UK television licences at 31 March each year

Combined sound and television receiving licences were introduced on 1 June 1946.

	monochrome	colour	total
1947	14,560	—	14,560
1948	45,564	—	45,564
1949	126,567	—	126,567
1950	343,882	—	343,882
1951	763,941	—	763,941
1952	1,449,260	—	1,449,260
1953	2,142,452	—	2,142,452
1954	3,248,892	—	3,248,892
1955	4,503,766	—	4,503,766
1956	5,739,593	—	5,739,593
1957	6,966,256	—	6,966,256
1958	8,090,003	—	8,090,003
1959	9,255,422	—	9,255,422
1960	10,469,753	—	10,469,753
1961	11,267,741	—	11,267,741
1962	11,833,712	—	11,833,712
1963	12,442,806	—	12,442,806
1964	12,885,331	—	12,885,331
1965	13,253,045	—	13,253,045
1966	13,567,090	—	13,567,090
1967	14,267,271	—	14,267,271
1968	15,068,079	20,428	15,088,507
1969	15,396,642	99,419	15,496,061
1970	15,609,131	273,397	15,882,528
1971	15,333,221	609,969	15,943,190
1972	15,023,691	1,634,760	16,658,451
1973	13,792,623	3,331,996	17,124,619
1974	11,766,424	5,558,146	17,324,570
1975	10,120,493	7,580,322	17,700,815
1976	9,148,732	8,639,252	17,787,984
1977	8,098,386	9,957,672	18,056,058
1978	7,099,726	11,049,192	18,148,918
1979	6,249,716	12,131,445	18,381,161
1980	5,383,125	12,901,740	18,284,865
1981	4,887,663	13,779,548	18,667,211
1982	4,293,668	14,260,552	18,554,220
1983	3,795,587	14,698,648	18,494,235
1984	3,261,272	15,370,481	18,631,753
1985	2,896,263	15,819,674	18,715,937

Television licence fee evasion data

Television statistics index