1981 in Scottish television

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1981.

January to June

 * No events.

July

 * 29 July – The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul's Cathedral. More than 30,000,000 viewers watch the wedding on television – the second highest television audience of all time in Britain.

August

 * No events.

September

 * 1 September - 20th anniversary of Border Television.
 * 8 September - BBC One Scotland changes its name to BBC Scotland.
 * 30 September - 20th anniversary of Grampian Television.

October

 * October - Scottish Television becomes the first ITV station to operate a regional Oracle teletext service, containing over 60 pages of local news, sport and information.
 * 17 October - The first edition of a new Sunday lunchtime current affairs series Agenda is broadcast on BBC1 Scotland.

November

 * No events.

December

 * No events.

Unknown

 * Scottish Television airs The Shepherds of Berneray, a 50-minute television documentary revolving around the people on the island of Berneray, North Uist, and how they lived at that time.
 * Alistair Moffat is appointed Head of Arts at Scottish Television.

ITV

 * 5 January - Now You See It (1981–1986)

Television series

 * Scotsport (1957–2008)
 * Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
 * Top Club (1971–1998)
 * Scotland Today (1972–2009)
 * Sportscene (1975–Present)
 * The Beechgrove Garden (1978–Present)
 * Grampian Today (1980–2009)
 * Take the High Road (1980–2003)

Births

 * 10 March - Nicci Jolly, television presenter
 * 5 April - Shabana Akhtar, actress
 * Unknown
 * Cat Cubie, weather presenter
 * Shauna Macdonald, actress
 * Catriona Shearer, news presenter

Deaths

 * 6 January - A. J. Cronin, 84, writer (Doctor Finlay's Casebook)