‘We wanted to place greater emphasis on amazing programming and outstanding channels beyond those linked to the PSBs’
The Broadcast Digital Awards is our most forward-thinking event and celebrates the intersection of the TV and online worlds – but it never does any harm to think back to the past, either.
For the 2019 edition, we wanted to reaffirm the founding principles of these awards and place greater emphasis on the amazing programming and outstanding channels beyond those linked to the PSBs. That meant tweaking some criteria and, most obviously, introducing two new categories.
As a result, Al Murray: Why Does Everybody Hate The English? and Dave are the respective inaugural winners of Gamechanger Programme of the Year and Channel of the Year (Non-PSB Group). Both are worthy recipients.
The former brought new viewers to History, which is reinventing itself and taking its place at the top table of general entertainment channels. Dave is already in that category after years of punching above its weight, with an unstinting commitment to origination and a clearly defi ned yet constantly evolving brand.
Beyond that, this was BBC Four’s year to shine. Bros: When The Screaming Stops was an absolute gem and a clear winner in the Best Documentary Programme category, while Snatches: Moments From Women’s Lives was a super-distinctive Best Short-Form Drama.
And then there’s Love Island, the Best Entertainment Programme on any TV channel, bar none. Proof, if any were needed, that the biggest channels do not have a monopoly on the best content.
- Chris Curtis is the editor in chief of Broadcast
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