RTS Programme Awards 2015
All the winners from the RTS Programme Awards 2015
The Royal Television Society, Britain's leading forum for television and related media, has announced the winners of the RTS Programme Awards 2015.
Chaired by David Liddiment, the RTS Programme Awards honour excellence across all genres of television programming, from soaps to history, children’s fiction to comedy performance and sports, and recognise exceptional actors, presenters, writers and production teams as well as the programmes themselves.
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Winners
Actor - Female: Sarah Lancashire
Title: Happy Valley
Nominees:
“… the brilliance of [Sarah’s] performance elevated this powerful piece to another level.”
Actor - Male: Tom Hollander
Title: A Poet In New York
Production Company: Modern Television
Broadcaster: BBC Cymru Wales & BBC Two
Nominees:
“… immersed himself completely in the role, delivering a deeply moving piece of work.”
Arts
Title: Grayson Perry: Who Are You?
Production Company: Swan Films
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“Two words sum this up – original and outstanding.”
Children's Fiction
Title: 4 O’Clock Club – Christmas
Production Company: CBBC Productions
Broadcaster: CBBC
Nominees:
“Fresh, unpredictable and with a cracking pace.”
Children's Programme
Title: The Big Performance 3: Finale
Production Company: Twenty Twenty Productions
Broadcaster: CBBC
Nominees:
“Fantastic production values made this a truly satisfying watch.”
Comedy Performance: Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton
Title: Inside No. 9
Production Company: BBC Comedy Production London
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
"Witty, clever and brilliantly inventive."
Daytime Programme
Title: Couples Come Dine With Me
Production Company: ITV Studios
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“Funny, cheeky and clever ...”
Documentary Series
Title: Life & Death Row
Production Company: BBC Documentaries Production
Broadcaster: BBC Three
Nominees:
“A brilliantly crafted new take on a familiar topic, offering fresh insight through superb filmmaking.”
Drama Serial
Title: The Honourable Woman
Production Company: Drama Republic and Eight Rooks
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
"A remarkable piece of television – remarkable in its ambition, production values, writing and the way it handled a complex subject.”
Drama Series
Title: Line of Duty – Series 2
Production Company: World Productions
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
“Spell-bindingly good with an intensity of performance.”
Entertainment
Title: The Graham Norton Show
Production Company: So Television
Broadcaster: BBC One
Nominees:
"Effortlessly slick, brilliantly cast and continually fresh.”
Entertainment Performance: Claudia Winkleman
Title: Strictly Come Dancing
Production Company: BBC Productions
Broadcaster: BBC One
Nominees:
“The jury unanimously agreed that this was a stand-out year for the winner, who is a genuinely individual performer, naturally quick and witty as well as being a consummate professional.”
History
Title: Our World War
Production Company: BBC Documentaries Production
Broadcaster: BBC Three
Nominees:
“This programme offered a fresh way of approaching history, giving a visceral sense of what being there was really like.”
International
Title: Fargo
Production Company: MGM/FX Productions
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“A stylised miniseries perfectly capturing the darkly comedic tone of the source material.”
Live Event
Title: D-Day: The Heroes Return
Production Company: BBC Event Productions
Broadcaster: BBC One
Nominees:
“Hugely ambitious, this programme was beautifully produced, with live coverage on a massive scale.”
Popular Factual and Features
Title: The Island With Bear Grylls
Production Company: Shine TV/Bear Grylls Ventures Co-Production
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“A brave and inspired approach to casting, injecting a level of authenticity and jeopardy that distinguished it from its predecessors.”
Presenter: Billy Connolly
Title: Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off
Production Company: Burning Bright Productions
Broadcaster: ITV
Nominees:
“… raw, funny, brave and a great communicator – open and spell binding.”
Science and Natural History
Title: Live From Space: Lap of the Planet
Production Company: Arrow Media
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“Probably one of the most ambitious live programmes ever made.”
Scripted Comedy
Title: Harry and Paul’s Story of the Twos
Production Company: Balloon Entertainment
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
“A masterpiece… incredibly funny and bold."
Single Documentary
Title: The Paedophile Hunter
Production Company: Amos Pictures
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Nominees:
“An astonishing film with incredible access – a brave commission and a brave programme to make.”
Single Drama
Title: Murdered By My Boyfriend
Production Company: BBC Productions
Broadcaster: BBC Three
Nominees:
“This work felt important and utterly compelling, with inventive direction and writing – a bold and original approach to difficult subject matter.”
Soap and Continuing Drama
Title: Casualty
Production Company: BBC Drama Production Wales
Broadcaster: BBC One
Nominees:
“… a show that had regained exceptional form. A strong sense of the community within the show never detracted from the individual journeys the characters went on…an excellent drama.”
Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit: Gary Neville
Broadcaster: Sky Sports
Nominees:
“… has a genuine insight, strategic knowledge and a mission to explain.”
Sports Programme
Title: The 2014 Ryder Cup
Production Company: Sky Sports/European Tour Productions
Broadcaster: Sky Sports
Nominees:
“With an approach that took the audience to the heart of the event and with a commentary team of unrivalled expertise, this was a production that was perfectly placed to showcase great sporting drama.”
Writer - Comedy: Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse & Charlie Higson
Title: Harry and Paul’s Story of the Twos
Production Company: Balloon Entertainment
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
“Funny, clever writing with amazing attention to detail.”
Writer - Drama: Peter Bowker
Title: Marvellous
Production Company: Fifty Fathoms Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions
Broadcaster: BBC Two
Nominees:
“Extraordinary writing – joyful, life-enhancing but in no way sentimental.”
Judges’ Award: Ben Stephenson, Controller Drama Commissioning
Broadcaster: BBC Television
Nominees:
“We are living through an extraordinarily rich period of television drama in the US and Europe, as well as here in the UK, and this year's RTS Judges’ Award acknowledges the contribution one executive has made to what many are calling a new golden age.
He was responsible for 7 out of the top 10 most watched dramas of the year and 7 out of 10 of the most appreciated. He has built BBC Two drama into a formidable creative force with titles like Peaky Blinders, The Fall, Line of Duty and The Honourable Woman. And he has successfully introduced a new slate of returning series to BBC One with Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise, Last Tango in Halifax, The Musketeers and Shetland all playing last year. Also in 2014, he introduced Happy Valley and The Missing - two of the most talked about series of the year, greeted with huge critical and audience acclaim. Add to all that single films like Jimmy McGovern's Common and Peter Bowker's Marvellous, not to mention a rejuvenated EastEnders, and it would be hard to disagree that our winner has had an extraordinary year.”
Lifetime Achievement Award: Melvyn Bragg
Nominees:
“Tonight’s recipient enjoys multiple careers – novelist, writer of non-fiction, radio broadcaster, member of the House of Lords, campaigner and educator – but first and foremost, he’s a man of television, a great broadcaster and programme maker. But even that doesn’t adequately describe the role he has come to occupy in national life – because in Britain, no one is more synonymous with the arts than Melvyn Bragg."