Star Trek on the BBC (and ITV): The Films

I'd like to thank Baz Taylor for sending me this information on the Star Trek films. I'd also like to

apologise to him as I've been sitting on this information since August last year. All the

information below is from Baz with comments from me in brackets. 

Star Trek: The Motion Picture. First seen on ITV on 3rd September 1984. All showings that I

know of are the extended director cut seen on video.

[Here's the letter to the TV Times, 13-19 October 1984, regarding ITV's

unexpected purchase and broadcast of the extended ABC edit (shown

20th February 1983). It was eight minutes longer than the allocated

slot, presumably that night the ITN News at Ten became the ITN

News at Eight Minutes Past Ten.

On a more personal note, my aunt videoed the ITV premiere for me

and insisted on fast-forwarding through all the "boring bits" when I 

watched it]  

Shown again Easter Monday 27 March 1989 and 1 January 1991. The film then moved to BBC1 where it was first shown on 28 December 1992 and Christmas Eve 1996, then May 17 1998. 

 

Following a move to BBC2, The Motion Picture was screened 4 June 2002, then 23 December 2006. That was the last time it was shown on the main terrestrial channels.

 

[The Motion Picture got two repeats on digital-only channel BBC3; Saturday 12 July 2003, and Saturday 13 November 2004]

 

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan premiered 8pm on ITV, 14 May 1986, straight after Coronation Street and had a feature interview in TV Times with Leonard Nimoy while he was directing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

 

[There's a scan of the interview here https://twitter.com/woodg31/status/995738541266219008 ]

 

[Note for anyone outside the UK:  simplified history of TV listings magazines follows

 

Until 1991 there were broadly only three sources of TV schedules available. Newspapers carried the day's listings. The BBC published The Radio Times and ITV published the TV Times. If you wanted to know what was showing across the week on both channels you had to buy both magazines. 

 

The BBC and ITV maintained a monopoly on advance television listings which was the subject of legal challenges throughout the 1980s. The monopoly was ended in March 1991 under section 176 of the 1990 Broadcasting Act which required broadcasters to make their schedules available no later than 14 day in advance http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/c4pp/tv-listings/history ]

 

ITV got their money's worth, showing the film several times between 1986 and their last showing on 27 June 1990. It transferred to the BBC, who first screened it on BBC1, 7 August 1993, and then 19 October 1994. 

There was another screening on BBC2 on August Bank Holiday 1997 I remember taping it, but it is not listed on Genome. It was on opposite Live and Let Die on ITV.

 

[On Monday 25 August 1997 BBC Genome lists Cricket: Sixth Test, 13.35 to 18.20. "Live coverage, through to the close of Play, of the Sixth Test as this year's Ashes series draws to an end."

The Sixth Test ended on Saturday 23rd August and BBC2 dropped in The Wrath of Khan as a last minute scheduling change.

The change was carried by newspapers, but as can be seen here the listing in The Times obscures the start time by putting the FILM logo in the wrong place.
The Wrath of Khan was normally scheduled in a 105 minute slot, so working backwards from Battlestar Galactica's start time it's possible to guess the film began at 16.35]

 

Wrath of Khan got a final BBC2 screening on 2 January 2000 before it disappeared from terrestrial airwaves. All viewings were the cut version on video, at the time, removing the ear slug scenes.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was rolled out by BBC a lot. First shown on 1 May 1989, it was screened again on 8 December 1990, and 14 June 1992 opposite the Canadian Grand Prix on BBC2, 14 August 1993 (following The Wrath of Khan on 7th August, the only time the BBC ran consecutive Star Trek films on consecutive weeks). 1 Jan 1995 and 14 December 1997. All showings cut out Kirk's line calling Kruge a bastard.

 

[It's also interesting to note that the BBC perceived different audiences for the films and TV series at this time. The films were mainstream and shown on BBC1, while the original TV series was for the cult audience crowd on BBC2]

 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was an ITV premiere on 22 September 1990, the same week BBC2 premiered Star Trek: The Next Generation. ITV ran it again on 19 August 1992 and again in June 1995 before the BBC bought the rights. It's first BBC1 screening was on 28 December 1998, then again on 18 January 2004. Between those dates it was part of BBC2's Star Trek night on 16 September 2001. All showings were cut for swearing.

[Short-lived digital only channel BBC Choice also showed Star Trek IV on 22 December 2002, unlike the BBC1 and 2 broadcasts this one is marked as Widescreen.]

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was a BBC only affair, first showing on 12 September 1992, then 31 December 1993, 25 October 1996, 2 January 1998 before being shunted to BBC2 for a final showing on 31 March 2002.

 [BBC Genome lists both the 12 September 1992 premiere and the 31 December 1993 repeat as "First showing on network television." These listings are scanned from the Radio Times which suggests someone accidentally duplicated the wrong text when the Christmas Radio Times was being produced in 1993.

 

BBC Choice showed Star Trek V on Thursday 2 January 2003. There was also a BBC3 broadcast on Saturday 20 November 2004 ]

 

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was another all BBC event, premiering BBC1 7 January 1995, 31 December 1996, 31 August 1998 and 3 December 2000.

Star Trek Generations was first seen on BBC1, 1 February 1998. All showings cut the "oh shit" line by Data. Shown again 7 June 2000 and 14 July 2002.

Star Trek First Contact took over four years to be seen with the first BBC1 showing on 8 February 2001. The film jumped to BBC2 on Sunday 9 February 2003, and then BBC3 on Saturday 19 July, before returning to BBC1 on 20 December 2003. The BBC heavily cut the movie, removing nearly all the Borg assimilation scenes and swearing.

The BBC never bought the rights to Star Trek: Insurrection. It was shown on Channel 5 on Thursday 23rd October 2003, a trailer can be watched here

 

The list below shows confirmed dates for UK broadcasts of the Star Trek films. I'd be grateful if  anyone else can help with times or additional dates for the various ITV screenings (including Star Trek IV in June 1995 on a Saturday evening),  Channel 4's broadcasts after they brought the rights around 2006, and other Channel 5 broadcasts of Star Trek: Insurrection.

 

1984-09-03     19.30     ITV       Star Trek: The Motion Picture (UK Premiere)

1986-05-14     20.00     ITV       Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (UK Premiere)

 

1987-04-20     14.10     ITV       Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1987-07-07     20.00     ITV       Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1989-03-27     15.15     ITV       Star Trek: The Motion Picture (5pm, 15 minute break for news)

1989-05-01     20.25    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (UK Premiere)

1990-06-27     20.00     ITV       Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1990-09-22     20.00     ITV       Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

1990-12-08     20.15    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

1991-01-01     12.35    ITV       Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1992-06-14     15.35    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Stereo)

1992-08-19     20.30     ITV       Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (10pm, 30 minute break for news)
1992-09-12     18.30    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (UK network premiere, Stereo)

1992-12-28     14.10    BBC1    Star Trek: The Motion Picture 

1993-02-14     18.30     ITV       Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1993-08-07     17.45    BBC1    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1993-08-14     17.50    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Stereo)

1993-12-31     18.30    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 

1994-10-19     19.00    BBC1    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1995-01-01     14.20    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Stereo)

1995-01-07     20.05    BBC1    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1995-05-13     20.00    ITV       Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

1996-10-25     22.20    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Stereo)   

1996-12-24     13.40    BBC1    Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1996-12-31     15.20    BBC1    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1997-08-25     16.35    BBC2    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1997-12-14     15.35    BBC1    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

1998-01-02     15.30    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
1998-02-01     19.10    BBC1    Star Trek: Generations

1998-05-17     14.25    BBC1    Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1998-08-31     15.45    BBC1    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1998-12-28     13.40    BBC1    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

2000-01-02     19.10    BBC2    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Widescreen)

2000-06-07     19.00    BBC1    Star Trek: Generations (Widescreen)  

2000-12-03     14.55    BBC1    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  

2001-02-08     20.05    BBC1    Star Trek: First Contact (Widescreen)

2001-09-16     10.40    BBC2    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Widescreen)

2002-03-31     16.05    BBC2    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Widescreen)

2002-06-04     16.10    BBC2    Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Widescreen)
2002-07-14     13.00    BBC1    Star Trek: Generations
2002-12-22     19.00    Choice   Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Widescreen)

2003-01-02     20.00    Choice       Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

2003-02-09     17.15    BBC2        Star Trek: First Contact

2003-07-12     19.00    BBC3        Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Widescreen)
2003-07-19     19.00    BBC3        Star Trek: First Contact

2003-10-23     ??.??    Channel 5 Star Trek: Insurrection

2003-12-20     14.30    BBC1        Star Trek: First Contact

2004-01-18     13.15    BBC1    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

2004-08-08     13.35    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 

2004-11-13     19.00    BBC3    Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2004-11-20     19.30    BBC3    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

2005-05-02     10.30    BBC1    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2005-05-13     14.40    BBC2    Star Trek: The Motion Picture

2006-12-23     13.00    BBC2    Star Trek: The Motion Picture