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Three BBC2 programmes – Rev, The Hour and Eric & Ernie – lead the race for top honours in the 38th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, to be presented next month at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Rev, the sitcom about a London vicar, is nominated as best comedy. Its stars Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman are shortlisted for the acting awards and Hollander is also nominated as best writer, along with his co-writer James Wood.
The Hour, set in a 1950s TV newsroom, also has four nominations: best drama series, best actor (Dominic West), actress (Romola Garai) and writer (Abi Morgan).
Eric & Ernie, about the much-loved comedy duo, has three nominations, including best single drama. Daniel Rigby, who played the young Eric Morecambe, is shortlisted as best actor, and Peter Bowker as best writer.
ITV1’s drama about Fred West, Appropriate Adult, is also up for three awards: best drama series, best actor (Dominic West again) and writer (Neil McKay)
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 BPG Awards lunch is sponsored by Dave – TV’s home of witty banter – and one of ten channels broadcast by leading multi-channel network, UKTV: www.joindave.co.uk. The event will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
In the best single drama category, Eric & Ernie faces competition from Christopher & His Kind (BBC Two) and two BBC Four dramas, Hattie and Holy Flying Circus. For best drama series, The Hour and Appropriate Adult are up against The Shadow Line (BBC Two) , Top Boy (Channel Four) and Great Expectations (BBC One), for which Giliian Anderson is nominated as best actress. Hugo Blick is nominated as best writer for The Shadow Line.
Two Panorama investigations on BBC One – Fifa: Football’s Shame? and Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed – will compete for the best single documentary award, against Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die (BBC Two). David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet (BBC One) is up against Educating Essex (Channel 4) and All Watched Over by the Machines of Loving Grace (BBC Two) for best documentary series.
In the best comedy/entertainment category, Rev is up against Fresh Meat (Channel 4) and Twenty Twelve (BBC Four). The BBC Two series The Choir: Military Wives and The Great British Bake-Off will compete against Channel 4’s Hugh’s Big Fish for the best factual entertainment award.
The multichannel award will be contested by An Idiot Abroad (Sky1), Dynamo: Magician Impossible, (Watch – UKTV), Leonardo Live, (Sky Arts) and Mad Dogs (Sky1).
A new award – the Breakthrough Award – for someone who has made their name in 2011 – will be contested by Mary Berry (The Great British Bake Off), Olivia Colman (Exile, Rev) and Jack Whitehall (Fresh Meat).
The shortlists for radio broadcaster of the year and radio programme of the year will be announced separately.
The winners will be announced at the BPG Awards lunch at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Friday March 30th 2012, together with the Innovation Award and the Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting. Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only.
The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than a hundred members – journalists who specialise in covering television, radio and the media. They include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and websites.
Previous Best Actress winners include Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Helen Mirren, Gillian Anderson, Vanessa Redgrave, Maxine Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Dame Diana Rigg, Zoe Wanamaker, Gina McKee, Julie Walters and Juliet Stevenson. The Best Actor award has gone to Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Benedict Cumberbatch and Philip Glenister among others (see details and photos on www.broadcastingpressguild.org.)
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 020 8624 9052
The full list of nominations is:
Best Single Drama
- Christopher & His Kind, BBC Two
- Eric & Ernie, BBC Two
- Hattie, BBC Four
- Holy Flying Circus, BBC Four
Best Drama Series
- Appropriate Adult, ITV1
- Great Expectations, BBC One
- The Hour, BBC Two
- The Shadow Line, BBC Two
- Top Boy, Channel 4
Best Single Documentary
- Panorama: Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed, BBC One
- Panorama: Fifa: Football’s Shame?, BBC One
- Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die, BBC Two
Best Documentary Series
- All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, BBC Two
- Educating Essex, Channel 4
- Frozen Planet, BBC One
Best Comedy Entertainment
- Fresh Meat, Channel 4
- Twenty Twelve, BBC Four
- Rev, BBC Two
BPG Multichannel Award
- An Idiot Abroad, Sky1
- Dynamo: Magician Impossible, Watch (UKTV)
- Leonardo Live, Sky Arts
- Mad Dogs, Sky1
Best Factual Entertainment
- The Great British Bake Off, BBC Two
- The Choir: Military Wives, BBC Two
- Hugh’s Big Fish Fight, Channel 4
Best Actor
- Tom Hollander, Rev
- Daniel Rigby, Eric & Ernie
- Dominic West, Appropriate Adult; The Hour
Best Actress
- Gillian Anderson, Great Expectations; The Crimson Petal and the White
- Olivia Colman, Exile; Rev
- Romola Garai, The Crimson Petal and White; The Hour
BPG Writer’s Award
- Hugo Blick, The Shadow Line
- Pete Bowker, Eric & Ernie; Monroe
- Neil McKay, Appropriate Adult
- Abi Morgan, The Hour
- James Wood & Tom Hollander, Rev
BPG Breakthrough Award
- Mary Berry, The Great British Bake Off
- Olivia Colman, Exile; Rev
- Jack Whitehall, Fresh Meat
Radio shortlist for Broadcasting Press Guild Awards
Sir David Attenborough, long famous for his television wildlife documentaries, has been shortlisted in the radio section of this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
He has been nominated as Radio Broadcaster of the Year, for his 20-part BBC Radio 4 series David Attenborough’s Life Stories, which looked back on his numerous landmark natural history series.
Sir David will be up against a top wildlife sound recordist who has worked on his TV series, including The Life of Birds and Frozen Planet. Chris Watson is nominated for his own programme on Radio 4, The Wire – in which he talks to those who’ve recorded the sounds of wind blowing through miles of wire in the Australian outback.
The third nominee for Radio Broadcaster of the Year is Jane Garvey, presenter of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
The nominations for Radio Programme of the Year are the comedy series Clare in the Community, starring Sally Phillips; the literary quiz The Write Stuff, featuring Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh; and Archive on 4 – all on BBC Radio 4.
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. Previous winners of the Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Eddie Mair, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, and Graham Seed (Nigel Pargetter).
The winners will be announced next week at the BPG Awards lunch at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Friday March 30th, 2012, together with the television awards, the Innovation Award and the Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting. Winners are informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only – but media organisations are invited to cover the ‘red carpet’ arrivals.
The BPG Awards lunch is sponsored by Dave, TV’s “home of witty banter”, one of ten channels broadcast by leading multi-channel operator UKTV: www.joindave.co.uk.
The event will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
