Quiz
Test your knowledge of British television history across drama & soaps, comedy, news, reality TV and documentary.
What year did A Man From the Sun air?
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Review your answers
1. What year did A Man From the Sun air?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1956
2. What year did Coronation Street introduce their first Black family?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 2019
3. David Yip was the first Chinese lead on a British Television show, The Chinese Detective. Where is this actor from?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Liverpool
4. In 2010 drama Luther, what was Idris Elba’s character’s occupation?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Detective Chief Inspector
5. In 1972, Rudolph Walker got his first big and regular role in television. What show was it?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Love Thy Neighbour
6. Groundbreaking 1989 sitcom Desmond’s, written and created by Trix Worrell, is predominantly set in which type of shop?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Barbers
7. Meera Syal is an acclaimed comedian, writer, and actor. She was one of the creators and stars of the sketch comedy Goodness Gracious Me. What year did this air on television?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1998
8. What year did comedian, actor and icon, Lenny Henry, first appear on television?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1975
9. What was Michaela Coel’s groundbreaking 2015 comedy called?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Chewing Gum
10. Iconic sketch-comedy Goodness Gracious Me started on which radio station?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: BBC Radio 4
11. Lucy Mathen was the first female British South Asian to present the news on national television in 1976. Which news show was it?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Newsround
12. What year did Jamaican author and journalist, Barbara Blake-Hannah, become the first Black person to appear on UK TV in a non-entertainment role, as a presenter?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1968
13. What year did acclaimed news presenter Moira Stuart stop presenting BBC News?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 2007
14. Acclaimed broadcaster and journalist, Trevor Phillips, ran to be a candidate in the first mayoral election in London. Which political party was he in?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: The Labour Party
15. When did Channel 4 News begin?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1982
16. Which show did television personality Alison Hammond win in 2002?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Big Brother
17. Alexandra Burke won The X Factor in 2008. Who did she duet with in the final episode?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Beyoncé
18. Nadiya Hussain won The Great British Bake Off in 2015. During the final, she baked a mille-feuille and 16 what?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 16 iced buns
19. What was the name of the street dance troupe that won Britain’s Got Talent in 2009?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Diversity
20. Singer and television personality Alesha Dixon won Strictly Come Dancing in 2007. What band was she in?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Mis-Teeq
21. Bandung File was a UK series of documentary and current affairs television programmes that aired on Channel 4. When did it first air?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1985
22. Journalist and broadcaster Brenda Emmanus co-presented a well-known BBC fashion show from 1993–1996. What was it called?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: The Clothes Show
23. Colin Prescod is an acclaimed sociologist, activist, academic, documentary maker and BBC commissioning editor. His mum was a famous singer and actress; what was her name?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Pearl
24. Madhur Jaffrey is an Indian actress, cookbook writer, and television personality. Her seminal cookery show aired in 1982. What was it called?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery
25. Trevor McDonald is an acclaimed journalist and news presenter. When was he born?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1939
26. What year did the Black and White Minstrel Show stop airing on BBC prime-time?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 1978
27. The Creative Diversity Network have produced in-depth reports regarding diversity in television. According to their 2025 report, which broadcaster saw a decrease in Black, Asian and minority ethnic group representation since 2022/23?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Sky
28. In 2020, newsreader Samira Ahmed won her employment tribunal case against the BBC regarding an equal pay claim and the gender pay gap. For presenting Points of View, Ahmed was paid £440 per episode. How much more was her co-presenter paid per episode?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: £3000
29. According to Ofcom’s 2024 report into the nation’s media habits, what is the percentage of 16–24-year-olds who watch broadcast TV in an average week?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: 48%
30. Liam Dutton is a Welsh weather broadcaster. He became Channel 4’s weather presenter in 2011. Dutton went viral online after correctly pronouncing a Welsh village name. What was this village called?
Your answer: Skipped
Correct answer: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc