
On This Day...
18th May
Programmes
1990
The final edition of Open Air airs on BBC One.
Daytime programme reporting on recent TV programmes and airing viewers' opinions on them. Presented by Eamonn Holmes and Jayne Irving.
2002
An Audience with Lulu airs on ITV.
2017
The final episode of Three Girls airs on BBC One.
Drama. Based on a true story about the Rochdale sexual abuse scandal. Starring Maxine Peake.
2022
The final episode of Derry Girls airs on Channel 4.
2022
The first episode of Spreadsheet airs on Channel 4.
Australian comedy. Starring Katherine Parkinson.
2023
The final episode of Without Sin airs on ITV 1.
Psychological thriller. Starring Vicky McClure and Johnny Harris.
Originally available on ITV X from December 2022.
2024
The first episode of Rebus (revived series) airs on BBC One.
Crime drama. Set in Edinburgh. Based on the books by Ian Rankin. Starring Richard Rankin.
2025
The first episode of The Bombing of Pan Am 2013 airs on BBC One.
Drama. Starring Connor Swindells, Peter Mullan, Eddie Marsan and Patrick J. Adams.
2025
The final edition of Match of the Day 2 airs on BBC One.
Presented by Mark Chapman.
2025
The first episode of Code of Silence airs on ITV 1.
Crime thriller. Starring Rose Ayling-Ellis.
Test Card/Teletext In-Vision Music
1984
BBC One tape An Old Romance airs for the first time.
1984
BBC One tape Ellipse airs for the first time.
1984
BBC Two tape Sport airs for the first time.

On This Day...
18th May
Births
1923
Former TV presenter, Bill Grundy.
1938
Former TV news reporter/presenter, David Lomax.
Deaths
2010
Former actor and TV/radio presenter, Peter Wheeler.
2024
Former TV announcer,
Roger Shaw.
Events
1964
Eric Thompson presents
Play School (BBC Two) for the first time.
1969
Murray Walker provides commentary on Formula One for the first time - on the Monaco Grand Prix within a Grandstand Special on BBC One.
He would later cover the occasional race before highlights were shown regularly from 1978.
He stepped down in the 2001 season.
Research for On This Day in TV History is by Paul R. Jackson.
Details about test card/teletext in-vision music and BBC trade test films are available as a result of decades of research and logging by members of the Test Card Circle.