2014 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 2014.

Events

January

• 5 January – Speaking on an edition of BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, Prime Minister David Cameron declines an invitation from Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond to take part in a televised debate on Scottish independence ahead of September's referendum on the issue.^[1]
• 5 January – Figures released by TV Licensing Scotland indicate that just over 700 homes in Scotland continue to purchase black-and-white television licences, 230 of them in Glasgow.^[2]
• 10 January – BBC Alba debuts Bean a’ Mhinisteir (The Minister's Wife), a six-part reality television programme about the wives of Church of Scotland ministers.^[3]
• 21 January – Writing in the Daily Record, MSP Joan McAlpine urges television bosses to act to ensure more balanced broadcasting, after an academic study found that news reports tend to favour the pro-union argument in the Scottish independence debate.^[4]
• 29 January – A safety advert for Cycling Scotland is banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for showing a rider without a helmet.^[5]
• 30 January – The Scottish Football Association agrees a new four-year deal with Sky Sports to show its matches in the UK and Ireland.^[6]

February

• 3 February – The Law Society of Scotland says it is in favour of allowing cameras into Scottish Courts, and suggests adopting the format used by New Zealand, where filming is left to the Judge's discretion.^[7]
• 5 February – The BBC confirms that
  Scotland 2014, a 30-minute weeknight studio programme about the independence referendum.^[8] The programme replaces Newsnight Scotland from May, which will not return once Scotland 2014 ends in October.^[9]
• 6 February – Sarah Smith criticises Twitter users who have accused her of anti-independence bias following the previous day's announcement of her new presenting role.^[9]
• 17 February – Debut of The Street, a documentary about Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street. The programme has caused controversy before going on air because it contains scenes involving racist behaviour, and scantily-clad women.^[10]
• 19 February – STV journalist Peter Smith is named Young Talent of the Year by the
  Glasgow Rangers.^[11]
• 22 February – BBC Alba is forced to delay the broadcast of
  post-watershed time of 22.55.^[12]
• 25 February – Scotland Tonight airs a referendum debate featuring Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.^[13] Lesley Riddoch, writing in The Sunday Post later describes the debate as a "shambles" because of its argumentative nature, and because presenter Rona Dougall was not an effective chair.^[14]
• 26 February – Speaking at the Oxford Media Conference, Maria Miller, the UK's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport says Scotland will lose the BBC if it votes for independence in September.^[15]
• February – STV's
  The Nightshift
  once again becomes a seven-days-a-week programme, but only for four months when in June it reverts to being shown on four nights each week.

March

• 7 March – Ministers in the Westminster Government are considering decriminalising non-payment of the TV licence, making it a civil offence instead, the Daily Telegraph reports.^[16][17]
• 7 March – Research by TV Licensing indicates that children in Scotland still prefer to watch their favourite programmes on television despite technology making shows available through other media.^[18]

April

• 2 April – The BBC confirms that its school drama,
  series 10.^[19]
• 19 April – STV leaves the Confederation of British Industry after it backed the campaign against Scottish independence, saying that partiality rules meant it had no choice.^[20]
• 23 April – STV reports a 5% increase in revenue over the first quarter of 2014.^[21]
• 28 April –
  STV HD launches on Sky+ HD and Freesat.^[22]

• 12 October –
  Reporting Scotland.^[47]

• 18 November – Ofcom rules that STV was in breach of broadcasting rules after airing a repeat edition of Scotland Tonight discussing the independence referendum on the day the vote was being held.^[48]

December

• No events.

Debuts

BBC

• 10 January – Bean a’ Mhinisteir (The Minister's Wife) on BBC Alba
• 30 January – The Stuarts on BBC Two^[49]
• 17 February – The Street on BBC One
• 27 May –
  Scotland 2014
  on BBC Two
• 27 October – Scot Squad on BBC Two^[50]

STV

• 17 March –
  The Widower^[51]
• 31 March – The Lie[52]
• 7 May – Billy Connolly's Big Send Off^[53]

Television series

• Reporting Scotland
  (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Sportscene (1975–present)
• Public Account (1976–present)
• The Beechgrove Garden
  (1978–present)
• Only an Excuse? (1993–2020)^[54]
• River City (2002–present)
• The Adventure Show (2005–present)
• Trusadh (2008–present)
• STV Rugby (2009–2010; 2011–present)
• Gary: Tank Commander (2009–present)
• Sport Nation (2009–present)
• STV News at Six
  (2009–present)
• The Nightshift
  (2010–present)
• Scotland Tonight (2011–present)
• Shetland (2013–present)

Ending this year

• 22 May – Newsnight Scotland (1999)

Deaths

• 14 July – John Milne, 72, Journalist and broadcaster^[55]
• 31 July – Kenny Ireland, 68, Actor and theatre director^[56]
• 25 November – Arthur Montford, 85, Sports broadcaster^[57]

See also

• 2014 in Scotland

References