Broadcast Digital Awards 2023 shortlist unveiled

The shortlist for the Broadcast Digital Awards 2023 has been revealed, with several new categories introduced to reflect the strength and volume of entries.

Best Specialist Factual Programme, Best True Crime Documentary and Best Current Affairs Programme will all be presented for the first time and the three new categories have generated shortlists featuring a wide range of channels, platforms and production companies, including the likes of BBC Africa Eye and Netflix, Zandland and Apple TV+, and Britbox UK and BET UK.

In a Best Drama Programme category packed with major titles, Bad Sisters, I Hate Suzie Too, and Red Rose will go head to head with Slow Horses, The Devil’s Hour, and This England.

Sky Documentaries has delivered a strong performance in Best Documentary Programme, where it is responsible for four of the six shortlisted entries.

Kingdom of Dreams, Mother Teresa: For the Love of God?, Scouting for Girls and Spector will go up against Disney+’s Finding Michael and The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash, from ITVbe.

Meanwhile traditional broadcasters and online challengers will compete in Best Entertainment Channel, with Channel 4.0 and LADbible TV vying with BBC3, Dave, and E4.

Several of those same entrants are also nominated in Channel of the Year, in which BBC3, CBeebies, Dave, E4, More 4 and Sky News will do battle.

Emerging indie Zandland picked up three nominations: Secret World of Incels (Best Current Affairs Programme), Kingpin Cribs (Best Short Form Documentary) and the company for Best Multichannel Production Company.

In the latter it is up against a strong field of Air TV, Fulwell 73, Lime Pictures, Strawberry Blond TV and Yeti Television.

The Broadcast Digital Awards 2023 takes place on Wednesday 5 July at The Brewery in London

For sponsorship enquiries please contact Francesca.Verdusco@mbi.london and for table enquiries please contact Nitin.Kundra@mbi.london

For more information and to book a table please click here

Digital Awards Shortlist 2023

Best Comedy Programme

• Ellie and Natasia, Nit Television for BBC
• Extraordinary, Sid Gentle Film for Disney+
• Funny Woman, Potboiler Productions for Sky Comedy
• Live At The Moth Club, Baby Cow Productions for Dave
• Plebs: Soldiers of Rome, Rise Films for ITVX
• We Are Not Alone, Big Talk Productions for Dave

Best Content Partnership or AFP

• AbracadOpera!, Somethin’ Else for Sky Kids
• Cooking With The Stars, South Shore for ITV1
• Game & Glory, BBC Studios in partnership with ESL for Twitch & YouTube
• Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, Wall to Wall Media for BBC
• Hollyoaks’ ‘Long Walk Home’ with UK Home Office (OMD), Lime Pictures for E4 & Channel 4
• Unlocked: What Does It Mean to Be Free?, The Space for Sky Arts

Best Current Affairs Programme

• Chaos in Kabul: Escaping The Taliban, Sky News for Sky Documentaries
• Occupied, BBC World Service Documentaries for BBC World & BBC iPlayer
• Scam Land: Money, Mayhem and Maseratis, Forest for BBC
• Sex for Work: The True Cost of Our Tea, BBC Africa Eye & BBC Panorama for BBC Africa YouTube
• Sexsomnia: Case Closed?, BBC UK Insights Team for BBC
• Untold: The Secret World Of Incels, Zandland for All 4

Best Digital Children’s Content

• Game on Grandparents, Electric Robin for CBBC
• Lloyd of the Flies, Aardman for CITV
• Lovely Little Farm, Darrall Macqueen for Apple TV+
• My Life: Eva’s Having a Ball, Fresh Start Media for CBBC
• Newsround Special: Ukraine – The Children’s Story, BBC for CBBC & BBC iPlayer
• Operation Ouch! Let’s Talk About Cancer, 141 Productions for CBBC & BBC iPlayer

Best Digital Support for a Programme

• Hollyoaks, Lime Pictures for All 4 & E4
• Outsiders: Social Media Support, UKTV for Dave
• RuPaul’s Drag Race UK – ASMR, BBC Three Digital for BBC
• Taskmaster, Avalon Television & Avalon Promotions for Channel 4 & All 4
• The Masked Singer, Bandicoot & StoryHunter for ITV
• The Traitors, Studio Lambert, Metavision & Social Chain for BBC

Best Digital Support for a Strand, Channel or Genre

• BBC Three, BBC Three for BBC
• Film 4, 4Studio for Film 4
• Game On!, Warner Bros. Discovery for Cartoon Network
• Newsround, BBC for BBC Newsround
• The Other Side of the Story, BBC Education for BBC Bitesize & BBC News
• UKTV Play Social Media, UKTV for UKTV Play

 Best Documentary Programme

• Finding Michael, Shine Productions & The Natural Studios for Disney+
• Kingdom of Dreams, Misfits Entertainment & Fremantle for Sky Documentaries
• Mother Teresa: For the Love of God?, Minnow Films for Sky Documentaries
• Scouting for Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret, Wonderhood Studios for Sky
• Spector, Lightbox for Sky Documentaries
• The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash, Collective Media Group for ITVbe

Best Drama Programme

• Bad Sisters, Merman & ABC Signature for Apple TV+
• I Hate Suzie Too, Bad Wolf for Sky Atlantic
• Red Rose, Eleven Film & eOne for BBC & Netflix
• Slow Horses, See-Saw Films for Apple TV+
• The Devil’s Hour, Hartswood Films for Prime Video
• This England, Passenger Pictures, Revolution Films & Fremantle for Sky Atlantic

Best Entertainment Channel

• BBC Three
• Channel 4.0
• Dave
• E4
• LADbible TV 

Best Entertainment Programme

• Don’t Hate The Playaz, Monkey Kingdom for ITV2
• Harry Pinero’s Worst In Class, Wall of Productions for Channel 4.0 YouTube
• Love In The Flesh, Ten66 Television for BBC
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Talkback, a Fremantle label, for Sky Max
• Rob & Romesh VS…, CPL Productions for Sky Max
• RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, World of Wonder for BBC

Best Factual Channel

• More 4
• Sky History
• Yesterday

Best Popular Factual Programme

• Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Boom for Dave
• Catfish UK, Viacom International Studios UK for MTV UK
• Married at First Sight UK, CPL Productions for E4
• Olivia Attwood: Getting Filthy Rich, Optomen TV for ITV2
• Ross Kemp: Shipwreck Treasure Hunter, Honey Bee, Freshwater & Motion Content Group for Sky History
• World’s Most Dangerous Roads, Renegade Pictures for Dave

Best Programme Acquisition

• Brookside, Mersey Television (Lime Pictures) for STV Player & Channel 4
• Mystery Road: Origin, Bunya Productions for BBC
• The Dangerous Rise of Andrew Tate, Vice News for BBC & Vice
• The Last of Us, HBO in assoc with Sony Pictures Television Studios, PlayStation, Naughty Dog, Word Games & The Mighty Mint for Sky Atlantic
• The White Lotus, HBO in assoc with Rip Cord & The District for Sky Atlantic
• Trom, Re:Invent Studios, KYK Pictures & True North for BBC

Best Short-Form Documentary

• #OurFrozenPlanet – Frontline Voices, BBC Studios for BBC Earth YouTube
• Finding My Torturer, BBC Eye Investigations for BBC World Service
• Fractured Reality, BBC Studios Social & BBC Studios Production Science Unit for BBC Earth Lab YouTube
• Home, BBC Studios for BBC Reel
• Kingpin Cribs: Drugs, Death And Pet Tigers, Zandland for YouTube
• Nemtsov’s Shadow, BBC Eye Investigations for BBC website

Best Short-Form Format

• Black Britain Unspoken, Warner Bros. Discovery for Discovery+
• Hollyoaks IRL, Lime Pictures for YouTube
• It’s Alright To Be White, Flying Shoe Films & Ultra Haze for Channel 4.0 YouTube
• Nella Rose’s Flight Mode, Goat Films for Channel 4.0 YouTube
• Snack Wars, LADstudios for LADbible TV
• Tisho Fforc?, Afanti Media for Hansh

Best Short-Form Scripted

• Red Flag, Baby Cow Productions for Channel 4.0 YouTube
• Skint, Hopscotch Films for BBC
• Small Doses, Objective Fiction for BBC
• The Wedding, Create Anything for BBC Scotland iPlayer
• What’s Happening?, Baby Cow Productions for Baby Cow YouTube
• William of Orangedale, Hat Trick Productions (NI) for All 4

Best Specialist Channel

• Alibi
• CBeebies
• Crime+Investigation
• History Hit
• Sky News
• Talking Pictures TV

Best Specialist Factual Programme

• Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted, The Format Factory & Anderson Entertainment for Britbox
• Italia 90 – Four Weeks that Changed the World, Blast Films for Sky Documentaries
• Prehistoric Planet, BBC Studios for Apple TV+
• Reel Britannia: A Modern History of British Cinema, Canal Cat Films for Britbox
• Right Here Right Now, Beyond TNC for Sky Documentaries
• The Evolution of Black British Music, Fan Studios & Motion Content Group for BET UK & MY5

Best Sports or Live Event Coverage

• Extreme E – Island X-Prix – Sardinia, Aurora for 80+ broadcasters incl ITV4 & BT Sport
• Isle of Man TT 2022, Greenlight Television for TT+
• MOBO Awards 2022 in assoc with Lucozade, CC-Lab for YouTube
• Road to Afro Nation: Davido Live, Naked & Thames (Fremantle labels) for YouTube Originals
• The Death of Queen Elizabeth II, Sky News for Sky News
• The Hundred, Sky Sports for Sky Sports Cricket

Best True Crime Documentary

• Body on the Beach: What Happened to Blessing?, Viacom International Studios UK for MTV UK
• Confessions of a Psycho Killer, Woodcut Media for Prime Video
• D.B Cooper: Where Are You?, Fulwell 73 & PMZ Pictures for Netflix
• Dublin Narcos, Blast! Films for Sky Documentaries
• Fred West: The Glasgow Girls, IWC Media for Sky Documentaries
• Libby, Are you Home Yet?, Candour Productions for Sky Crime

Channel of the Year

• BBC Three
• CBeebies
• Dave
• E4
• More 4
• Sky News 

Gamechanger Programme of the Year

• Bangers and Cash, Air TV for Yesterday
• Gods of the Game: A Football Opera, Factory Films for Sky Arts
• Made in Chelsea, Monkey Kingdom for E4
• Royal Mob, Nutopia for Sky History
• The Hundred, Sky Sports for Sky Sports Cricket

Multichannel Production Company of the Year

• Air TV
• Fulwell 73
• Lime Pictures
• Strawberry Blond TV
• Yeti Television
• Zandland