This is a list of British television related events from 1990.
Events
January
1 January
New Year's Day highlights on BBC1 include the network television premiere of the 1985 romantic drama Out of Africa, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep as well as the 1982 musical sequel Grease 2. Debut of the iconic sitcom Mr. Bean on ITV, starring Rowan Atkinson as the titular character. 2 January Granada's flagship nightly news programme Granada Reports is rebranded as Granada Tonight. The first episode of the sixth T-Bag series airs in which Georgina Hale debuts as Tabatha Bag, the second T-Bag. The 30-minute weekday 6am Ceefax slot returns to BBC1, but rather than the special pages used for Ceefax AM, the content is the same as for all other Ceefax broadcasts. 3 January – The US animated series Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles makes its debut on BBC1. The show's original US title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is changed for the UK because of controversy surrounding ninjas and related weapons such as nunchaku. The intro sequence is heavily edited because of this, replacing the word ninja with hero or fighting, using a digitally faded logo instead of the animated blob and removing any scenes in which the character Michelangelo wields his nunchaku. Scenes of Michelangelo using his nunchaku are likewise edited out of the episodes themselves, leading the American producers to drop the weapons from the series entirely, in order to make the show more appropriate for the international market. 4 January – Debut of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave on BBC1, starring Richard Wilson. 6 January The US action drama series Baywatch, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, makes its UK debut on ITV. Made by NBC, the series proves popular with British viewers with audience figures regularly reaching 13 million. When NBC cancels the series after its first season, ITV teams up with an international consortium of broadcasters to sponsor the show for further seasons. The series comes to an end in 2001, following an eleven-year run. Debut of Jekyll & Hyde on ITV, a made-for-television film starring Michael Caine and Cheryl Ladd. 8 January – The popular classic children's song Nellie the Elephant has been spawned into a five-minute animated cartoon series on ITV, featuring the voices of singer Lulu and Tony Robinson. The first episode is called Nellie and the Ghost and was shown every Monday until 9 April with the episode Nellie Rescues Mrs Maple's Moggy. The series will return on 5 September with Nellie Goes Ballooning and will be shifted onto a Wednesday timeslot. The last three episodes will be broadcast in January 1991 with the final one being shown on 21 January. 9 January – The Secret Cabaret, an innovative and shocking magic-based programme hosted by magician Simon Drake, makes its debut on Channel 4. 14 January – The Observer reports that TVS have started searching for a buyer for a 49% stake in US production company MTM Enterprises which it bought in 1988. 24 January–3 February – The BBC broadcasts the 1990 Commonwealth Games. BBC1 stays on the air all night to provide live coverage. This is the first time that BBC1 has provided full live coverage of an overseas Commonwealth Games with around 12 hours of live action broadcast each day. 27 January – The final episode of Bob's Full House is broadcast on BBC1. 31 January – The network television premiere of the James Bond film A View to a Kill on ITV, starring Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Walken and Grace Jones. January For the first time, Emmerdale is networked across almost all of ITV, airing at 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Chrysalis Television takes over the contract to produce LWT News.