2003
Top Selling Singles
Christmas No.1:
Top Selling Albums
At the Box Office
Cost of Living
| Average house price | £91,000 |
| Average salary | |
| Average car price | £16,800 |
| Petrol | 78p |
| Pint of beer | £2.20 |
| Packet of 20 Cigarettes | £4.24 |
| Pint of milk | 36p |
In the News
- Prime Minister – Tony Blair
- Toyota launches an all-new Avensis
- Richard Colvin Reid, the so-called “shoe bomber”, is sentenced to life imprisonment
- The London congestion charge comes into operation.
- It was the year of The Hutton Inquiry into the recent death of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly,
- Police use the taser for the first time
- Concorde makes its final commercial flights after twenty-seven years
- The M6 Toll motorway opens, giving the United Kingdom its first toll motorway
- Ian Huntley is found guilty of the Soham Murders and sentenced to life imprisonment
On the Telly
- ITV airs the first live edition of Blind Date, on which Cilla Black announces she is quitting the show after 18 years.
- ITV1 soap Crossroads is relaunched
- Tracy Shaw makes her final appearance on Coronation Street as her character Maxine Peacock is brutally murdered by serial killer Richard Hillman.
- The Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson is broadcast on ITV1. The revelations in the programme is one of the many factors that leads to his trial for child molestation.
- Procter & Gamble announces it is ending its Daz Doorstep Challenge advertising campaign after ten years, feeling it is “old fashioned”
- Following a seven week trial trial at Southwark Crown Court the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contestant Charles Ingram, his wife Diana and friend are convicted by a majority verdict of cheating
- Former cricketer Phil Tufnell wins the second series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.
- Kevin Kennedy leaves Coronation Street after playing Curly Watts for 20 years
- The final edition of Play Your Cards Right is broadcast on ITV with Bruce Forsyth
- ITV1’s holiday series Wish You Were Here…? airs for the last time.
- Mastermind returns to television for its first full series since 1997 with John Humphrys taking over the role of quizmaster.
- BBC One airs the final edition of Tomorrow’s World (it comes back 15 years later)
- Coronation Street shows its first gay kiss
- ITV1 screens a special live episode of The Bill to mark the show’s 20th year on the air
- Jonny Wilkinson, is named as this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year,
- Brookside ends after 21 years.
In Music
- George Michael makes his first appearance on Top of the Pops in 17 years, with a cover of Don McLean’s protest song The Grave, but runs into conflict with the show’s producers for an anti-war, anti-Blair T-shirt worn by some members of his band
- Westlife’s version of the Barry Manilow classic Mandy is voted the 2003 Record of the Year by ITV viewers, giving the Irish boyband their third win
- Mick Jagger receives a knighthood from the Prince of Wales
Top Selling Christmas Toys
- Beyblades – £5.99
- Cranium Board Game – £25
- Nokia N-Gage – £209.60
Gadgets
- Myspace
- Sales of the DVD format take the largest share of the UK home video market for the first time
