‘It helped to shift viewers’ perception of the channel at precisely the time it moved from docs to entertainment on the Sky EPG’
In a strong year for History, the Pub Landlord led from the front. Combining elements of travelogue, buddy format and history show, this five-part series provided lashings of laughter as it took a tongue-in-cheek look at England’s relationship with its closest neighbours.
Al Murray met with comedians from Ireland, France, Germany, Scotland and Wales to gently probe those country’s greatest feuds with his beloved England.
Its series average of 230,000 put it a whopping 222% above the slot average. It also helped to shift viewers’ perceptions of the channel at precisely the time it moved from the documentaries section of the Sky EPG to the more prominent entertainment category.
More in-depth information on all shows entered into the Broadcast Digital Awards can be found on our Programme Index.
The result was a significant halo effect: of the new viewers to the channel, 23% stayed to watch Forged In Fire, 20% watched The Curse Of Oak Island: Digging Deeper and 16% watched Storage Wars and Britain’s War Of Thrones.
Talent such as Antoine de Caunes (France), Elis James (Wales) and Henning Wehn (Germany) tackled topics as diverse as the Battle of Agincourt, ‘sheep-shagging’ Welshmen and the perennial debate over whether the Beatles or Kraftwerk were the better band. The result was History’s highest-rating non-scripted origination.
SHORTLISTED
FLACK
Hat Trick Productions/CASM Films for W
Flack represented the culmination of UKTV’s long-held ambition to launch an original drama – and it didn’t disappoint. A stellar cast including Anna Paquin and Sophie Okonedo explored creator Oliver Lansley’s amoral world of public relations and the show helped put the W channel on the map, with plenty of press coverage.
SURVIVING R KELLY
Kreativ Inc for Crime + Investigation
A devastating exposé of the R’n’B singer, Surviving R Kelly was Crime + Investigation’s most-talked-about documentary, and its most-watched.
The acquisition aired close to its US broadcast to capitalise on the huge conversation and launched with a double bill, with all episodes available to watch from week two.
Dave’s most channel-defining show has been a gamechanger for many years, and series seven was no exception. It continued to garner vast critical acclaim and averaged more than 1 million viewers per episode as Alex Horne and Greg Davies were joined by newer talent such as Phil Wang and Jessica Knappett.
TRUE LOVE OR TRUE LIES?
Lime Pictures for MTV
Stripped across two weeks for maximum impact, this new dating format took a distinctive approach to casting by embracing the LGBTQ+ community.
Its other twist was that some of its couples weren’t really in a relationship, playing with the idea of authenticity. All of this helped drive record-breaking ratings, with the format averaging 149,000 for 16-34s.
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