UK TV Channels Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dave

Created by Doug Naylor and Rob Grant, "Red Dwarf" is centred around four main characters. The only human onboard Red Dwarf is Dave Lister, a jack the lad Liverpudlian. To keep him company the ships computer - Holly - recreates Lister's former roommate Arnold Rimmer as a hologram, but retaining the character's pompous, by the rule book coward with a stickler for detail personality. The only other living creature on board is a humanoid that evolved from Lister's cat Frankenstein named Cat.

At the end of series two, another character was added in the form of Kryten, a mechanoid rescued from a derelict spacecraft with a fetish for cleaning, who also unwittingly serves Lister, taking care of him. In seventh series, the character of Rimmer left the crew, replaced by Kristine Kochanski, whom Lister was once in love with. However, Rimmer rejoined the crew when series eight was broadcast. This time Rimmer is no longer a hologram but recreated by Kryten's nanobots as a living person, only to die again at the end of that series.

After "Red Dwarf" ended on BBC 2, "Red Dwarf did not get re-commissioned until 2009, this time of the Freeview channel Dave. Initially, only three episodes were commissioned, but the success of those three episodes prompted Dave to revive the series with series ten and eleven broadcast in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Along with series eleven a twelfth series has recorded for future broadcast.

Series ten and Elven also returned to the four main cast members, minus the ship's computer Holly played by both Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge in series from three to five.

Answer: History

Although there is a Discovery History channel - owned by Discovery - History which was originally known as History UK is owned by the American broadcasting company A & E in a joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting.

Despite the channel's name, most of History's content is reality based TV series with minor historical references. However, History also broadcasts drama series that are based partly of historical event such as "Vikings","Texas Rising" and "Sons of Liberty".

Initially, History was only broadcast for a few hours a day when it was launched in 1995. However, it is since grown to be broadcast 24 hrs a day - although for a few hours in the early morning the channel only broadcasts advertisements for products.

Like the Discovery Channel, History has a number of sister channels which once included Bio and Military History. Also H2, CI - Crime and Investigation, as well as Lifetime form part of the History channel group.

Many of the programmes that History broadcast have filmed in America such as "Ice Road Truckers, "Pawn Stars" and "Storage Wars". However, these programmes have been accused of rigging events to increase the sense of drama. In some cases such as "Ice Road Truckers" and "Storage Wars", some of those involved with those programmes have taken out lawsuits against the companies that produce those programmes.

Answer: Coronation Street

Although soap operas had existed on radio long before being broadcast on TV, it was not until the 1950s when the BBC and ITV started to show them on TV. BBC1 was the first TV channel to show a soap opera entitled "The Grove Family" in 1954, followed by ITV in 1957 with "Emergency - Ward 10".

"Coronation Street" was first broadcast in 1960, made by Granada TV for ITV. Conceived by Tony Warren, "Coronation street" was initially called a "kitchen sink drama" portraying a fictionalised account of people living in the fictional town of Weatherfield, based on Salford in the Greater Manchester area. Filmed on a purpose built set, "Coronation Street", focuses mainly on one street and its inhabitants

Initially entitled "Emmerdale Farm", "Emmerdale" was first broadcast in 1972. Created by Kevin Laffan,"Emmerdale" based on the RTE programme, "The Riordans" as well as the long-running radio soap opera, "The Archers". Set in the Yorkshire Dales, "Emmerdale" was initially centred on a family running a farm that gave the series its name. In 1989, the programme took a new direction becoming "Emmerdale" after the village was renamed from Beckindale to Emmerdale after a plot involving an aircraft exploding over the village.

Created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland, "EastEnders" was first broadcast on BBC1 in 1985. Set in the fictional East End London Borough of Walford, most of the storylines are set in an area known as Albert Square. Although the BCC had tried to make a number of other soap operas on TV before "EastEnders" such as "Eldorado", "Compact" and "The Newcomers" these soap operas were short lived. Only "The Archers" broadcast on radio can lay claim to being the BBC's longest running soap opera since that was first broadcast in 1951.

Created for Channel 4 by Phil Redmond, "Hollyoaks" was first broadcast in 1995. Set in a fictional village of the same name, near to the city of Chester in Cheshire, "Hollyoaks" was initially aimed at a younger audience, based more around young characters either still at school or about to begin college. Over the years, though "Hollyoaks" changed, drawing criticism for its portrayal of students, as well as storyline that mirrors real life events such as a character trying to drown themselves in the same week two girls from Scotland committed suicide by drowning.

Answer: Doctor Who

Created by Sydney Newman, C.E Webber, and Donald Wilson, "Doctor Who" was first broadcast on the 23rd of November, 1963 - the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Initially "Doctor Who" ran from 1963 until 1989 on BBC1 before it was axed. A television movie was made in cooperation with a number or American networks in 1996 but failed to be made into a series. It was not until 2005 that "Doctor Who" returned to BBC1 as a regular series.

Since it was created, "Doctor Who" has gone on to be one of the world's longest-running Sci-Fi programmes, celebrating it's 50th anniversary in 2013, during which a special episode of "Doctor Who" entitled "The Day of the Doctor" featuring all the previous "Doctors" along with a preview of Peter Capaldi's debut as Matt Smith's replacement. In addition, John Hurt played the 9th regeneration of the Doctor, known as the "War Doctor".

Part of the success of "Doctor Who" is the main characters being able to regenerate themselves. This made it easier for the main character to be replaced with a new actor every few years. In addition, "Doctor Who" has had a number of assistants helping The Doctor, two of which - Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 - had their own spin off series linked to "Doctor Who". In addition, occasional guest character of Captain Jack Harkness had his own series entitled "Torchwood" which is an anagram of Doctor Who.

A part of "Doctor Who" folklore was that the Doctor had only a number of limited regenerations. In the episode "The Time of the Doctor", The Doctor explained he had used up all his regenerations, recounting each regeneration. At the end of that episode, the Time Lords gave The Doctor additional regenerations to circumnavigate this allowing him to regenerate to create a new Doctor.

Answer: Multi-Coloured Swap Shop

First aired in 1976, "Multi-Coloured Swap Shop" or "Swap Shop" for short was a Saturday morning children's entertainment show presented by radio DJ Noel Edmonds. Groundbreaking, "Swap Shop" used live phone-ins so viewers could talk to guests.

In addition, TV news reporter, John Craven presented features that involved news stories that affected children. His contributions were a forerunner to his own children's news programme entitled "John Craven's Newsround".

As the programme's name implied, viewers could swap items with other people that they did not need anymore. This was done by viewers phoning into the studio, or at various locations around the UK during live broadcasts from those locations.

A rival to "Multi-Coloured Swap Shop", "Tiswas" - short for "This is Saturday, Watch and Smile", was first aired initially by the company that made it ATV in 1974 as a regional ITV programme. As such, "Tiswas" didn't have a lot of the other ITV networks pick up the series until it had been broadcast for a number of years.

Best described as anarchic, "Tiswas" is well-known for being fronted by Chris Tarrant, Lenny Henry, Sally James and Bob Carolgees. Part of the set was a cage that initially held children, and then parents and students which was doused with buckets of water. In addition, a disguised character simply known as the Phantom Flan Flinger would throw custard pies at guests, the cast and audience.

"No.73" was a successor to "Tiswas", created by TVS for the Saturday morning slot on ITV. Like "Tiswas", "No.73" became a success, fronted by actors playing numerous characters living on a fictional street. In the last few months of the show "No.73" changed its name "7T3", moving to a recreation of a wild west town.

Fronted originally by TV presenters Ant and Dec, "SM:tv Live" - along with its sister programme "CD:UK" - was first broadcast by ITV in 1998, ending in 2003. The programme contained a series of sketches featuring Ant and Dec - along with co-presenter Cat Deeley. In addition a combination of American and British children's programmes such as "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "Angry Beavers, "My Parents are Aliens" and "STARStreet" were also shown.

When Ant and Dec left, along with Cat Deeley, other presenters were drafted in. However, the show never regained the popularity it had under Ant and Dec leading to it being axed in 2003.

Answer: Granada

Originally known as Independent Television, the ITV network first began broadcasting in 1955, a year after the Broadcasting Act of 1954, permitting independent TV companies to be set up to rival the monopoly the BBC had on television broadcasts.

Funded largely by showing advertisements during a commercial break in TV programmes - along with selling either programme rights overseas. The ITV franchise network grew to cover all regions throughout the UK and Channel Islands.

Although various ITV regions showed programmes made by the various ITV franchise throughout the UK, they also made regional programmes to be broadcast in their own areas.

Split into regional franchises, the right for these franchises had from time to time been put out for tender to various companies. Whilst some of these companies changed their names, some of the other franchise holders were out bid or lost their franchises due to their business plans.

The first television company to hold the franchise to show programmes on ITV in the South / Southeast of England was Southern Television, with operated from 1956 until it lost its franchise in 1982.

The company that took over the ITV franchise for the area was called Television South - or TVS for short - winning the franchise in 1980, and first broadcasting in 1982 from various studies across the region.

In 1991, another round of auctions of ITV franchises came up with Meridian Broadcasting - now ITV Meridian being the winner. Despite putting in a lower bid, the incumbent TVS lost out because of their business plan leading to their bid being rejected.

Taking over the network for the South and South East of England, Meridian began broadcasting in 1993, quickly grown to form consortiums and work with other ITV franchises in the southern half of England, along with Wales.

Various reorganisations, though, have seen Meridian staff number reduced over the years with even the regional news programmes covering a wider area of the South and South East of England, rather than the various Meridian regions focusing on news from their own areas.

Answer: Countdown

The 1980 Broadcasting Act led to the creation of Channel - along with its Welsh counterpart S4C. Up until then, the only companies broadcasting on British TV were the various regions making up the ITV network along with the BBC with BBC1 and BBC2.

Although a commercial TV channel, largely funded by advertising revenue, it is run on behalf of British governments Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Therefore Channel 4 is publicly owned despite the fact that run independently by the Channel Four Television Corporation.

In the 1960s, it was anticipated that ITV would launch ITV2. As a result numerous television transmitters already had a spare frequency allocated. In addition, TV sets sold in the 1970s and 1980s already have a fourth channel added to them. As such, Channel 4 did not suffer the same sort of network coverage problems that Channel 5 had when it began broadcasting of classing with broadcasting frequencies already in use.

When Channel 4 first went on the air in 1982, initially a 10 minute previews of clips of the various TV programmes that Channel 4 was to air was shown. However, the first TV programme broadcast was "Countdown", a word and numbers game show hosted by Richard Whitley. Other programmes broadcast by Channel 4 on the same day include, "The People's Court", "Brookside", "The Paul Hogan Show", and "The Comic Strip Presents".

With the growth of satellite, digital and cable TV, Channel 4 has grown, now including the TV channels Film on 4, e4, More4, and 4seven. In addition, Channel 4 also collaborates with The Box to produce a number of music channels such as Kerrang!, Kiss and Magic.

Answer: 1932

The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) first began broadcasting as a private consortium of companies in 1922, created by a royal charter. Initially financed by the sale of wireless receivers made by the company. Sales of receivers were initially poor leading to the creation of a short term license fee to aid the companies finances.

However, it was after the national strike of 1926 that the BBC finally became independent, funded by a license fee, able to become broadcast radio programme without the need for advertisements to fund production.

With the advent of television, the BBC first started to make trial broadcasts in 1932, using both the Baird Mechanical TV system and the Marconi-EMI electronic system. The Marconi-Emi system proved to be far superior in picture quality offering 405 lines as opposed to the Baird system of 240 lines. By 1936, the BBC was broadcasting television programmes from their Alexandra Palace facility in London.

The outbreak of World War 2 in 1939 saw the BBC's television service shut down due to fear that enemy bomber crews would use it's signal for guiding them to various targets. It was not until one year after the end of World War 2 (in 1946) did the BBC return.

With competition from ITV, the decision was taken to expand the BBC with the creation of BBC2. In turn, this led to the main BBC channel to be renamed BBC1. Using the 625 line broadcasting system, BBC2 first went on the air in 1964. In 1967, BBC2 became the first channel to broadcast programmes in colour, followed by BBC1 and ITV two years later.

With the advent of satellite. Cable TV, digital TV broadcasting and the Internet, the BBC expanded, creating dedicated news, children's and other TV channels including BBC Three (or Three for short) and BBC Four.

Answer: Steptoe and Son

American-made TV programme have long been part of British television. Whilst some were remade for a British audience using British actors and renamed such as "The Golden Girls" becoming "The Brighton Belles" and "Who's the Boss" becoming "The Upper Hand". In general, though, many programmes that came from America were not remade for a British audience.

Britain though exported a number of TV programmes to America, some of which were remade with their original British titles, others like "Man About the House" became "Three's Company" and "On the Buses" becoming "Lotsa Luck" had different titles.

Set up by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, "Steptoe and Son" ran from 1962 until 1974 on the BCC. The plot centred on an elderly man and his son living in a rundown house next to the scrap yard they own. Often the pair were seen at odds with each other, with the father usually winning their battle wits. Despite many recordings of "Steptoe and Son" being erased, a number of surviving episodes are still shown regularly on TV.

Built on "Steptoe and Son", "Sanford and Son" drew on a number of elements for the programme that inspired it. Starring comedian, Redd Foxx as the father and Desmond Wilson as his son, "Sanford and Son" ran from 1972 until 1977. Redd Foxx's portrayal of Sanford bigoted and cantankerous. In addition, his character was compared to an African-American version of Archie Bunker from the TV series "All in the Family". Like "Sanford and Son, "All in the Family" was adapted from another Galton and Simpson programme named "Till Death Us Do Part".

Based upon "The Office", "The Office" is a type of mock documentary style programme. Set in a fictional paper manufacturing company with the original programmes creators - Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant -being involved in the programmes production.

Remakes of "Red Dwarf" and "The Inbetweeners" were less successful when remade for an American audience."Red Dwarf" - otherwise known as "Red Dwarf USA" - was based upon the British TV programme and featured cast member Robert Llewellyn repeating his role as Kryten. However, only two pilot episodes were made with the programme being axed.

Based upon Damon Beesley and Iain Morris's TV series of the same name, "The Inbetweeners" followed a group of four teenage boys trying to survive high school, bullying and failed sexual relationships. Despite the original British version running for three series on TV - along with two films - the American version was a flop and quickly axed.

Answer: UFO

Famed for making children's Sci-Fi programmes using models and marionettes, TV producer, writer and director Gerry Anderson began his career in TV in the 1950s.

Although having used actors hands for close up shots in such programmes as "Thunderbirds", "Joe 90" and "Stingray", it was not until 1968 when Anderson became involved with filming "Doppelganger" AKA "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" that he decided to make a Sci-Fi series with actors instead of puppets.

First broadcast in 1970, "UFO" was set in what Anderson and his then wife Sylvia thought the Earth would be like in the 1980s. The plot for "UFO" involved a secretive organisation known as SHADO, combating an alien invasion.

Despite lasting only one series, 26 episodes were made. However, "UFO" had a much darker storyline, making it more a programme aimed at adults than children. As such various ITV networks moved "UFO" around their schedules, often airing the programme late a night.

Anderson later moved onto making other TV series involving actors including "The Protectors" - a crime thriller series - along with "Space 1999" and "The Day After Tomorrow" a programme for an American broadcaster NBC, not to be confused with the 2004 film of the same name.