One of UK television’s most respected former executives, Sir Denis Forman, will attend an Awards ceremony in London today (Friday 15 April) to receive a lifetime achievement Award from members of the Broadcasting Press Guild.
Sir Denis, now 87, joined Granada Television in 1955, the year that ITV went on air, and retired 32 years later as chairman of the Manchester-based company. Under his leadership, Granada produced some of the network’s most prestigious programmes, including World In Action, Brideshead Revisited, Disappearing World, and the 15-hour series The Jewel In The Crown, which he helped adapt from the Raj Quartet novels of Paul Scott.
Sir Denis, who was seriously wounded in World War 2 and now lives for much of the year in India, will receive the Harvey Lee award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, previously given to David Attenborough, Michael Grade and Greg Dyke. ITV celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year.
Today’s Awards, the 31st to be presented by the Guild, are a triumph for Channel 4, which has taken six out of the ten awards for terrestrial television. The channel’s winning programmes include: Shameless, Paul Abbott’s semi-autobiographical drama series about a dysfunctional but resilient family on a Northern housing estate; and Omagh, Paul Greengrass and Guy Hibbert’s harrowing but brilliant reconstruction of the events of 15 August 1998, when 29 people were killed by a Real IRA bomb.
The BBC’s four winners include the hugely popular Strictly Come Dancing and its veteran host Bruce Forsyth. Bruce is currently filming in America but another broadcasting legend, Terry Wogan, will be present to accept his Award as Radio Broadcaster of the Year. His early morning show on BBC Radio 2, Wake Up To Wogan, enjoys the highest audience rating (8 million) of any radio programme.
The Broadcasting Press Guild is an association of more than a hundred journalists who write and broadcast about television, radio and the media generally. The Awards will be presented at a lunch at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, by the Guild’s chairman, Kate Bulkley.
Full list of awards follows.
Further information available from:
Richard Last on 01483 764895 or 07790 916263.
Full list of awards:
Best Single Drama: Omagh (Tiger Aspect for Channel 4)
Best Drama Series/Serial: Shameless (Company Pictures for Channel 4)
Best Documentary Series: The Power of Nightmares (BBC Two)
Best Single Documentary: The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off (Yipp films for Channel 4)
Best Entertainment: Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)
Best Factual Entertainment: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Optomen Television for Channel 4)
Best Actor: Mark Strong (The Long Firm, BBC Two)
Best Actress: Anne Marie Duff (Shameless, Channel 4)
Best Performer (Non-acting): Bruce Forsyth (Strictly Come Dancing,
BBC One)
Writer’s Award: Paul Abbott (Shameless, Channel 4)
Radio Programme of the Year: From Our Own Correspondent (BBC Radio 4)
Radio Broadcaster of the Year: Terry Wogan (Wake up to Wogan,
BBC Radio 2)
Multichannel Award: Hex (Shine for Sky One)
