Story Films for Channel 4
UK documentary making has always been a leader in the global TV industry and the series category is one of the toughest in the Broadcast Awards. The winning title stands out for its technical skill and storytelling prowess, driven by the quality of the footage gathered by self-shooting series director Ashley Francis-Roy. The high production values allowed To Catch a Copper to deliver a gripping story infused with shocking narratives.
When it aired early last year, its impressive access gave an unflinching portrayal of how the UK is policed at a crisis-racked and turbulent time for the authorities.
The result was Channel 4’s second-best performing new documentary in a year, after 2024 Broadcast Award-winning Russell Brand Dispatches single.
For several judges, this placed the series above its peers, with one noting its “unbiased scrutiny” and “shocking, visceral storytelling, provoking the most pertinent questions and dilemmas facing policing today”.
“Excellent,” another said. “So very impressed with everything this doc has set out to do and executes.
“It manages to be compelling while also giving a voice to everybody involved. On a very human level, it reflects the world around us and the highly charged conversations, which draws us in and invites us to make our own judgment.”
The use of point-of-view filming was “stylistically gripping”, immersing the audience in the events on screen, they added.
SHORTLISTED
Defiance: Fighting the Far Right
Rogan Productions for Channel 4
Although the events depicted in Defiance occurred 50 years ago, many in the British Asian community had never spoken about them publicly in any depth. But broadcast of this show in April 2024, British Asians from all walks of life began sharing their own experiences of being attacked by the Far Right in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The series helped spark a timely national conversation about racism in the UK and provided a poignant reminder that intolerance is still rife.
Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar
Passion Pictures for BBC
Telling a fresh story about one of the most recognisable celebrity figures of the 20th century presented a huge challenge – but one the creative team behind this series met, providing new insights into an iconic but misunderstood actor. Taylor’s life has often been told as insubstantial soap opera: the marriages, divorces, diamonds, addictions and scandals. But the three-ep doc explores themes of body image, mental health, gender politics and LGBTQ+ rights to provide a rich and modern picture of Taylor.
Lockerbie
Mindhouse Productions for Sky Documentaries
The infamous plane bombing, which is also the subject of two dramas, is described by the makers as ‘true crime on a geopolitical scale’. The temptation could have been to make a purely procedural thriller based on the investigation, but the ambition was to go further: determined to depict how the town of Lockerbie continues to live with the event that happened a quarter of a century ago.
Miriam: Death of a Reality Star
Expectation TV for Channel 4
This documentary not only poses questions of society but, crucially, shines the spotlight on the TV industry. Following her turn on 2004 Sky One reality show There’s Something About Miriam, trans woman Miriam was portrayed as a one-dimensional exotic figure of fun, overtly sexual and out to deceive innocent boys. She sadly took her own life in 2019. Death of a Reality Star aims to rewrite the narrative around her.
On Thin Ice: Putin V Greenpeace
Curve Media for BBC
This environmental thriller explores two inextricably linked contemporary issues – the role of fossil fuels in the climate emergency and the intensifying aggression of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. On Thin Ice offers a gripping story with pace and lightness of touch, drawing in a new audience to these subjects.
AWARD SPONSORED BY The Complete Camera Company
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