You are here: Home / Archives for BPG Latest

BPG Awards 2022: Television And Streaming Nominations

March 12, 2022 By Torin Douglas

 

Jeremy Clarkson will go head-to-head with David Attenborough and Grayson Perry in this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, to be presented next month in London.

Clarkson’s Farm (Prime Video) has been shortlisted for best TV and streaming documentary series, alongside Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet (BBC One), Grayson’s Art Club (Channel 4) and two BBC Two series – Life In Ten Pictures and Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution.

Olivia Colman, Jodie Comer, Claire Foy and Lydia West will compete for the best actress award. Colman is nominated for her role in Landscapers (HBO/Sky), Comer for Help (Channel 4), Foy for A Very British Scandal (BBC One) and West for It’s a Sin (Channel 4)

Shortlisted as best actor are Sean Bean and Stephen Graham for Time (BBC One), Sanjeev Bhaskar for Unforgotten (ITV) and Olly Alexander and Callum Scott Howells for It’s a Sin. Graham is also nominated for his role in Help.

The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards – for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers. The 48th annual BPG Awards ceremony – attended by the winners, BPG members and guests – will take place at lunchtime on Friday March 25th 2022 at The Brewery in the City of London. It will be supported for the first time by YouTube, the video sharing and social media platform owned by Google.

The Best Writer award will be contested by Jimmy McGovern (Time), Russell T Davies (It’s a Sin), Chris Lang (Unforgotten), Sarah Phelps (A Very British Scandal) and Neil Forsyth for Guilt, screened on BBC Scotland and BBC Two.

Guilt is also nominated for best drama series, alongside It’s a Sin, Landscapers, Line of Duty (BBC One) and The Serpent (BBC One). Help, Time and A Very British Scandal are shortlisted for best drama mini-series (1-3 episodes) along with Stephen (ITV) and Romeo and Juliet (the National Theatre production on Sky Arts).

Alma’s Not Normal on BBC Two is nominated as best comedy, with Sex Education (Netflix), Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4) and Starstruck (BBC Three). Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable (Dave) will compete for the best entertainment award against Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel (BBC One), Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC Two), Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) and The Masked Singer (ITV).

Two BBC Two series – Four Hours at the Capitol and Gods of Snooker – are shortlisted for best documentary mini-series against Grenfell: The Untold Story (Channel 4) and The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+).

Two Channel Four shows are acknowledged in the lineup for the BPG Breakthrough Award. The creator of We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor, is up against the ‘Pink Palace’ cast members of It’s a Sin – Omari Douglas, Olly Alexander, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West and Nathaniel Curtis – and also BBC Three’s Starstruck writer and actor, Rose Matafeo.

Other newcomers are recognised in a new award, the BPG Emerging Creators Award for video creativity on social media platforms. The nominees are Chunkz (YouTube), Francis Bourgeois (TikTok), Lucy Edwards (TikTok), Michael Dappah (YouTube) and Rosie Holt (Twitter).

And three broadcasting initiatives are shortlisted for the BPG Innovation in Broadcasting award: Albert, BAFTA’s sustainable production certificate; Channel 4’s Black to Front project and ongoing inclusion initiatives; and Lights Up, the virtual theatre festival in lockdown (BBC Four).

Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992

Notes to editors

  1. The winners will be announced at the 48th BPG Awards lunch on Friday March 25th 2022, at The Brewery in the City of London, sponsored by YouTube. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee and will be presented as well.
  2. The BPG Twitter handle for the Awards is #BPGAwards @BPGPressGuild.
  3. Launched in 2005, YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories. YouTube is a Google company.
  4. The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards are presented for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021. Programmes which were first streamed online are nominated and voted for alongside broadcast channel commissions originating in the UK.
  5. The shortlists for Audio Broadcaster of the Year, UK Podcast of the Year and Radio Programme of the Year will be announced in a week’s time on March 3rd 2022.
  6. The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than 175 members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, streaming, radio podcasts and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and online publishers.
  7. Past BPG Best Actress winners include Glenda Jackson, 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, Dame Julie Walters, Olivia Colman, Keeley Hawes, Sheridan Smith, Juliet Stevenson and Jodie Comer.
  8. The BPG Best Actor award has been awarded in previous years to Sir Mark Rylance, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones and Dominic West among others (see more details and photos at http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/.)

The full list of nominations is:

 

Best Drama Mini Series, 1-3 episodes

A Very British Scandal (BBC One)

Help (C4)

Romeo and Juliet (Sky Arts)

Stephen (ITV)

Time (BBC One)

Best Drama Series, 4+ episodes

Guilt (BBC Scotland)

It’s a Sin (C4)

Landscapers (HBO/Sky)

Line of Duty S6 (BBC One)

The Serpent (BBC One)

Best Documentary Mini Series, 1-3 episodes

Four Hours at the Capitol (BBC Two)

Gods of Snooker (BBC Two)

Grenfell: The Untold Story (C4)

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Best Documentary Series, 4+ episodes

A Perfect Planet (BBC One)

Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution (BBC Two)

Clarkson’s Farm (Prime Video)

Grayson Art Club (C4)

Life in Ten Pictures (BBC Two)

Best Comedy

Alma’s Not Normal (BBC Two)

Sex Education S3 (Netflix)

Stath Lets Flats S3 (C4)

Starstruck (BBC Three)

Best Entertainment

Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable (Dave)

Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel S2 (BBC One)

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing S4 (BBC Two)

Strictly Come Dancing S19 (BBC One)

The Masked Singer S2 (ITV)

Best Actor

Olly Alexander, It’s a Sin

Sanjeev Bhaskar, Unforgotten

Sean Bean, Time

Stephen Graham, Help, Time

Callum Scott Howells, It’s a Sin

Best Actress

Olivia Colman, Landscapers

Jodie Comer, Help

Claire Foy, A Very British Scandal

Lydia West, It’s a Sin

Best Writer

Russell T Davies, It’s a Sin

Neil Forsyth, Guilt

Chris Lang, Unforgotten

Jimmy McGovern, Time

Sarah Phelps, A Very British Scandal 

BPG Innovation in Broadcasting Award

Albert, BAFTA’s sustainable production certificate

Channel 4’s Black to Front project and ongoing inclusion initiatives

Lights Up, virtual theatre festival in lockdown (BBC Four)

BPG Emerging Creators Award

Chunkz (YouTube)

Francis Bourgeois (TikTok)

Lucy Edwards (TikTok)

Michael Dappah (YouTube)

Rosie Holt (Twitter)

BPG Breakthrough Award

Rose Matafeo, writer and actor, Starstruck (BBC Three)

The ‘Pink Palace’ cast members of It’s a Sin (C4)

(Omari Douglas, Olly Alexander, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West and Nathaniel Curtis)

Nida Manzoor, creator & director, We Are Lady Parts (C4)

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Events, Press Releases

BPG Awards 2022: Audio Nominations Revealed

March 3, 2022 By Torin Douglas

Historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook; music presenters Petroc Trelawney, Vick Hope and Jamz Supernova; and journalists Amol Rajan, Aasmah Mir, Iain Dale and Jon Ronson are among the nominees for this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) audio awards, encompassing radio and podcasts.

Holland and Sandbrook’s podcast The Rest Is History has been shortlisted as UK Podcast of the Year, alongside the literary podcast Backlisted, with John Mitchinson and Andy Miller; Nicky Woolf’s Finding Q: My Journey into QAnon; Tortoise Media’s Sweet Bobby; and Things Fell Apart, presented by Jon Ronson.

Amol Rajan from BBC Radio 4 has been nominated as Audio Presenter of the Year, alongside Aasmah Mir who presents Times Radio Breakfast with Stig Abell, Iain Dale of LBC, Petroc Trelawny of BBC Radio 3 and Vick Hope of BBC Radio 1.

Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell with Times Radio Breakfast is also nominated as Radio Programme of the Year, alongside Jamz Supernova on 6 (BBC 6 Music), The Eco Show (Marlow FM 97.5) Uncanny with Danny Robins (BBC Radio 4) and Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4).

The chair of the BPG audio jury, journalist and broadcaster Scott Bryan, said: “Once again the jury, consisting of many of the best critics and writers in the country, were blown away with the quality and variety of audio on offer. Whittling down our longlist of entries to our eventual shortlist and winner in each category was a bit of a nightmare, but it just goes to show the strength of British audio at the moment.”

The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards – for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by radio and TV correspondents, critics and previewers.

The 48th annual BPG Awards ceremony – attended by the winners, BPG members and guests – will take place at lunchtime on Friday March 25th 2022 at The Brewery in the City of London. It will be supported for the first time by YouTube, the video sharing and social media platform owned by Google.

Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992

Notes to editors

  1. The winners will be announced at the 48th BPG Awards lunch on Friday March 25th 2022, at The Brewery in the City of London, sponsored by YouTube. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee and will be presented as well.
  2. The BPG Twitter handle for the Awards is @BPGPressGuild and the hashtag is #BPGAwards.
  3. Launched in 2005, YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. It says: “We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories.” YouTube is a Google company.
  4. The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards are presented for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021. Programmes which were first streamed online are nominated and voted for alongside broadcast channel commissions originating in the UK.
  5. The Television and Streaming shortlists were announced on February 24th 2022: http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2022/02/bpg-awards-2022-television-and-streaming-nominations/
  6. The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than 175 members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, streaming, radio podcasts and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and online publishers.
  7. Previous winners of the BPG Radio/Audio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cooke, Sir Terry Wogan, Sue Lawley, Samira Ahmed, James O’Brien, Jane Garvey, Emma Barnett, Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, Lauren Laverne, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Charlotte Green, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, Brian Redhead, Sir Mark Tully, Sandy Toksvig, John Finnemore, Michael Buerk, Susannah Simons and Clara Amfo.

The full list of nominations is:

 

Radio Programme of the Year

Jamz Supernova on 6 (BBC Radio 6 Music)

Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell with Times Radio Breakfast (Times Radio)

The Eco Show (Marlow FM 97.5)

Uncanny, with Danny Robins (BBC Radio 4)

Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4)

 

UK Podcast of the Year

Backlisted (Unbound)

Finding Q: My Journey into QAnon (Audible)

Sweet Bobby (Tortoise Media)
The Rest Is History (Goalhanger Films)
Things Fell Apart – Jon Ronson (BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)

Audio Presenter of the Year

Aasmah Mir (Times Radio)

Amol Rajan (BBC Radio 4)

Iain Dale (LBC)

Petroc Trelawny (BBC Radio 3)

Vick Hope (BBC Radio 1)

Filed Under: BPG Latest, Events

BPG Lunch with I,Sniper: The Washington Killers exec John Smithson and Channel 4 commissioner Sacha Mirzoeff

January 25, 2022 By Max Goldbart

The Broadcasting Press Guild held its first lunch of the year in late January with Arrow Pictures’ John Smithson and Channel 4 commissioner Sacha Mirzoeff. 

The pair were discussing Channel 4 true crime doc I, Sniper: The Washington Killers, which gave a minute-by-minute account of the 2002 Washington, D.C. sniper case – one of the most terrifying crimes in recent history.

Mirzoeff said he had immediately wanted the show for his true crime strand, while the Oscar-nominated Smithson said his team spoke to 450 people during the making of the doc. 

The key was using the voice of Lee Malvo, one of the perpetrators, added Smithson, who is now serving a life prison sentence and spoke to Smithson and his team on the phone.

“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve done,” said Smithson.

He added later: “The barriers with linear world and the streaming world are breaking down . It helps (producers) rather than hinders to have the streamers as buyers because it creates competition and there is a quality threshold. I,Sniper is a streaming proposition for Channel 4, for example. And we are talking to Channel 4 now about other streaming commissions.” 

Mirzoeff said: “We are seeing a shift into true crime on All4. Both in commissions and acquisitions. Viewing figures have been astonishing.” 

Filed Under: BPG Latest, Events

Television nominations for this year’s BPG Awards revealed: Women’s roles and stories lead the shortlists

February 13, 2020 By Torin Douglas

Glenda Jackson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Laura Kuenssberg, Lesley Manville and Suranne Jones lead the nominations for this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild TV Awards, sponsored by Virgin Media. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest

Nicholas Parsons to be honoured by TV and radio writers at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards

March 13, 2019 By Torin Douglas

Radio and TV presenter, Nicholas Parsons CBE, who has entertained audiences for more than 70 years, is to be honoured later this week at the 45th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, sponsored by Virgin Media. The actor and gameshow host has presented Radio 4’s Just A Minute for over 50 years and hosted ITV’s Sale of the Century for 12 years.

On Friday 15 March, Parsons will receive the Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting.

Nicholas Parsons began his career on radio in the 1940s, as an impersonator on the Carroll Levis Discoveries talent show. As an actor, he appeared on the West End stage, in repertory and in films. One of his first television appearances was in an episode of ITV’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, playing Sir Walter of the Glen. In the 1960s, he became known to millions of viewers as the straight man to comedian Arthur Haynes, a partnership which ran for ten years, including appearances at the London Palladium and on The Ed Sullivan Show. He later appeared regularly on The Benny Hill Show.

On December 22nd 1967, Nicholas Parsons hosted the first edition of Just A Minute on BBC Radio 4, a role he has carried out ever since, missing just one recording (when he had flu). In 1971, he also became host of the ITV gameshow Sale of the Century, which he presented for 12 years. Other broadcasting highlights have included appearances in The Comic Strip Presents (Channel 4), Doctor Who (BBC One) and hosting Have I Got News For You (BBC One).

The BPG’s chairman, Jake Kanter, said: “Our Harvey Lee award winner is being recognised for seven decades of TV and radio entertainment, and in particular his contribution to one of the BBC’s longest-running programmes. Panelists have come and gone, the gamesmanship and gags have evolved, but Nicholas Parsons remains in the hot seat at the centre of it all. His warmth, sharp wit, and clear-headed determinations in rooms full of fast-talking show offs have kept him at the top of his game.”

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, at Banking Hall in the City of London on Friday, will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives. www.broadcastingpressguild.org

For more information about the Broadcasting Press Guild, including a full list of winners over the past 45 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:

  1. The other award winners will be announced at the 45th BPG Awards lunch at Banking Hall in the City on Friday March 15th 2019. Winners have been informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only. A full news release about the winners, embargoed till 12 noon on Friday, will be available.
  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. Harvey Lee (1950-1991) was the media correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and a leading light in the BPG throughout the 1980s. Previous winners of the BPG’s Harvey Lee Award, for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting, include Sir Lenny Henry, John Humphrys, John Lloyd, Sir Terry Wogan, Cilla Black, Melvyn Bragg, Andrew Davies, Sir David Frost, Michael Grade, Norma Percy, Biddy Baxter & Edward Barnes, Phil Redmond, Beryl Vertue, Tony Warren, Anne Wood and Charles Wheeler. See more details at http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/bpgawards/harvey-lee/.
  4. The 2019 BPG Awards are sponsored by Virgin Media, which offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline. Its interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones. It launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland. Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, with operations in more than 30 countries. www.virginmedia.com/tv

 

Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG: torindouglas@aol.com or 07860 422992

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Press Releases

Filmmaker Norma Percy to be honoured by TV and radio writers

March 15, 2017 By Torin Douglas

The documentary filmmaker and producer Norma Percy, who has persuaded a who’s who of world leaders to be interviewed for revelatory series such as The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution and Inside Obama’s White House, is to be honoured later this week by journalists who write about broadcasting for a living. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Press Releases

BPG Awards 2017 – Radio nominations

February 23, 2017 By Torin Douglas

BBC news presenters Jeremy Vine, Martha Kearney and Eddie Mair have been shortlisted with LBC’s James O’Brien for the title BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about TV and radio.

And Eddie Mair’s PM programme will compete with Desert Island Discs, In Our Time and Today for BPG Radio Programme of the Year. The 43rd annual BPG awards, sponsored by Virgin TV, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London.

 

The nominations for BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year are:

– Martha Kearney – The World at One, BBC Radio 4 – weekdays, 1pm to 1.45pm

– Eddie Mair – PM, BBC Radio 4 – weekdays, 5pm to 6pm

– Jeremy Vine – BBC Radio 2, weekdays 12 Noon to 2pm

– James O’Brien – LBC, weekdays, 10am to 1pm

 

The nominations for BPG Radio Programme of the Year are:

– Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4

– In Our Time, BBC Radio 4

– PM, BBC Radio 4

– Today, BBC Radio 4

 

The BPG Awards – given only for work commissioned in the UK – are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.

Previous winners of the BPG Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Jane Garvey, Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, John Finnemore, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Charlotte Green, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, Brian Redhead, Mark Tully, Sandy Toksvig, Michael Buerk, Susannah Simons and Graham Seed (Nigel Pargetter).

The Awards lunch, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 17th 2017, will be sponsored for the first time by Virgin TV. The event will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.

Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992                             

 

Notes to editors:

  1. The winners will be announced at the 43rd BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 17th 2017, sponsored by Virgin TV. 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.
  1. Virgin TV is part of Virgin Media, which offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline. Its interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones. It launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland. Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, with operations in more than 30 countries. www.virginmedia.com/tv
  1. The television nominations for this year’s BPG Awards were announced on February 16th 2017. http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2017/02/broadcasting-press-guild-awards-2017-television-nominations/
  1. 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.
Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest

BPG Awards 2015 – Television nominations

February 12, 2015 By Torin Douglas

BPG Awards 41 Final-logo-landscapeThree of TV’s most popular actresses – Sheridan Smith, Keeley Hawes and Sarah Lancashire – have been shortlisted for the annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about TV and radio. The awards, sponsored by Discovery Channel, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards 2015, Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Press Releases

Andrew Davies honoured by TV journalists to mark 40 years of the Broadcasting Press Guild

March 26, 2014 By Torin Douglas
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

 

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Press Releases

Winners – 37th BPG Television and Radio Awards

March 25, 2011 By Torin Douglas

News Release
Embargo 0001 Friday March 25th 2010

Two dramas – ITV1’s Downton Abbey and Channel 4’s Mo – have each won two top prizes at the 37th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, voted for by those who write about TV and radio. The Awards will be presented later today at a lunch at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards Latest, BPG Latest, Press Releases
« Previous Page
Next Page »