due to them having financial difficulties. Charles Ingram is declared bankrupt in December 2004.[51] Their quiz deception later becomes the subject of Quiz, a 2017 play written by James Graham,[52] which is then subsequently turned into a three-part mini-serial on television in 2020.
8 April – Teenage singer Charlotte Church will guest present an edition of Have I Got News for You when the programme returns for a new series, the BBC confirms. At 17, she will become the youngest person to present the show. Other guest presenters in the forthcoming series which begins on 25 April, will include Martin Clunes and William Hague.[53][54]
Debut of 99 Things to do Before You Die on Five in which four people (Syirin Said, Steve Jones, Alexandra Aitken and Rob Deering) take on challenges from around the world. The series continues with a compilation of the best moments on 2 June and it was later repeated on Sky Travel until 2005.
27 April – After more than 23 years on the air, the final edition of soap opera Take the High Road is broadcast by STV.
29 April – The BBC rejects viewer complaints that its documentary, The Virgin Mary which was aired shortly before Christmas 2002 had tried to undermine religious beliefs. Complaints about a gay kiss in Casualty that aired in January are also rejected.[58]
1 May – The Heroes Channel and The Games Channel both launch on VTV Cable.
2 May – The BBC announces that the character of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) will return to EastEnders later this year, 14 years after departing in an episode where the character was believed to have died as a result of being shot. They also announce that the 2000 Olympic Games would be re shown.[59]
10 May
The 2003 British Soap Awards, aired by ITV1 on 14 May, are presented in London by Des O'Connor and Melanie Sykes, during which actor Dean Sullivan is presented with a Special Achievement Award for his role as Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside.[60][61] In a press interview held after the event, Sullivan urges Channel 4 not to axe Brookside, saying it "would be mad" to do so.[62]
11 May – The Observer reports that the BBC is to cut back on the number of self-promotional trailers following complaints from viewers and rival broadcasters. The newspaper also reports that the broadcasting of an ad for the BBC's digital service which featured the character of Fizz from the Tweenies pulling off her face to reveal June Brown as Dot Cotton from EastEnders had to be put back to a later time slot because some viewers complained it was giving their children nightmares.[63]
Docudrama The Day Britain Stopped airs on BBC Two. It is based on a fictional disaster on 19 December 2003, in which a train strike is the first in a chain of events that lead to a meltdown of the country's transport system ending with a plane collision.
A teaser trailer for that year's Rugby World Cup is shown on ITV1, The tournament would start on 10 October.
14 May
Five have acquired the UK terrestrial television rights to the American supernatural drama Angel after Channel 4 dropped the programme from its schedule. The series makes its debut on Five on 2 June.
BBC Two re airs the 2000 Olympic Games.
15 May – Kevin Kennedy is to leave Coronation Street in the Autumn after playing Curly Watts for 20 years, it is reported. The character will be involved in a dramatic storyline about police brutality and the door will be left open for him to return at a later date.[65]
17 May – Following a public vote to find the UK's favourite book, the BBC's The Big Read reveals the top 100 in a special programme on BBC Two while BBC One airs the 2003 FA Cup Final.[66][67]
19 May – Bollywood actor Dalip Tahil who will play the head of the Ferreira family in EastEnders, speaks out against criticism from British Asian actors who said the part should have gone to a UK-based actor.[68]
20 May
Steve Anderson, ITV's controller of news, announces plans to move News at Ten because the programme is losing out on viewers in the 10pm slot where it goes head-to-head with the BBC Ten O'Clock News.[69]
During what is meant to be a commercial break, Friendly TV accidentally broadcasts a conversation between members of its News Hound team who make allegations about aspects of Nicole Kidman's private life.[70]
22 May – Prompted by their manager, four members of the pop group S Club storm out of an interview on BBC Three's Liquid News when presenter Claudia Winkleman asks them about their earnings.[72]
23 May – ITV1, Channel 4, Five and the other channels aired an advert of Barclays with Samuel L. Jackson taking on "Money Moving Smoothly" and features a close-up shot of Rachel Stevens' legs walking on the pavement.
30 May – ITV1 broadcasts the final episode of Crossroads after the series was axed due to declining ratings. The finale sees hotel boss Angel Sampson, played by Jane Asher, waking up to find she is a supermarket checkout girl and that her tenure as boss of the Crossroads Hotel was all a dream.[74]
Cilla Black presents the final edition of Blind Date, having announced her intention to quit the long-running game show in January.[76] A change in the show's format was one of the factors in her decision to leave the show.[77]
3 June – The Ferreiras make their EastEnders debut, becoming the first Asian family to join the soap since 1993 when Sanjay and Gita Kapoor arrived on screen.[78]
4 June – It is reported that former Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker suffered a fractured ankle in a skydiving accident the previous weekend while filming a new series, Drop the Celebrity for ITV1.[79]
9 June – The Muslim Council of Britain has complained about a recent episode of Spooks that featured a mosque at which people are taught to be suicide bombers after Birmingham's Central Mosque was defaced following the episode's transmission. The BBC says it has received no evidence that the incident is linked to the programme.[81]
10 June – Bruce Forsyth is confirmed as the host of the final episode of the latest series of Have I Got News for You. Since adopting its guest presenter format late last year, the series has enjoyed a ratings boost, meaning the BBC has put plans to find a permanent replacement for Angus Deayton on hold.[82] The episode presented by Forsyth famously includes him playing a game of Play Your Iraqi Cards Right, a twist on the format of the game show presented by him, but using a pack of Iraqi playing cards instead of a traditional deck.[83]
Channel 4 announces that its long-running soap Brookside will end in November.[84]
12 June
A storyline involving the Coronation Street character Todd Grimshaw who rejected a place at Oxford University because his girlfriend said she would not follow him there, is criticised by the Sutton Trust, an organisation that encourages children from poorer backgrounds to apply to top universities. The Trust says it is disappointed as the storyline sends out the wrong message to children watching the soap. The issue also highlights the small number of soap characters who attend university.[85]
17 June – BBC Two airs a special edition of TOTP2 dedicated to the record producer Mickie Most who died on 30 May.[88]
19 June – Actress Laura Sadler who plays Sandy Harper in Holby City, dies in hospital after she fell from a block of flats in west London a few days earlier. She sustained extensive head injuries as a result of the fall and had not regained consciousness.[89] A subsequent inquest held at West London Coroner's Court records a verdict of accidental death.[90]
20 June – The final edition of Play Your Cards Right is broadcast on ITV with Bruce Forsyth as presenter which in turn also marks the end of the final series of the game show to air on ITV. It has returned for one-off specials, presented by Ant & Dec on 15 October 2005 and Vernon Kay on 26 May 2007 as part of the series Gameshow Marathon.[91]
22 June – ITV1 announces that it has axed the long-running Saturday night game show Blind Date.[92]
25 June
Channel 4 Director of Television Tim Gardam announces he will step down from the job after five years, departing at the end of the year.[93]
A viewer complaint about an edition of Channel 4's V Graham Norton in which Dustin Hoffman told a joke which included a taboo word is upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Commission. ITV's Tonight is also censured after airing an interview with a pregnant teenager which was perceived to have been of an exploitative nature because her predicament had largely come about because of a lack of knowledge.[94]
2 July – Lawyers representing Michael Barrymore who was dropped by London Weekend Television in September 2002 confirm he will take legal action against the broadcaster for an unpaid salary. He has largely been absent from television since news concerning the death of a man during a party at his property broke in 2001, although a series of My Kind of Music aired in February 2002.[97]
4 July – The mid-afternoon regional news bulletin is moved from BBC Two to BBC One.
7 July – Mastermind returns to television for its first full series since 1997 with John Humphrys taking over the role of quizmaster.[98][99]
8 July – The Independent Television Commission rejects complaints from the relatives of a victim of Dr. Harold Shipman that ITV's 2002 film about the serial killer was factually inaccurate. The Commission finds that although artistic licence was taken in some scenes, these had been "sympathetically presented" and were therefore not detrimental to the victim's family.[100]
9 July – ITV1 drops two recently launched programmes from its primetime schedule because of poor ratings. The game show Judgement Day and comedy series Fortysomething, starring Hugh Laurie will air elsewhere in the schedule.[101]
16 July – BBC One airs the final edition of Tomorrow's World.[102] It will be fifteen years later in 2018 before a new edition of the programme is broadcast.[103]
In its final annual report, the Broadcasting Standards Commission reveals that an episode of the BBC spy drama Spooks in which a character's head is pushed into a vat of boiling oil was the most complained about television programme during the past year.[105]
Trevor Hyett steps down as editor of Five's The Terry and Gaby Show to work on other projects. His post will be taken over by the show's producer, James Winter. The programme has struggled in the ratings since its launch, but Five which has commissioned 200 editions of the series, says it will not cancel the show.[106]
18 July – Sky News reporter James Forlong resigns following allegations a story shown in March involving the Iraq conflict was faked.[107]
20 July – The BBC confirms that Dr David Kelly, found dead from a suspected suicide two days ago, was the main source for a controversial report that sparked a deep rift with the government.[108]
8 August – The BBC regains the broadcasting rights to show Premier League Football highlights from ITV after signing a three-year deal with them. The deal will take effect from the start of the 2004–05 season.[112]
10 August – Channel 4 airs the British terrestrial television premiere of Straw Dogs.[113]
18 August – In an interview with Radio Times, presenter Noel Edmonds says that he is partly responsible for the decline in the standards of British television after his BBC One show, Noel's House Party, went downhill after budget cuts.[114]
21 August – ITV announces that its Saturday morning children's entertainment series SMTV Live will end after five years because of falling ratings and will be replaced by a new series in early 2004.[115]
27 August – The BBC defends its decision to spend £10 million on the broadcast rights for the first Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, saying that its rivals were unprepared to invest in family viewing at Christmas. The film is part of a ten film package agreed with Warner Bros.[116]
28 August – ITV ceases transmission of the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, due to the regional afternoon slot which the show occupied becoming networked.
29 August
Research by Human Capital indicate that Saturday night television is now the least watched evening of television in the UK, with Monday nights being the most popular.[117]
That day marked the 20th anniversary of the first episode of the long-running game show Blockbusters.
Laura Sadler's final scenes as Holby City nurse Sandy Harper are screened on the BBC One drama. Her character's exit from the series, devised by her mother and the show's producers, sees her secretly leaving the hospital for Australia after winning the lottery.[118]
13 September – As The Smash Hits Chart Show returns to television which was previously on Five, the weekly 30-minute show made its debut on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand.
15 September
Channel 4 moves its long-running game show Countdown from 4:15pm to 3:15pm, something that leads to questions being asked in Parliament and the launch of petitions to have it rescheduled back to its old slot.[113]
25 September – The Daily Telegraph newspaper is the first to announce the return of the popular sci-fi drama series Doctor Who after a 14-year break. It would return to television in March 2005.[123]
27 September – EastEnders is aired for the last time on BBC America. The programme was axed because of poor ratings that were losing the channel most of its viewers.[124]
29 September
Den Watts makes his return to EastEnders in an episode watched by 16 million viewers.[125]
EastEnders also wins best soap at the Inside Soap Awards.
2 October – ITV is given permission by the Independent Television Commission to move its 10pm news bulletin to 10:30pm. Since returning in 2001, News at Ten has aired on at least three nights a week, but analysts have noted that not having a fixed time for a weekday news bulletin is unsettling for viewers and advertisers. The ITC feels a regular news bulletin at 10:30pm will be in viewers interests.[126]
Psychological illusionist Derren Brown controversially plays Russian roulette live on Channel 4, though with a slight delay allegedly in case the stunt went wrong. The stunt is later revealed to have been a hoax.[129]
6 October – After BBC America axed EastEnders due to "abysmal ratings", almost 9,000 people have signed a petition calling on the channel to reinstate the show, BBC News reports.[130]
8 October – Delivering the Bafta Annual Lecture, ITV's head of programming, Nigel Pickard says that he is prepared to "bite the bullet" and drop poorly performing programmes and ageing presenters from its schedule, stating that "the days when you can tuck something into a little corner of peak against Panorama and hope it grows an audience" have gone.[131]
10 October
Just over a year after returning to EastEnders, Sid Owen who plays Ricky Butcher in the soap, is to leave again, it is announced.[132]
BBC Two airs the documentary When Michael Portillo Became a Single Mum in which former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo assumes the mantle of Merseyside single mother Jenny Miner for a week.[134][135]
Plans are announced for the DVD release of Brookside: Unfinished Business, a film that will continue storylines from Channel 4's Brookside which ends on 4 November. The DVD will be released two weeks later.[136]
ITV1 airs the network premiere of the 2000 American romantic musical comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly.
18 October – The UK's top 21 favourite books are revealed by the BBC's The Big Read. Celebrity advocates will put their case for each of the books over the coming weeks before the winner is decided.[137]
20 October – Cheryl Tweedy is found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after claiming self-defence during her trial, but cleared of racially aggravated assault.[138] She is sentenced to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs.[139]
22 October
Longtime broadcaster on the BBC and ITN and latterly news anchor on Sky News, Bob Friend announces his retirement.[140]
ITV1 airs the network television premiere of X-Men.
The Broadcasting Standards Commission upholds 30 viewer complaints about comedian Jonathan Ross's use of the F-word during the live broadcast of Red Nose Day 2003. Although the word was used at 10:30pm, after the watershed, the Commission felt it was likely children would still be watching.[143]
The Independent Television Commission rejects 21 viewer complaints about the first gay kiss to be featured in Coronation Street.[145]
Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks begins airing five nights a week.[113]
4 November – Channel 4 airs the final episode of Brookside, ending a run of 21 years.[146] The episode is watched by two million viewers.[147]
6 November – ITV confirms GMTV's Jenni Falconer as the main presenter of its new holiday series, How to Holiday. The programme, a replacement for Wish You Were Here...? will begin in early 2004.[148]
10 November – The short-lived quiz show 19 Keys debuts on Five.
11 November – The BBC current affairs series Panorama, launched in 1953, becomes the first UK television show to reach its 50th anniversary on the air.[149]
12 November
The BBC issues a statement in response to a newspaper report that actor Dalip Tahil faces being axed from EastEnders due to not having the correct work permit. The report in the previous Sunday's edition of The People had suggested that after Tahil joined the show from appearing in stage musical Bombay Dreams, neither he nor the BBC obtained proper authorisation from the Home Office to make the switch of employment legal.[150] The BBC says "We are considering any potential problems with a view to resolving them as soon as possible."[150]
UK Gold 2 is relaunched as UKG2, a channel aimed at the 16–34 audience demographic.[151]
14 November – The Office of Fair Trading gives Carlton and Granada the go-ahead to merge after the two companies agreed to adopt a new advertising sales system for ITV and to protect the interests of the smaller companies in the network, including SMG plc and Ulster Television.[152]
15 November – The United Kingdom enters the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest with "My Song for the World" performed by 10-year-old Tom Morley.
BBC Three airs the spoof documentary Sex, Lies and Michael Aspel which "unmasks" the mild mannered television presenter Michael Aspel as an international womaniser who fathered several children through a string of affairs.[153][154]
20 November – UTV replaces its network-inspired idents with a series of landscape films of Northern Ireland, in the form of a panorama shot as the camera revolved around a location.[155]
22 November – ITV's coverage of the Final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in which England beat Australia 20–17 and won the competition is watched by more than 10 million viewers, a record figure for Saturday morning television.[157] End of year figures produced by BARB place it as the ninth most watched television programme of the year with 12.3 million viewers.[25]
23 November – The 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who, the iconic sci-fi series would return to television in March 2005.
27 November – The BBC unveils a revamped version of its news channel in an attempt to make it appear more dynamic to viewers. Changes include a new studio set and redesigned branding and graphics.[158]
Top of the Pops is relaunched in the face of declining ratings with a new set and theme tune.[161]
29 November – Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman is deluged with unwanted phone calls after fellow judge Simon Cowell gives out his mobile phone number during an edition of ITV2's Pop Idol Extra. Cowell says he did it because Waterman revealed his home address on the previous weekend's show.[162]
1 December – The BBC's commercial rivals express concerns after Coca-Cola signs a deal with The Official UK Chart Company that will allow it to be mentioned on Top of the Pops and The Radio 1 Chart Show.[163]
5 December – The third series of US spy drama 24 will not air on BBC Two after negotiations between Fox and the BBC end without a deal being reached.[164]
6 December
Simon Cowell makes a public apology to his fellow Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman after giving out his mobile phone number during an edition of ITV2's Pop Idol Extra the previous weekend.[165]
8 December – BBC News 24 is relaunched with a new set and titles, as well as a new Breaking News sting. Networked news on BBC One and Two remains with the same titles though the set was redesigned in a similar style to that of the new News 24. The relaunch had been scheduled for the previous Monday (1 December), but was delayed due to a power failure the week before which had disrupted work on the new set.[159][160]
14 December – Jonny Wilkinson, whose last minute drop-goal clinched the 2003 Rugby World Cup for England, is named as this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year, becoming the 50th person to be presented with the award.[168]
15 December
Comedian Graham Norton has signed an exclusive deal with the BBC where he will help to develop ideas for Saturday night entertainment. He will join them in April 2004.[169]
Five airs a semi-fictional drama Hear the Silence, based on the MMR vaccine controversy which started when Andrew Wakefield published a paper claiming a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
16 December
After hearing that EastEnders actor Dalip Tahil who plays Dan Ferreira in the soap, faces deportation after his appeal to work in the UK was rejected by the Home Office, MP Keith Vaz raises the matter with Home Secretary David Blunkett who says he will look into the situation.[170] However, an attempt by Tahil to make a retrospective application for a work permit is turned down and he is forced to leave the series.[171] He was eventually allowed to remain in the UK though.[172]
BBC Scotland will not pursue the idea of a Scottish Six news programme following a major review of output which indicates a majority of viewers are satisfied with the status quo.[174]
Sky One signs a deal with Fox to broadcast the third series of 24.[175]
19 December
The final edition of RI:SE is aired on Channel 4.[119] It would be replaced by series such as Friends and The Salon in its early morning slot.[176]
Debut of That Was the Week We Watched on BBC Two, narrated by actor Simon Pegg and showing six nights a week, except on New Year's Eve about looking back to past television shows in the Radio Times and TVTimes schedules from the years 1967, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1982 and 1986. The series continues on 1 January 2004.
ITV1 airs the network premiere of the Jim Carrey starring Christmas film The Grinch.
27 December – The final edition of SMTV Live airs on ITV1. The programme is cancelled due to a decline in the number of viewers.[184]
BBC Two airs a special edition of TOTP2 celebrating the 40th anniversary of Top of the Pops and featuring performances from the show's four decade history.[192]
Sky Movies 1, Sky Movies 2, Sky Movies 3, Sky Movies 4, Sky Movies 5, Sky Movies 6, Sky Movies 7, Sky Movies 8, Sky Movies 9, Sky Cinema 1, Sky Cinema 2
