The television dramatist Andrew Davies, whose adaptations of House of Cards, Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House became worldwide hits, is to be honoured later this week by journalists who write about TV for a living. On Friday (March 28th) he will be given the Harvey Lee Award for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting at the 40th Broadcasting Press Guild Awards lunch. The ceremony, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is sponsored by the Discovery Channel, which celebrates its own 25th anniversary this year. http://www.discoveryuk.com/ The BPG Awards are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by journalists who write about TV and radio – correspondents, critics and previewers. The awards lunch will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives. www.broadcastingpressguild.org Andrew Davies has created more BPG award-winning programmes than anyone else in the Guild's 40-year history. He first made his name with contemporary dramas for the BBC such as A Very Peculiar Practice (1986/88), Mother Love (1989) and House of Cards (1990) from the novel by Michael Dobbs - which is now making waves in the digital space, thanks to Netflix's exclusive streaming of the US version starring Kevin Spacey. He won the BPG's best writer award in 1993. Andrew Davies became better known for his adaptations of a string of classic costume dramas, beginning with the BBC's hugely popular Pride and Prejudice (1995, starring Colin Firth as Mr Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett). It won the BPG award the following year for best drama series and Colin Firth was named best actor. Then came Wives and Daughters (1999), which won the BPG awards for best drama series and best actress (Justine Waddell). The Way We Live Now (2001) won the BPG awards for best drama series and best actor (David Suchet). The same year, Davies wrote Othello - a modern-day drama based on Shakespeare's characters, for ITV - which was named best single drama. Daniel Deronda (2002) won the BPG's award for best drama series. In 2006, his dramatisation of Bleak House, broadcast in 15 half-hour episodes on BBC One immediately after EastEnders, won the BPG awards for best drama series, best actor (Charles Dance) and best actress (Gillian Anderson). Other memorable dramas by Andrew Davies include Middlemarch, Tipping the Velvet, Little Dorrit, South Riding and, currently, Mr Selfridge for ITV. He is currently adapting War and Peace for the BBC. Andrew Davies will be attending the awards lunch on Friday with his wife. You can read a history of the Broadcasting Press Guild, including a full list of winners over the past 40 years, and see pictures and videos of previous awards ceremonies at: http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2014/03/25/history-of-the-broadcasting-press-guild/ Pictures of some shows available on request. Notes to editors: 1. The winners will be announced at the 40th BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 28th 2014. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, which is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee, will be presented as well. Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only. 2. The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than a hundred members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, radio and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and websites. 3. BPG Best Actress winners during the Guild's 40 years include Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Gillian Anderson, Vanessa Redgrave, Maxine Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Dame Diana Rigg, Zoe Wanamaker, Gina McKee, Julie Walters, Olivia Colman and Juliet Stevenson. 4. The Best Actor award has gone to Sir Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dominic West among others (see more details and photos at http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/.) Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG: torindouglas@aol.com or 07860 422992
