April 20, 2023
The meeting point for UK Media Journalists
April 20, 2023
Derry Girls picks up Best Comedy and Best Writer awards &
This is Going To Hurt stars take Best Actor and Best Actress trophies
Two hit programmes picked up a pair of prizes at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards: Channel 4’s Derry Girls as Best Comedy plus Best Writer for Lisa McGee and the stars of BBC One’s This Is Going to Hurt – Ben Whishaw and Ambika Mod – for Best Actor and Best Actress.
Derry Girls previously won Best Comedy in 2019, while this is the first Best Writer trophy for Lisa McGee. Ben Whishaw has finally taken the BPG Best Actor award at the fourth time of asking after being nominated previously in 2016 for London Spy, 2013 (The Hollow Crown: Richard II and The Hour) and 2009 (Criminal Justice). Ambika Mod’s outstanding performance in the series saw her win with her very first BPG nomination for Best Actress.
The most popular new reality show on British TV, The Traitors, took the Best Entertainment title by a wide margin of votes, while BBC One shows also grabbed three other trophies: Sherwood for Best Drama (4+ episodes); The Real Mo Farah for Best Documentary Mini Series; and Frozen Planet II for Best Documentary (4+ episodes). The original Frozen Planet series won the same prize back in 2012.
Sky picked up its second drama category award in the last three years with I Hate Suzie Too winning Best Drama Mini Series. Chernobyl also won a drama prize in 2020 with HBO for Sky Atlantic.
Grant Tucker, the chair of the BPG, said: “Our winners always reflect the vast amount of talent in British television and the prizes are going to both programmes and individuals who were extremely popular with our audiences last year.”
The BPG Television, Streaming & Audio Awards – for work commissioned or produced in the UK and screened in 2022 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and audio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The 49th annual BPG Awards lunch took place today at Royal Horseguards Hotel in Whitehall, London. Warner Bros. Discovery and Pact are the event supporters.
This year, three awards were chosen directly by the BPG Executive Committee. For the first time, the BPG Jury Prize was awarded to multiple winners: eight BBC local radio journalists whose interviews held Liz Truss’s feet to the fire during her short stint as Prime Minister. The Breakthrough Award went to the very talented screen writer Jack Rooke whose Big Boys creation on Channel 4 was such a success in 2022 and which also received a BPG nomination in the Best Comedy category. The Harvey Lee Award, for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting, was presented to Jeremy Paxman to honour his remarkable 50 years on TV and radio as a broadcaster, journalist and author.
In the Audio Awards this year, the Radio Programme of the Year award went to In Dark Corners (BBC Radio 4) which saw Alex Renton investigate abuse at some of the nation’s most exclusive public schools; Best Podcast was The Coming Storm (BBC Long Form Audio) in which Gabriel Gatehouse took a journey into the dark heart of the American right and of modern conspiracy theories in the US; and Marianna Spring won Audio Presenter of the Year after receiving rave notices for her journalism on podcasts War on Truth and Disaster Trolls (both BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds).
Simon O’Hagan, chair of the audio jury, said: “Three great winners this year that have tackled some very serious subjects and that shows that radio and podcasts are especially important when it comes to investigative journalism.”
The annual BPG Awards winners are also announced via the BPG Twitter account @BPGPressAwards.
Further information: Adrian Lobb, BPG, 07986 379 452 & adrianlobb1@gmail.com.
Notes to editors
The full list of this year’s BPG TV, Streaming and Audio Awards Winners are:
Best Documentary Mini Series 1-3 episodes
The Real Mo Farah (Atomised Studios in association with Red Bull Studios for BBC One)
Best Documentary Series 4+ episodes
Frozen Planet II (BBC Studios Natural History Unit production with BBC America, France Télévisions, ZDF and The Open University)
Best Comedy
Derry Girls S3 (Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4)
Best Entertainment
The Traitors (Studio Lambert for BBC One)
Best Drama Mini Series 1-3 episodes
I Hate Suzie Too (Bad Wolf for Sky Atlantic)
Best Drama Series 4+ episodes
Sherwood (House Productions for BBC One)
Best Actress
Ambika Mod – This Is Going to Hurt (Sister in association with Terrible Productions for BBC One and AMC+)
Best Actor
Ben Whishaw – This Is Going to Hurt (Sister in association with Terrible Productions for BBC One and AMC+)
Best Writer
Lisa McGee – Derry Girls (Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4)
BPG Breakthrough Talent Award
Jack Rooke, writer, Big Boys (Roughcut Television for Channel 4)
BPG Jury Prize
BBC Local Radio (BBC English Regions)
Radio Programme of the Year
In Dark Corners (BBC Scotland Productions for BBC Radio 4)
Best Podcast
The Coming Storm (Long Form Audio for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service)
Audio Presenter of the Year
Marianna Spring for War On Truth, and Disaster Trolls (BBC Radio 44 and BBC Sounds)
Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting
Jeremy Paxman
Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award announcement for Broadcasting Press Guild Awards lunch
Jeremy Paxman to be honoured by TV and audio writers at Broadcasting Press Guild Awards lunch this Friday
Broadcaster, presenter and journalist Jeremy Paxman is to be honoured this week at the 49th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about television, streaming and audio.
Paxman will receive the BPG’s prestigious Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting at the awards lunch at Royal Horseguards Hotel in Whitehall, London on Friday March 24th. The award is sponsored by Warner Bros. Discovery.
The award celebrates Paxman’s 50 years of broadcasting that includes his work on Newsnight, Panorama,Breakfast Time and University Challenge and began with his first job as a graduate trainee at BBC Radio Brighton back in 1972.
From there, Paxman’s remarkable broadcasting career took him to Belfast, where he reported on the conflict in Northern Ireland before moving to London in 1977. Starting on the Tonight programme, he next landed a job on Panorama in 1979 and spent five years reporting from around the world. His next career move was to the Six O’Clock News where he was a newsreader for two years before joining BBC One’s Breakfast Time.
But it was his time as presenter of Newsnight – a job which began in 1989 – that left the biggest mark on British broadcasting. Paxman’s iconic interview with then Home Secretary Michael Howard, in which he asked the same question of the minister 12 times, is one of the most memorable political interviews of all time. But there were many more outstanding moments during 15 years in the job, including much-watched face-offs with politicians including British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Theresa May; US President George Bush; Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi; and UK party leaders Ed Miliband and Charles Kennedy. His outstanding broadcasting work on General Elections spanned decades. He also asked the tough questions of people in the arts, including David Bowie, Dizzie Rascal and Russell Brand.
For 29 years from 1994, Paxman also presented University Challenge – asking more tough questions. And he returned to radio for four years from 1998, when he presented Start The Week on BBC Radio 4.
Aside from his job as a journalist and presenter, Paxman even appeared as himself in the political comedy The Thick Of It, while his work in the field of documentaries included The Victorians in 2012 and Empire two years later (both series were complemented with books by Paxman). He also presented Britain’s Great War on the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
The BPG’s chairman Grant Tucker, said: “As an organisation of journalists, the BPG holds Jeremy Paxman in very high esteem for his broadcasting record which has meant remarkable longevity, a unique authenticity, and a fierce desire to hold some people’s feet to the fire. We loudly applaud Jeremy’s famous interview interrogations of the powerful and his dedication to the journalistic craft, which provides the very best for his viewers, listeners and readers.”
The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by journalists who write about TV, radio, streaming and podcasts – correspondents, critics and previewers. The awards lunch will be attended by award winners, BPG members, and leading broadcasting executives.
For more information about the Broadcasting Press Guild, including a full list of winners over the past 48 years, and see pictures and videos from previous BPG awards ceremonies at:
http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2014/03/25/history-of-the-broadcasting-press-guild
Notes to editors:
Further information: Adrian Lobb, BPG: 07986 379 452 or adrianlobb1@gmail.com
BBC Local Radio journalists collect special award for their remarkable interviews during the short leadership of ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss
Eight BBC local radio journalists who carried out a series of stunning interviews with Liz Truss during her rollercoaster 42-day stint as Prime Minister have received a special award from the Broadcasting Press Guild.
The BPG – an organisation of TV and audio journalists – has recognised the eight with its prestigious Jury Prize and will deliver the award today at a star-studded luncheon in London. It is the first time, the BPG Jury Prize has been awarded to multiple winners.
The eight journalists being honoured are: Rima Ahmed, BBC Radio Leeds; James Hanson, BBC Radio Bristol; Graham Liver, BBC Radio Lancashire; Anna Cookson, BBC Radio Kent; John Acres, BBC Radio Stoke; Chris Goreham, BBC Radio Norfolk; Sarah Julian, BBC Radio Nottingham; and Amy Oakden, BBC Radio Tees.
BPG Chair Grant Tucker said: “As an organisation of journalists, the BPG is always among the first to see the value of great interviewing and these BBC radio interviews were game-changing for Liz Truss and her doomed government. There is no doubt that the PM’s feet were held to the fire in these eight radio sessions in a way that stood out among so much drama that was happening in British politics last summer.”
The Jury Prize winners are in good company as BPG Award winners because another top prize – the Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting – is being presented today to Jeremy Paxman, one of Britain’s finest interviewers of modern times.
“It’s a happy coincidence that some BBC radio journalists and Jeremy will be in the same room together, collecting prizes for the same journalistic talents,” said Tucker.
The 49th BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards – for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and released in 2022 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers. This year, Warner Bros. Discovery and PACT are the supporters of the Awards luncheon which takes place today, Friday March 24th 2023, at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in Whitehall, London.
Other BPG Awards to be handed out today include three Audio prizes – Best Audio Presenter, Best Radio Programme and Best Podcast – and television/streaming trophies for Best Actor and Best Actress, Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best Entertainment and Best Documentary.
Further information from Grant Tucker, 07854 247521 or grant@whynow.co.uk
Notes to editors
The war in Ukraine, in-depth investigations of political power and abuse and uncovering conspiracy theories are among the subjects nominated for this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Audio awards.
Plus, established radio names Anita Anand, Jane Garvey and Fi Glover are up against a wide range of new voices for BPG prizes including India Rakusen, Sirin Kale, Yuriy Matsarsky, Lewis Goodall and Marianna Spring.
The chair of the BPG audio jury, journalist Simon O’Hagan, said the nominations reflect the need for information as well as entertainment. “In turbulent times, we listen to more radio and podcasts in the search for wider sources of information that we can trust. The jury was also impressed with some brilliant new voices who emerged in 2022 as the industry continued to expand, adapts and evolve.”
The 49th BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards – for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and released in 2022 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The Radio Programme of the Year category boasts brilliant investigations, vital information and a global perspective on the news. The Conversation (BBC World Service) listened closely to the voices of women around the world, from Ipswich to Iran, with host Kim Chakanetsa. In 28ish Days Later (BBC Radio 4) host India Rakusen explored the whole bloody story of the menstrual cycle. In Dark Corners (BBC Radio 4) saw Alex Renton investigate abuse at the nation’s most exclusive public schools. Tim Harford and the More Or Less (BBC Radio 4) team guided listeners through the complex array of statistics news nerds come up against, while Jane Garvey and Fi Glover (Times Radio) featured no-holds-barred conversation, four days a week.
The five nominations in the UK Podcast of the Year category cover topics across the globe. Empire (Goalhanger Podcasts) told us how empires rise and fall with hosts William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, while Fighting for Ukraine (Podbean) featured stories by Yuriy Matsarsky, a Ukrainian journalist turned civilian fighter against the Russian invasion. The Coming Storm (BBC Long Form Audio) took a journey into the dark undergrowth of modern American conspiracy theories; The Rest Is History (Goalhanger Podcasts) had Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interrogating the past while also attempting to explain the present; and The Slow Newscast (Tortoise Media) investigated and reports on the stories that really matter each week with host Basia Cummings.
The Audio Presenter of the Year nominees are all first-timers for this award, but all enjoyed very strong years in 2022. Alan Dein’s Don’t Log Off programme on BBC Radio 4 collected remarkable oral histories from around the world, focussing on what unites us; Anita Anand was an outstanding voice on both Any Answers (BBC Radio 4) and the Empire podcast; journalist Lewis Goodall starred in the Global Media and Entertainment podcast The News Agents; Marianna Spring gained rave notices for her journalism on podcasts War on Truth and Disaster Trolls (both BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds); and Sirin Kale took a deep dive into cyber stalking on Can I Tell You a Secret? (Guardian podcast).
Further information from Adrian Lobb, BPG, 07986 379 452 or adrianlobb1@gmail.com
Radio Programme of the Year
UK Podcast of the Year
Audio Presenter of the Year
Ends
We are very sad to report the death last month of our friend and BPG member Juliana Koranteng after a short illness. Juliana regularly attended our lunches and breakfasts – most recently, the Kevin Lygo lunch in December 2022 – and lit them up with her shining presence and well-informed questions.
The BPG chair Grant Tucker said: “We had a lovely catch up at the Christmas lunch in December. She was always such a bright personality at every BPG event I attended. She will be much missed.” Colin Mann said: “Sadly, we never got to have that drink and catch-up we promised to have in the New Year as we were leaving the Kevin Lygo lunch.”
We republish, with thanks, this tribute from Facebook by her friend Marlene Edmunds.
She was a bright and shining person, a unique soul who was beautiful, kind, courageous, funny, and unsparingly honest. That is pretty much the feeling of many of the people I talked with around the world about friend and colleague JULIANA KORANTENG, who passed away suddenly after a short illness.
Juliana’s international background, her immense curiosity, her kindness, humour, love of music, tennis, guitar, and photography, her devotion to charities, including her mother’s women’s health clinic in Ghana and the Sue Ryder Clinic in the UK, were as much a part of her life as her immense and extensive media background and the thousands of interviews she did with some of the biggest names in the film, television, music and entertainment world.
She was born in Ghana shortly after the country gained its independence. The US became the first country to recognise Ghana as an independent nation and Juliana spent part of her childhood there, her father being part of the Ghana diplomatic service to the US. As a child she met many of the leaders of the African independence movement, as well as civil rights leaders in the US.
Juliana’s media background is as extensive as it is impossible to do justice to in a brief recounting, but that is what I will give you.
She interviewed thousands over the course of her career, including director Spike Lee, Daniel Craig, Sir Martin Sorrel, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Pharrell Williams, Usher, Lena Waithe, Robbie Williams, Tim Berners-Lee, Yves Behar, Rupert Murdoch, Sir Terence Conran, Sir Derek Jacobi, Indian cuisine queen Madhur Jaffrey, Bernie Ecclestone, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, and TV impresario Simon Cowell.
She was the founder and editor of the UK-based JayKay Media Consultancy, editor and chief creative director of MediaTainment Finance and TechMutiny, publications which covered the international creative industries and emerging media technologies. She was also the founder of JayKay Media Inc, a contributing editor and reporter for MIDEM, MIPTV, MIPCOM and Lions Daily News, all published by Boutique Editions. She was an editorial consultant for RX France’s Esports Conex, Mip Market events, the Swiss-based World Academy of Sport and an advisor to European Independent music organisation IMPALA, and a host and curator for IMPALA’S regular podcast series 20MinutesWith.
During her lifetime she was a Financial Times-published author on subjects such as Women & Sport and the Business of Sports TV as well as an editor/correspondent for TIME magazine, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Advertising Age. She was also a speaker, host and competition judge at various international events in Asia, the Middle East, New Zealand and across Europe.
We are the sum of our passions, everything and everyone we love, and not just just our profession, work, families, friends or the activities in which we engage.
Juliana Koranteng engaged the world, and was much loved and respected. We will miss her very much.
Claudia Winkleman’s presenting skills pose a dilemma in the fight for a prize at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards – she fronts both The Traitors and series 20 of Strictly Come Dancing that are each nominated in the Best Entertainment category. The two BBC One shows will do battle with Rob & Romesh Vs (Sky) and Billy Connolly Does (Gold).
It was a strong year for drama with six channels or streaming services represented across the two drama categories. The nominations for Best Drama series (4+ eps) include an Apple TV+ entry for the first time, Slow Horses, competing against SAS Rogue Heroes (BBC One), The English (BBC Two), The Thief, His Wife and His Canoe (ITV) and Sherwood (BBC One). In the Best Drama Mini Series (1-3 eps) category, Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama (C4) hopes for a positive verdict as it goes up against Karen Pirie (ITV), I Hate Suzie Too (Sky), I Am Ruth (C4) and Mayflies (BBC One).
The BPG Television, Streaming & Audio Awards – for work commissioned or produced in the UK and screened in 2022 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and audio correspondents, critics and previewers. The 49th annual BPG Awards lunch in an invite-only event to be held at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in Whitehall, London, on Friday March 24th 2023. Warner Bros. Discovery and Pact are this year’s supporters of the event.
A diverse group of nominees line up in the documentary categories. The Real Mo Farah (BBC One) will be hoping to stay ahead of Jeremy Paxman: Putting up with Parkinson’s (ITV), Tindler Swindler (Netflix), Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story (BBC Two) and Aids: The Unheard Tapes (BBC Two) for the Best Documentary Mini Series (1-3 eps) award.
And Mick Jagger faces up to David Attenborough in the Best Documentary Series (4+ eps) category as My Life As a Rolling Stone (BBC Two) takes on Frozen Planet II (BBC One). Three other series are also in the running: All or Nothing: Arsenal (Amazon Prime), Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain (BBC Two) and Once Upon a Time in Londongrad (Sky).
The Best Actor category sees Gary Oldman, veteran star of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ taking on the very busy Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project, The Capture, Gangs of London), Connor Swindells (SAS Rogue Heroes) and Ben Whishaw, star of BBC One’s This Is Going To Hurt.
First-time nominee Ambika Mod, star of This Is Going to Hurt joins Lesley Manville (Sherwood, The Magpie Murders), Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, A Spy Among Friends) and Nicola Walker (Marriage, The Split) in the Best Actress category, again showcasing the range of new and established talent in UK TV drama and comedy.
The third and final series of Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls (C4) is a contender for Best Comedy along with Sharon Horgan’s Motherland (BBC One), newcomer Jack Rooke’s Big Boys (C4) and Rowan Atkinson and Will Davies’s Netflix hit Man V Bee.
The three comedy writers McGee, Horgan and Rooke are also nominated for Best Writer and are up against James Graham for Sherwood and Steven Knight for Peaky Blinders (BBC One) and SAS Rogue Heroes.
The annual BPG Breakthrough Talent Award nominations are decided by the BPG’s Executive Committee. Writer Jack Rooke is in the frame for Big Boys, up against actor Lenny Rush for his role in Am I Being Unreasonable? and Ione Wells for her strong year as a BBC News political correspondent.
Further information from Adrian Lobb, BPG, 07986 379 452 or adrianlobb1@gmail.com.
Notes to editors
The full list of BPG TV and Streaming Nominations for BPG Awards 2023
Best Documentary Mini Series 1-3 eps
Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story (BBC Two)
Paxman: Putting up with Parkinson’s (ITV)
AIDS: The Unheard Tapes (BBC Two)
The Real Mo Farah (BBC One)
Tindler Swindler (Netflix)
Best Documentary Series 4+ eps
All or Nothing: Arsenal (Amazon Prime)
Frozen Planet II (BBC One)
Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain (BBC Two)
My Life as a Rolling Stone (BBC Two)
Once Upon a Time in Londongrad (Sky)
Best Comedy
Big Boys (C4)
Derry Girls S3 (C4)
Man V Bee (Netflix)
Motherland – Christmas Special (BBC One)
Best Entertainment
Billy Connolly Does (Gold)
Rob & Romesh Vs (Sky)
Strictly Come Dancing S20 (BBC One)
The Traitors (BBC One)
Best Drama Mini Series 1-3 eps
I am Ruth (C4)
I Hate Suzie Too (Sky)
Karen Pirie (ITV)
Mayflies (BBC One)
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama (C4)
Best Drama Series 4+ eps
SAS Rogue Heroes (BBC One)
Sherwood (BBC One)
Slow Horses (Apple TV)
The English (BBC Two)
The Thief, His Wife and His Canoe (ITV)
Best Actress
Ambika Mod – This is Going to Hurt
Anna Maxwell Martin – A Spy Among Friends, Motherland
Leslie Manville – Sherwood, Magpie Murders
Nicola Walker – Marriage, The Split
Best Actor
Ben Whishaw – This is Going to Hurt
Connor Swindells – SAS Rogue Heroes
Gary Oldman – Slow Horses
Paapa Essiedu – The Lazarus Project, The Capture, Gangs of London
Best Writer
Jack Rooke – Big Boys
James Graham – Sherwood
Lisa McGee – Derry Girls
Sharon Horgan – Motherland, Bad Sisters
Steven Knight – Peaky Blinders, SAS Rogue Heroes
BPG Breakthrough Talent Award
Ione Wells, BBC News, political correspondent
Jack Rooke, writer, Big Boys
Lenny Rush, actor, Am I Being Unreasonable?
Best Entertainment – Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing Series 4
Best Writer – Russell T Davies – It’s a Sin (accepted by Jill Nalder)
Best Actor – Stephen Graham
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