On this day 43 years ago, the world was a very different place. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial had become the highest grossing film of all time, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me by Culture Club was the UK number one, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister while Ronald Reagan was the US President, and on what was then the only non-BBC TV channel ITV (Channel 4 was still just over a week away from launching on 2nd November), the very first UK TV screening of Star Wars arrived on British television, at 7.15pm on a Sunday evening. Ahead of the arrival of Return of the Jedi the following summer it was a pivotal moment for the saga in the UK, cementing the megastar aura of the soon-to-be-trilogy and preparing the country for the third (and then final) episode.
Here’s a look at the TV listing from that weeks edition of the TV Times.
