It’s A Sin and A Very British Scandal win big at BPG Awards

TV dramas It’s A Sin and A Very British Scandal have taken top honours at the 2022 Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards.

The awards celebrate outstanding television, streaming and radio programmes and performances that have been commissioned or premiered in the UK.

Channel 4’s It’s A Sin was named best drama series and the show’s creator, Russell T Davies, won the award for best writer.

Davies, 58, first gained recognition as a screenwriter for his 1999 drama Queer As Folk, with It’s A Sin released to critical acclaim in January 2021.

The series, which starred Olly Alexander, follows a group of gay friends living in London as the HIV/Aids crisis unfolds.

BBC One’s A Very British Scandal also secured two awards, as it was voted best drama mini-series, with its star Claire Foy, named best actress.

Foy’s depiction of the Duchess of Argyll, triumphed over Olivia Colman in Landscapers, Jodie Comer in Help and Lydia West in It’s A Sin.

The series, also starring Paul Bettany and Julia Davis, charts the events surrounding the notorious divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll during the 1960s.

English journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow won the Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting.

Snow, 74, is the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News, which he presented from 1989 before announcing his departure from the show in 2021.

Stephen Graham scooped the award for best actor, in a double win, for his performances in Channel 4’s Help, demonstrating the consequences of Covid-19 in Britain’s care homes, and BBC One’s prison drama Time.

He triumphed in a shortlist which included his Time co-star Sean Bean, Sanjeev Bhaskar for Unforgotten, and Olly Alexander and Callum Scott Howells for It’s A Sin.

Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse have won the best entertainment award for the third time with Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

Best comedy was awarded to BBC Two sitcom Alma’s Not Normal, which follows the eponymous Alma as she attempts to give her life meaning while reconciling with the time she spent in the care system.

The show, inspired by writer Sophie Willan’s own experiences of the care system, was up against Sex Education, Stath Lets Flats, and Starstruck.

The BBC Two series Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution was named best documentary series, while Disney+ series The Beatles: Get Back was voted best documentary mini-series.

Radio programme of the year went to Jamz Supernova for her BBC 6 Music show Jamz Supernova on 6.

Chairman of the BPG, Grant Tucker, said: “In their 48th year, the BPG awards remain true to the values on which they were founded: celebrating the best work on TV and radio, voted for by those whose job is to write about broadcasting.

“2021 was a fantastic year for British television. The industry bounced back from the worst days of the pandemic with record levels of investment and programming, and our winners announced today are testimony to that creative explosion.

“It is also evident that, despite reports of their death, our public service broadcasters are very much alive and thriving.”

The BPG breakthrough award went to the actor and writer of BBC Three’s Starstruck, Rose Matafeo.

The new emerging creators award for video creativity on social media platforms was given to Chunkz.

The 26-year-old, whose real name is Amin Mohamed, has amassed a following of more than 2.6 million on his YouTube channel, where he posts vlogs, challenges and prank videos.

The innovation in broadcasting award went to Channel 4 for its Black To Front project and ongoing inclusion initiatives.

The awards, now in their 48th year, were held in London on March 25.