RTS West of England Awards 2015

The RTS West of England Awards 2014-15 were presented in March 2015 at the Old Vic, Bristol. To see a gallery of pictures, click here.

The television community of the West of England turned out in force on Sunday 8th March to celebrate their work over the last twelve months.

The Royal Television Society West of England Awards, in association with Evolutions Bristol, took place at the Bristol Old Vic with a glittering gala ceremony hosted by adventurer, TV presenter, author and recent star of Strictly Come Dancing, Steve Backshall.

The BBC Natural History Unit had a successful evening, scooping five awards for shows such as Hidden Kingdoms and Wonders of the Monsoon, as well as for on-screen talent with Springwatch/ Autumnwatch presenter Michaela Strachan and new face Patrick Aryee (BBC Two‘s Super Senses).

BBC Features won two awards, one for Daytime and the other for emerging talent behind the camera with the ‘RTS Flying Futures’ Award. Dragonfly’s One Born Every Minute for Channel 4, filmed here in Bristol at Southmead Hospital, won Best Documentary and Love West’s The Great British Bake Off triumphed in Factual Entertainment.

Other winners on the night included local independent production company Testimony Films who won in Factual and Icon Films for Natural History Programme, beating off stiff competition from the BBC NHU.

Aardman won two awards for Digital Creativity and Titles, Promos and Branding and were also presented with a Special Award for Shaun the Sheep, the Movie. The “voice” of Shaun and CBBC presenter Justin Fletcher handed over the award to Aardman co-founder David Sproxton and series producer John Woolley. Justin commented that ‘Shaun was now an internationally celebrated icon with 4.5 million fans on Facebook’ and added ‘Life is certainly never quiet down on Mossy Bottom Farm!”

Inside Out West won in the News Coverage category and Robert Murphy from ITV News West Country was awarded Best Reporter. The Sir Ambrose Fleming Memorial Award for outstanding contribution to television in the RTS Bristol area went to Gina Fucci of Films at 59, the post production facility which has been open for business for 25 years, supporting the production community.