James R | On 21, Mar 2018

BBC Three’s This Country was the big winner of this year’s Royal Television Society Awards, as the comedy series took home three prizes last night.

The mockumentary, which is set in a small Cotswold village and follows two Brits, played by Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, premiered on BBC iPlayer in 2017. Praised by us for its “gently hilarious” comedy, the series has since gone on to become a word-of-mouth hit, racking up more than 4 million requests on BBC iPlayer last year.

Now, as its second season airs on BBC iPlayer, the show has stormed the RTS Awards, winning Best Writer – Comedy and Best Comedy Performance for Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, as well as the Best Scripted Comedy award.

BBC Three, which was crowned Channel of the Year in 2017, also won the Single Drama category for Murdered for Being Different.

The rest of the night was largely dominated by BBC One, which took home the 2018 Channel of the Year prize, while its powerful drama, Three Girls, won two out of its three nominations, collecting the Mini-Series award and celebrating a win for Nicole Taylor in the Writer – Drama category.

In total, the BBC won 17 awards, including the Science & Natural History award for Planet Earth II, the Arts award for BBC Two’s Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories, the Documentary Series prize for BBC Two’s Hospital, and Single Documentary for BBC One’s Rio Ferdinand Being Mum and Dad.

Channel 4 followed its 2017 success with a consecutive win for Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe (The Last Leg, Channel 4) in the Entertainment Performance category.

ITV, meanwhile, saw Sinéad Keenan and Stephen Graham take home the Actor (Female) and Actor (Male) awards for their work on Little Boy Blue, while Daniel Lawrence Taylor was presented with the Breakthrough Award for his performance in ITV2’s Timewasters. The Entertainment programme award went to ITV’s popular reality TV series Love Island, while Coronation Street brought the Soap and Continuing Drama award back to Weatherfield.

Anita Rani won the Presenter category for My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947 (BBC One), and Michael Johnson (World Athletics Championships, BBC One and BBC Two) took the title of Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit. Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko (Sky Sports) successfully fought off the competition for the Sports Programme award.

Other winners included Inside My Head: A Newsround Special (CBBC) in the Children’s Programme category, Muslims like Us (BBC Two) for Formatted Popular Factual, and Moving On – Eighteen (BBC One) for Daytime Programme. Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents secured the History award and World War One Remembered: Passchendaele – For The Fallen won the Live Event award – both produced for BBC Two.

Netflix’s influence, though, wasn’t hard to spot, as The End of the F***ing World, a co-production with Channel 4, won the hard-ought Drama Series prize. It was also the home for two of the evening’s special awards: The RTS Award of Special Recognition, which was presented to The Crown, and the Judges’ Award, which went to Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones for Black Mirror.

The awards, in partnership with Audio Network, were presented by Vernon Kay in a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. Read on for the full list of winners:

Actor (Female)

Sinéad Keenan – Little Boy Blue, ITV Studios for ITV

Nominees:
Wunmi Mosaku – Damilola, Our Loved Boy, Minnow Films for BBC One
Thandie Newton – Line of Duty, World Productions for BBC One

Actor (Male)

Stephen Graham – Little Boy Blue, ITV Studios for ITV

Nominees:
Sean Bean – Broken, LA Productions for BBC One
Jack Rowan – Born To Kill, World Productions for Channel 4

Arts

Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories, Kismet Films for BBC Two

Nominees:
Basquiat – Rage to Riches, A BBC Studios Production for BBC and PBS with THIRTEEN Productions for BBC Two
Grayson Perry: Divided Britain, Swan Films for Channel 4

Breakthrough Award

Daniel Lawrence Taylor – Timewasters, Big Talk Productions for ITV2

Nominees:
Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper – This Country, BBC Studios Comedy for BBC Three
Molly Windsor – Three Girls, BBC Studios in association with Studio Lambert for BBC One

Children’s Programme

Inside My Head: A Newsround Special, CBBC Productions for CBBC

Nominees:
Jamie Johnson/ End Game, Short Form Film Company for CBBC
Apple Tree House/ Talking Books, Five Apples for CBeebies

Comedy Performance

Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper – This Country, BBC Studios Comedy for BBC Three

Nominees:
Tom Davis – Murder In Successville, Tiger Aspect in association with Shiny Button Productions for BBC Three
Michaela Coel – Chewing Gum, Retort for E4

Daytime Programme

Moving On – Eighteen, LA Productions for BBC One

Nominees:
The Question Jury, Monkey Kingdom for Channel 4
Good Morning Britain, ITV Studios for ITV

Documentary Series

Hospital, Label 1 for BBC Two

Nominees:
The Detectives: Murder on the Streets, Minnow Films in association with the OU for BBC Two
Catching A Killer, True Vision for Channel 4

Drama Series

The End of The F***ing World, Clerkenwell Films and Dominic Buchanan Productions for Channel 4

Nominees:
Ackley Bridge, The Forge for Channel 4
The Crown, Left Bank Pictures for Netflix

Entertainment

Love Island, ITV Studios/Motion Content Group for ITV2

Nominees:
Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV Studios and Mitre Television for ITV
Murder in Successville, Tiger Aspect in association with Shiny Button Productions for BBC Three

Entertainment Performance

Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe – The Last Leg, Open Mike Productions for Channel 4

Nominees:
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly – I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, ITV Studios for ITV
Claudia Winkleman – Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Studios for BBC One

Formatted Popular Factual

Muslims like Us, Love Productions for BBC Two

Nominees:
Rich House, Poor House, Hat Trick Productions for Channel 5
The Big Life Fix with Simon Reeve, Studio Lambert for BBC Two

History

Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents, 72 Films for BBC Two

Nominees:
My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947, Wall to Wall Media for BBC One
Black & British A Forgotten History, BBC Studios for BBC Two

Live Event

World War One Remembered: Passchendaele – For The Fallen, BBC Studios for BBC Two

Nominees:
One Love Manchester, BBC Studios/SB Projects for BBC One
ITV News Election Night: The Results, ITN/ITV News for ITV

Mini-Series

Three Girls, BBC Studios in association with Studio Lambert for BBC One

Nominees:
The State, Archery Pictures and Stonehenge Films for Channel 4
Born To Kill, World Productions for Channel 4

Presenter

Anita Rani – My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947, Wall to Wall Media for BBC One

Nominees:
Grayson Perry – Grayson Perry: Divided Britain, Swan Films for Channel 4
Gordon Ramsay – Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine, Studio Ramsay/Objective Media Group for ITV

RTS Channel Of The Year

BBC One

Nominees:
CBBC
Channel 5

Science & Natural History

Planet Earth II, BBC Studios The Natural History Unit production with BBC America, ZDF, Tencent and France Television for BBC One

Nominees:
Guy Martin vs The Robot Car, North One Television for Channel 4
Dogs: An Amazing Animal Family, Offspring Films for Sky One

Scripted Comedy

This Country, BBC Studios Comedy for BBC Three

Nominees:
People Just Do Nothing, Roughcut TV for BBC Three
Chewing Gum, Retort for E4

Single Documentary

Rio Ferdinand Being Mum and Dad, Only The Best Productions for BBC One

Nominees:
Chris Packham: Aspergers and Me, Raw for BBC Two
The Accused, Brinkworth Films for Channel 5

Single Drama

Murdered for Being Different, BBC Studios for BBC Three

Nominees:
Damilola, Our Loved Boy, Minnow Films for BBC One
King Charles III, Drama Republic for BBC Two

Soap and Continuing Drama

Coronation Street, ITV Studios for ITV

Nominees:
EastEnders, BBC Studios for BBC One
Holby City, BBC Studios for BBC One

Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit

Michael Johnson – World Athletics Championships, BBC Sport for BBC One and BBC Two

Nominees:
Osi Umenyiora – NFL This Week, The NFL Show, Whisper Films for BBC Two
Kelly Cates – Friday Night Football, Sky Sports

Sports Programme

Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko, Sky Sports for Sky Sports Box Office

Nominees:
2017 FA Cup Final Coverage, BBC Sport for BBC One
UEFA Women’s EURO – England v Netherlands Semi-Final, Whisper Films for Channel 4

Writer – Comedy

Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper – This Country, BBC Studios Comedy for BBC Three

Nominees:
Steve Stamp and Allan Mustafa – People Just Do Nothing, Roughcut TV for BBC Three
Michaela Coel – Chewing Gum, Retort for E4

Writer – Drama

Nicole Taylor – Three Girls, BBC Studios in association with Studio Lambert for BBC One

Nominees:
Charlie Covell – The End of The F***ing World, Clerkenwell Films and Dominic Buchanan Productions for Channel 4
Jeff Pope – Little Boy Blue, ITV Studios for ITV

RTS Award of Special Recognition

The Crown

“The series has put feature film production values onto the small screen for the world to see and done so with a style and on a scale unlike any other.”

Judges’ Award

Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones for Black Mirror

“The recipients are the creative executive producers of a show that has touched the zeitgeist and connected with millennial audiences particularly in the most profound way. Black Mirror is a series that defies neat categorisation. Is it science fiction? Is it an apocalyptic satire? Is it a psychological thriller? The truth is that it’s all of the these.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Jimmy McGovern

“A dramatist who has written what is, by any measure, an exceptional body of work – pieces that have challenged audiences, needled authority and had an impact that goes beyond mere critical acclaim or high ratings…though his work has achieved both of those as well.”

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