RTS North West

It’s 2010, and screenwriter and showrunner Frank Spotnitz sits in a plane at LAX ahead of a 10-hour flight, eager to begin his new life. On the strength of a deal with Sky to air his new spy thriller Hunted, he has sold up, lock, stock and barrel, in the US, and is moving his business, his family and dogs to London.

As the plane taxis to the runway for take-off, he takes a quick call from one of his producers, only to be told that Sky has cancelled the show. Suddenly, Spotnitz is unemployed; Hunted seems dead in the water, along with his European dream.

The BBC One series, made by the Red Production Company, bagged three awards at the ceremony, which was held at the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester. Years and Years was named Best Drama, while the acting gongs went to Rory Kinnear and Jessica Hynes.

Granada Reports also picked up three awards on the night. The ITV News programme won the Best Regional News Programme award for its investigation into the North West’s high suicide rate and the prize for Best Digital Content. Sports correspondent Chris Hall was named Best Regional News Journalist.

The nominees were announced at the RTS North West 2019 launch party sponsored by Audio Network.

Take a look below and see if you are one of the lucky four! You can also click here to see a full list of the nominees.

Don't forget to save the date and get tickets for the awards in November now by contacting Rachel Pinkney.

Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood heralded the storyline as “a bold departure for Hollyoaks and for British soap… taking an unflinching look at how extremists prey on the vulnerable and the disenfranchised… and how Britain’s communities are under threat from increasingly polarised views.”

Robert “Judge” Rinder was speaking about his career – from would-be actor to television presenter via the Bar and British Overseas Territories – with Granada Reports presenter Lucy Meacock at an RTS North West event at the Lowry in June. He has fronted the ITV daytime show Judge Rinder, in which he arbitrates over civil cases, since its launch in 2014.

Give me the child for his first seven years, and I will give you the man.” This nature-nurture Jesuit maxim has been the lodestone of the legendary documentary series Up since it began in 1964.

Originally intended by Granada as a one-off, Seven Up! looked at the lives of a group of seven-year-olds from a variety of social backgrounds and areas of the UK, breaking convention by interviewing just the children.

The Lowry in Salford was packed for the screening of episode one, series 5, sponsored by The Farm, and to hear from executive producers Simon Ford and Tom Currie, series producer Peter Wallis-Tayler and members of the team about the work that goes into producing the “stories behind the sirens”. The programme, which is set in Manchester, returns to BBC One at the end of May.

Many of the show’s team past and present, together with some of its legions of fans, packed the Lowry’s Compass Room at an RTS North West event in early April to celebrate – alongside Tonight’s first host Sir Trevor McDonald – the show’s 20^th anniversary.

ITV news chief Michael Jermey outlined “the alchemy which makes the show so successful”. Tonight, which has always been made in the North West, “has never been part of the ‘London bubble’,” he argued. “Its roots [are] in the ITV heartland.”

Clink begins its run on Channel 5’s young adult channel, 5 Star, in April.

At a screening of the first two episodes, hosted by RTS North West at the Lowry Theatre, Salford in early April, executive producer and LA founder Colin McKeown spoke of the “importance of research and authenticity”.