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THE BROADCAST DIGITAL AWARDS

is our most forward-thinking event
and celebrates the intersection of We wanted to
the TV and online worlds – but it place greater
never does any harm to think back emphasis
to the past, either. on amazing
For the 2019 edition, we wanted to reaffirm the programming
and outstanding
founding principles of these awards and place greater channels beyond
emphasis on the amazing programming and outstanding those linked
channels beyond those linked to the PSBs. That meant to the PSBs
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 commit-
ment to origination and a clearly defined 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 With thanks to

Editor

Broadcast Digital
Awards 2019 drinks
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Broadcast Editor Chris Curtis Supplement Editor Jesse Whittock Production Editor Dominic Needham Art Editor Abi Hardwick Contributors John Elmes,
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Hanna Russo Events & Digital Marketing Manager Louise Lenzi

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 CONTENTS

12 13

CATEGORIES
06 BEST ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
07 BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY
08 BEST PROGRAMME ACQUISITION
09 BEST DIGITAL SUPPORT FOR A STRAND,
CHANNEL OR GENRE
15 18
10 BEST POPULAR FACTUAL PROGRAMME
11 BEST SPECIALIST CHANNEL
12 BEST DIGITAL CHILDREN’S CONTENT
13 BEST FACTUAL CHANNEL
14 BEST SHORT-FORM FORMAT
15 BEST SPORTS OR LIVE EVENT COVERAGE
16 METHODOLOGY & JUDGES
18 BEST SHORT-FORM COMEDY 20 22
19 BEST DIGITAL SUPPORT FOR A PROGRAMME
20 BEST SHORT-FORM DRAMA
21 BEST CONTENT PARTNERSHIP OR AFP
22 BEST COMEDY PROGRAMME
23 BEST ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL
24 BEST DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMME
25 BEST VR EXPERIENCE
26 BEST ORIGINAL WEB CHANNEL
27 BEST DRAMA PROGRAMME
28 GAMECHANGER PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR
29 CHANNEL OF THE YEAR (NON-PSB GROUP)
30 CHANNEL OF THE YEAR 24

BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 5

BEST ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
LOVE ISLAND
ITV Studios/Motion Content Group for ITV2
WINNER FOR the second year running in the
A
Best Entertainment Programme category, ITV2’s
Love Island shows no sign of slowing down. The
fourth run of the ITV2 juggernaut was the most suc-
cessful ever, with an average of 4 million viewers – up
1.5 million from series three – and a 17% share. An
average of 2 million 16 to 34 year-olds tuned in –
almost one in two of those in the target demographic
watching TV at the time – up 587,000 on series three.
Love Island leans heavily on social media to increase
engagement and series four enjoyed double-digit
growth in reach across all platforms. Facebook followers
grew by 25%, Instagram by 20% and Twitter by 15%.
The programme now boasts the most Instagram followers
of any UK TV account, with more than 2.2 million.
Meanwhile, the show’s website attracted 15.9 million
page views, and the podcast spent 40 days at the top of
the Apple podcast chart.
The production team were once again key to ensuring
Love Island stayed fresh – delivering plot twists that
threw everything up in the air whenever the cast began
feeling settled.
“The impact across multiple digital platforms was
incredible, matched by high production values and
innovation in sound,” one judge commented. “This
series took the relationship format to a new level and
was impossible to avoid – even if you didn’t watch it.”
6 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
BRITAIN’S GOT MORE TALENT
Thames/Fremantle UK for ITV2
Britain’s Got More Talent strengthened ITV2’s
reputation as the go-to digital channel for
entertainment programming with a playful twist.
The talent format grew the channel’s share
of its key 16-34 demographic, helping it
meet its remit as a youth brand. The Saturday
episodes were up 338,000 on the slot average,
while weekday episodes were up 15,000.
CELEBS GO DATING
Lime Pictures for E4
The sixth run of the relationship format
grew E4’s target 16-34 audience by almost
300% and proved a great launch pad for
the channel’s other new titles – The Hangover
Games and Baewatch. To top it off, series
six outperformed all previous runs of the
show on catch-up service All 4.
JUDGE ROMESH
Hungry Bear Media for Dave
This series met Dave’s aim of working with
the best of British comedy talent to strengthen
its case as the home for comedic content.
The novel court setting livened up the panel
show format, and its addition to Dave’s original
commissions boosted the channel’s popularity
among the target male audience.
TASKMASTER
Avalon for Dave
Averaging a consolidated audience of well
over 1 million viewers an episode, including
a significant number of 16-34s, the Greg
This series Davies and Alex Horne-fronted series remains
one of Dave’s flagship original series. Its
took the
warmth and light-heartedness are key
relationship reasons for its continued success and
format to a critical acclaim, said the judges.
new level and THE HEIST
was impossible Shine TV for Sky 1
to avoid – even The judges were impressed by the novel
if you didn’t and irreverent fun of Sky 1’s new cat-and-
mouse format, with its concept, filming and
watch it cast drawing praise. A positive response
from the UK media coupled with a 24%
increase on Sky 1’s average share for the
slot led to a swift order for a second series.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK

MISSED CALL
Field Day Productions/Little Dot Studios for Real Stories
HIS DOCUMENTARY has already won several
T
short-form awards and plaudits from critics and
can now add a Broadcast Digital Award to the list.
Film-maker Victoria Mapplebeck created the entire
documentary on an iPhone X, making it the first short
film shot on the device to land a commission. It follows
Mapplebeck’s relationship with her teenage son as they
prepare to reconnect with his long-absent father.
The 19-minute film – a follow up to Mapplebeck’s
debut 160 Characters – explores the various ways in
which our lives are captured and documented through
our phones, beginning with the last text message the
father sent back in 2006 as his relationship with Mapple-
beck was drawing to a close, and ending with the first
phone call made to him in more than a decade.
The film shows that while the mobile phone can
connect people, it can also have the opposite effect of
making communication easier to ignore. “Brilliant”
was how one judge described it. “The ‘gimmick’ is
unobtrusive, serves the narrative and gives it a genuine
edge over others in the category.”
Using a smartphone was less intimidating for
14-year-old protagonist Jim than appearing in front of a
professional camera, and meant filming could be more
spontaneous. Made on a shoestring budget, the film
clocked up 735,000 views across YouTube, Facebook
Watch and other video platforms.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY
SHORTLISTED
ANATOMY OF A KILLING
BBC Africa Eye for YouTube, Facebook,
Twitter and BBC channels
The BBC Africa Eye team used technology and
the internet to painstakingly collect evidence
and uncover the basic facts around a horrific
viral video of African soldiers appearing to
murder two women and two young children.
Their astounding findings led to both the
Cameroonian military men and the country’s
government being held to account.
BRITAIN’S FORGOTTEN MEN
BBC Three for BBC Three
This four-part series delivered 750,000
iPlayer views and a further 2.4 million on
YouTube after director Dan Murdoch spent a
year in some of Britain’s most deprived
estates learning the stories of the men who
lived there. The intimate and authentic foot-
age often reflected chaotic and violent lives.
ENTITLED: RANDOM ACTS
Fruit Tree Media/Little Dot Studios
for Channel 4 YouTube channel
Part of Peckham High Street was shut down
to allow Adeyemi Michael to film his mother
on horseback to reflect his family’s proud
Nigerian heritage and make a powerful pro-
immigrant statement. Such was the strength
of the short that it was selected to lead
the fifth series of Random Acts, presented by
actor Zawe Ashton.
MY LIFE INSIDE: THE SNAKE CHURCH
Barcroft Studios for Barcroft TV
The ‘gimmick’ Barcroft TV gained access to Kentucky snake-
handler church the Full Gospel Tabernacle in
is unobtrusive,
Jesus’ Name soon after pastor Jamie Coots
serves the had died there after being bitten by a rattle-
narrative snake during a sermon. The crew embedded
themselves with Coots’ family, and even
and gives it a caught the moment when history repeated
genuine edge itself as son Cody Coots was bitten.
over others in
the category NOW I CAN BREATHE
CTVC/TrueTube for TrueTube.co.uk
Nearly 20,000 students are estimated to
have watched Now I Can Breathe since its
launch in February. The film was created
on the back of several shocking surveys
revealing that many schoolgirls have been
subjected to sexual harassment. Central
to the narrative is the heart-breaking story
of Amina, who recalls her experiences of
harassment directly into the camera.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 7
BEST PROGRAMME ACQUISITION
54 HOURS: THE GLADBECK
HOSTAGE CRISIS
Ziegler Film/ARD Degeto for BBC Four
HIS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED two-part drama
T is based on the true story of the 1988 German
hostage crisis that shocked the world. Ziegler
Film’s production, originally for German broadcaster
ARD Degeto, drew praise for its expert craft, direction
and production values, creating a detailed and accurate
picture of 1980s West Germany.
Central to the plot is a series of bewildering
responses from misguided authorities, whose actions
result in the bank robbery-turned-hostage situation
going from bad to worse as the action spills across into
the neighbouring Netherlands.
The German-language drama was one of the
highlights of BBC Four ’s 2018 schedule, carving
out a space for itself in a Saturday night slot where
it exceeded expectations.
The show averaged 473,000 and a 2.5% share, while
repeat broadcasts delivered a 32% uplift for episode
one and 39% for part two. It also received more than
280,000 requests on BBC iPlayer.
Following its broadcast on BBC Four, 54 Hours
was nominated for Best International Programme
at the 2019 Bafta Awards. It was the only foreign-
language series on the shortlist, facing stiff com-
petition from US heavyweight returners Succession
and The Handmaid’s Tale.
8 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
COMMUNITY
Krasnoff Foster Productions/Sony
Pictures Television/UTV/Harmonious
Claptrap/AGBO for All 4
All 4’s strategy to become a standalone
streaming destination as opposed to a
pure catch-up service was boosted by this
exclusive acquisition. While the series had
little success on Sony’s UK linear channel,
it performed well for All 4, which picked it
up after noting its cult status and how well
it had done on US streamer Hulu.
ROMPER STOMPER
Roadshow Rough Diamond/
Stan for BBC Three
Based on the 1992 film starring Russell
Crowe, this hard-hitting, politically driven
series was picked up by BBC Three to
reinforce its credentials as the home of
challenging and provocative content for
younger audiences. The series received
more than 406,000 requests for episode
one alone and close to 1 million iPlayer
requests. Its success on digital earned
it a repeat on BBC Two.
THE EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF
ALEX LEWIS FOR REAL STORIES
Twofour for Real Stories/
Little Dot Studios
While this documentary performed solidly on
Channel 4 with 1.6 million viewers, its acqui-
sition by Little Dot for its Real Stories strand
54 Hours
on its digital platforms sent it viral. Some 16
million people have watched the series on
YouTube, while an eye-popping 100 million
have viewed it on Facebook Watch, across its
full-length and distilled four-minute versions.
was one of the
highlights of THE ORVILLE
20th Century Fox Television for Fox
BBC Four’s Seth MacFarlane’s Star Trek-inspired comedy
2018 schedule, beat its slot average by almost 300% for its
exceeding premiere and achieved an average share of
4.4% on pay-TV. Since its launch, the series
expectations has reached more than 1.3 million viewers,
in a Saturday with 21% of these new to the channel.
night slot YOUNG SHELDON
Chuck Lorre Productions/
Warner Bros Television for E4
The Big Bang Theory spin-off has not cowered
in the shadow of its progenitor, becoming the
second-highest rating comedy series across
digital channels for 16 to 34 year-olds. The
premiere was E4’s best-ever new comedy
launch for individuals and 16-34s, and the
series peaked at 2.5 million viewers, with an
average of 1.8 million across its run.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
 BEST DIGITAL SUPPORT FOR A STRAND, CHANNEL OR GENRE
BODY POSITIVE
BBC Factual Entertainment
N A WORLD where cyberbullying is rife and the pres-
I
sure from social media often becomes too much for
people to deal with, Body Positive showed that the
digital space can also be used to create a safe haven and
promote self-acceptance among a young audience often
conflicted about their bodies and minds.
The service lives on social media, mainly Instagram,
where it has more than 25,000 followers, including
some who could be described as ‘influencers’.
The judges said it was “original and effective with
some really valuable content” and “a great public
service in digital”. One said the service was “beautifully
executed”, adding: “It is doing something meaningful
and totally digital – and doing it well.”
The team used the audience engagement and social
conversations created by the service to inform the
content. Instagram was chosen due to its relevance to
the target audience of 16-24s and the service attracted
plenty of positive feedback.
Linear and digital supported each other, and this
digital initiative often featured talent known for the
former. However, the content creators and producers
that worked on Body Positive were digital-first, with
hands-on experience of social.
The project was driven by audience insights into
which topics should be touched upon and achieved
a high level of engagement.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
SHORTLISTED
WORLD CUP 2018
BBC Sport
Staying true to its promise that ‘History Will
Be Made’, the BBC’s tournament coverage
reached 44.5 million people in the UK. Sup-
porting content, optimised for different plat-
forms, was redistributed “with skill, flair and
creativity to phenomenal success”, said the
judges. BBC Sport streams were up 191%
compared with the 2014 World Cup and a
younger audience was targeted through social.
BBC THREE
BBC Three
BBC Three sees itself as the corporation’s
best route to new audiences on social
platforms, by repurposing and promoting
iPlayer content – both its own content and
that of other BBC brands. For each title,
a cross-platform support plan is created,
with relevant platforms used to attract
audiences and push them towards iPlayer.
FORMULA E
The Goat Agency for Aurora Media
Worldwide
This campaign reached a younger and more
female audience than traditional motor-
sports by catering for a new generation of
fans with a strong interest in all-electric
street racing. Success was measured by the
number of new fans and the level of engage-
ment, with higher-than-expected watch times
adding up to more than 23 million minutes.
COMEDY CENTRAL UK
It is doing Comedy Central UK Digital
Comedy Central is now reaching its biggest
something
ever digital audience, with 57% cross-
meaningful platform growth year on year. Viewing figures
and totally for the channel’s commissions, core to its
digital strategy, were up 12% year on year.
digital – and Comedy Central UK bosses see the digital
doing it well wins as core to creating immersive experi-
ences that promote linear TX.
E4 SOCIAL SUPPORT
Channel 4
Tasked with increasing share among a young
audience, E4’s social media presence is
more important than ever. By repackaging
the best of its content into viral social con-
tent, E4 found effective ways to grow that
‘hard to reach’ 16-34 audience. It used each
social platform’s core benefits to ensure suc-
cessful conversion to linear viewing and VoD.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 9
BEST POPULAR FACTUAL PROGRAMME
EMMA WILLIS: DELIVERING BABIES
Firecracker Films for W
HIS GROUNDBREAKING commission from W
T
shone a light on the work of midwives in Britain
at the time of an alarming shortage in the NHS.
Described by the judges as a “warm, emotional love
letter to the NHS”, the show was not only a joy to watch
but provided audiences with key take-home.
TV personality Emma Willis embedded herself at a
busy maternity ward at the Princess Alexandra hospital
in Essex, where she worked 13-hour shifts for four days
a week, making beds and cleaning delivery rooms as
well as undertaking step-by-step training to begin
assisting in different types of births.
The presenter learned how to carry out baby checks and
take blood pressure measurements, with the show tracking
her progress and key milestones. Following the training
path through a beginner provided a raw insight into how
emotionally charged work on a maternity ward can be.
The show has been W’s best-performing original to
date and averaged 31% in the 16-34 demographic.
Delivering Babies received widespread acclaim in both
the press and on social media, with Willis praised for
her enthusiasm and resilience.
The judges were most impressed by Firecracker Films’
unique access and Willis’ commitment to the role, with
one declaring her “a presenter at the top of their game”.
Overall, the judges praised the format for being
innovative, engaging and a ratings smash.
10 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
BRITAIN’S YOUNGEST
FOOTBALL BOSS
Curious Films for BBC Three
The producers aimed to take audiences inside
women’s football in an unparalleled way and
the show had a unique release strategy, with
episodes filmed, edited and dropped once
every month to allow audiences to follow the
story as it unfolded over the season. The
show eventually went to BBC One, which
only helped its ambitions to build a bigger
audience for women’s football.
GLOW UP: BRITAIN’S NEXT
MAKE-UP STAR
Wall to Wall Media for BBC Three
Glow Up is a factual entertainment competi-
tion format for a new generation. The series
gained the attention of the fashion world,
with fashion website Refinery29 likening it to
“the glory days of America’s Next Top Model”.
The series was shot with an innovative mirror
camera technique that provided a more
intimate perspective on the contestants.
MISFITS LIKE US
Hello Halo Productions for BBC Three
Widely acclaimed for its originality and
diverse casting, the format took contributors
struggling with conditions such as Tourette’s
or vitiligo and partnered them with people
with the same condition who had embraced
who they were. There has been significant
international interest in adapting the format.
INSIDE THE AMBULANCE
A warm, CHRISTMAS
Brown Bob Productions for W
emotional love
The creativity of the filming of this one-off
letter to the special – shot entirely on GoPro cameras
NHS. Emma that ran for 12 hours a day – was widely
praised. Showing the paramedics’ work
Willis is a entirely from their point of view, the
presenter innovative mobile rig allowed for sensitive
at the top of situations to be filmed respectfully.
her game
SPENCER, VOGUE AND BABY TOO
Rumpus Media for E4
Praised for “offering a fresh take on the
reality genre”, Spencer, Vogue And Baby Too
offered heart and comedy while providing
a look at contemporary parenting. Social
engagement with the series was high, with
2.3 million Facebook views alone.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK

SKY NEWS
HERE HAS PERHAPS never been a more critical
T time to engage with current affairs, and Sky News
has emerged as a crucial voice for viewers trying to
make sense of an increasingly fragmented world.
Sky News, now part of the Comcast stable, impressed
the judges with its deft handling of issues such as
Brexit, political upheaval abroad, humanitarian crises
and shifts in the global order. Its journalists have
broken stories on cabinet resignations and Theresa
May’s initial offer to stand down as prime minister, and
the channel was the only network to interview May and
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn live on the same show.
Other major exclusives include an interview with a
Harvey Weinstein accuser, the filming of the destruction
of North Korea’s nuclear testing site and being the first
news team to film the Syrian town that was the site of
the Islamic State’s final defeat.
Elsewhere, the innovative Deep Ocean Live broke
boundaries by filming from hundreds of metres under
the sea, attracting younger audience to its Sky Ocean
Rescue initiative, influencing United Nations policy
and causing debate in the European Union. Meanwhile,
pop-up channel #fakenews was a unique one-day
broadcast of live coverage of the newsroom, using
45 cameras to reveal how stories are gathered.
The judges praised Sky News’ impartiality, with one
noting it had become “the default news channel and
market leader” and another saying: “It is owning the
most important genre by some distance.”
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST SPECIALIST CHANNEL
SHORTLISTED
CBBC
Sticking to a mantra of ‘laugh while you
learn’, CBBC remained the UK’s biggest
channel for children. Digital success has
accompanied strong linear ratings, with boy
and girl band comedy Almost Never scoring
3 million iPlayer requests in two months and
finding an adoring community on Instagram.
CRIME + INVESTIGATION
Last year, C+I aired its biggest ever show,
Surviving R Kelly, which created national and
international debate through its shocking but
credible access to alleged victims of the
R’n’B singer. Other highlights included Netflix
co-production I Am A Killer, which was right on
the money for its 40-plus female audience.
SKY ARTS
Major initiatives for the Sky channel this year
included the Art 50 project, under which 50
commissioned pieces across all disciplines
were showcased across the country and
featured during a week-long series of pro-
grammes on British identity. Elsewhere, the
launch of Celebrity Portrait Artist Of The Year
extended the channel’s biggest brand.
NICK JR
The launch of digital service Nick Jr Play, the
It is the default
expansion of the Nick Jr YouTube channel
and the launch of branded Adventure Centres
were among the Nickelodeon pre-school
channel’s key activities in 2018 – all geared
at creating an immersive, 360-degree
news channel connection with children.
and market
leader and it
is owning the
most important
genre by some
distance
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 11
BEST DIGITAL CHILDREN’S CONTENT
SECRET LIFE OF BOYS
Zodiak Kids Studio for CBBC
UBBED A NEW KIND of comedy-drama for the
D
touchscreen generation, this 50 x 5-minute series
was tightly integrated with more than 100 ‘secret’
videos accessed via the CBBC website.
As viewers watched the episodes play out, they could
choose to click on pop-up buttons to view a series of
hidden gags, developed using the mantra ‘one click, one
laugh’. Each episode also featured two special objects
that revealed additional insights about the wider story
– with a bonus for those who collected them all.
Further functionality included the ability to freeze
the video and customise the frame with a range of
stickers to share via the CBBC website.
The judges were impressed with the tight integration
between the video content and interactive elements, which
combined to produce what one described as “an engaging
and innovative app that pushed digital boundaries”.
The third outing of the format revolved around the theme
of displacement, with the characters confronting issues
including anxiety, mourning, boyfriends and veganism.
The interactive elements were tactically employed to
further explore the way in which group social dynamics
operate and explicitly show that the image people
present does not always reflect their true feelings.
“A complete vision that was executed perfectly for
its target audience,” said one judge. “It lifted the
profile of CBBC.”
12 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
FYI
Fresh Start Media for Sky News/
Sky Kids
A group of six kids – four studio-based and
two roving reporters – provided a young audi-
ence with an accessible, engaging news pro-
gramme. Sky’s commitment to the show was
clear through its scheduling and prominent on-
demand placing – boosted via an innovative
partnership with kids’ newspaper First News.
NIKKI LILLY MEETS
Blakeway North for CBBC
YouTube star and former Junior Great British
Bake Off winner Nikki Lilly got a diverse range
of guests including Jeremy Corbyn, Nadiya
Hussain and Jamie Oliver to revisit their
childhood in an unguarded set-up. Lilly’s
700,000 YouTube subscribers helped propel
views to significant heights.
THE ATHENA
Bryncoed Productions for Sky Kids
This 26-part drama set in an arts college
aimed to address the anxieties and fears
of girls aged between 10 and 14. Focusing
on a new foundation year group of students,
the series explored the complexities and
joys of friendship and celebrated the right
to be different.
THE SCOOP
Nickelodeon
The social video brand aims to reach tween
girls via social media with its carefully
curated selection of topical, short and
A complete snappy updates. The sub-brand, which has
touched on weighty issues such as anti-bullying,
vision that
supporting the LGBT community and body
was executed confidence, helped to nearly triple Nickel-
perfectly for odeon’s Instagram following to 680,000.
its target THIS IS MY LIFE: BOYS TO MEN
audience. It Big Deal Films for CBBC
lifted the profile One of the launch titles for CBBC’s online-
of CBBC only doc strand, the 30-minute film decon-
structed the harmful stereotypes surrounding
a group of young black boys from the inner
city. Rather than focus on violence, it opted
to highlight their friendship as they pro-
gressed through various rites of passage.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK

BARCROFT TV
ARCROFT TV has far less budgeting firepower
B than its fellow nominees but impressed the judges
with its broad range of content, brand-building
ability and understanding of the social-media landscape.
One judge hailed the platform’s “creative innovation
and fresh programming”, adding: “This is absolutely
reflected in Barcroft’s success.”
The platform spent 2018 not only boosting the
success of returners but also launching a range of
new series. Crime show Chasing Justice hit screens,
along with property series Home On The Edge and
fashion show Share The Hair.
Meanwhile, Truly, a real-life series that premiered
with an explosive two-part film about radical pastors
in the US that handle deadly snakes, has already
amassed more than 1 million views.
Barcroft also set about reversioning content in
innovative ways. The long-running Born Different
strand (pictured) was adapted to become two series
of BBC Three’s Living Differently, while 17 pages on
Facebook were built around series brands.
Eight original Snapchat series have been launched
since August 2018, including another version of Born
Different and beauty format Shake My Beauty, demon-
strating Barcroft’s healthy grasp of a range of platforms.
Subscribers almost doubled from January 2018 to
March 2019 to hit 6.3 million, while views reached
almost 1.5 billion over the qualifying period, with
around 4 billion minutes watched overall.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST FACTUAL CHANNEL
HIGHLY COMMENDED
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
The highlight of National Geographic’s
year was undoubtedly winning an Academy
Award for its climbing doc Free Solo. But
returnable series Drain The Oceans and
China From Above also received plaudits,
and the factual channel launched a series
of innovative weekend programming stunts
and live specials.
SHORTLISTED
BBC FOUR
The BBC’s older-skewing channel experi-
mented with box-set series such as The Ruth
Ellis Files, while drawing huge numbers for
its intelligently scheduled Jeremy Thorpe
documentary. Add to this the Bafta-winning
Bros: After The Screaming Stops and an
experimental night of AI programming and
the conclusion was that the channel had a
hugely impressive 2018.
HISTORY
History’s output peaked last year with its
inaugural two-week channel takeover for the
History In Football series, which featured
interviews with Pelé and Maradona in the
run-up to the World Cup. Al Murray’s Why
Does Everyone Hate The English? success-
Creative
fully tapped into the national conversation
around Brexit, while digital strand Forged In
Britain showed its appetite for innovation.
QUEST
innovation Quest cemented its position as one of the
and fresh UK’s fastest-growing entertainment channels
for men in 2018. The Discovery-owned
programming channel doubled down on successful
is reflected in returners Salvage Hunters and Fifth Gear,
Barcroft’s while launching new formats such as
Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz.
success
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 13
BEST SHORT-FORM FORMAT
THINGS NOT TO SAY
Mentorn Media for BBC Three
HE JUDGES were united in their praise for
T this established format, in which two people
confront with honesty and humour the stereo-
typical questions and comments they face every day.
“This is truly a short-form show of the moment,
dealing with issues that are relevant and delivered in
an entertaining and informative way,” said one.
Topics tackled in the six-minute shorts included
eating disorders, depression and Tourette’s. Thorough
preparation ahead of filming included research with
relevant charities and support groups, and in-depth
conversations with four pairs of contributors affected
by the issues raised. Many episodes gave voice to those
rarely heard in mainstream media.
The series generated more than 2 million views
across social media, garnering praise from organisa-
tions including the NHS and fostering and adoption
charity Tact.
The judges highlighted the strength of the show as
a truly short-form format, as well as its effortlessly
contemporary tone. “It educated and entertained, and
was beautifully edited,” said one. Another flagged how
its “funny and moving” elements combined to make a
thought-provoking piece of programming.
In its submission, BBC Three highlighted the extent
to which the Mentorn format achieved its editorial
pillars of ‘make me laugh’ and ‘make me think’.
14 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
ANIMATION 2018
Wingspan Productions/
BFI for BBC Four
Loneliness, loss, love and libido were
some of the topics covered in the 13 shorts
designed to uncover some of the most
exciting emerging animators. The second
run of the strand took in a host of styles
and techniques, including live-action
puppetry, stop-motion, CGI, 2D and 3D.
FACE THE CONSEQUENCES
The Connected Set for BBC Three
PSB messages were delivered in a gripping,
authentic way in this studio-based format,
in which a ‘victim’ listened as three
reckless contributors were interviewed, before
confronting them about their bad behaviour.
The social media-focused series generated
more than 5 million views on YouTube alone.
HOW NOT TO DIE
True Vision for BBC Three
Human narratives about extraordinary events
experienced first-hand provided practical
public-service education in this easily
digestible format. The slickly produced
shorts featured an array of graphics and
lifesaving first-aid tips to ensure the
stories were communicated with heart,
gravitas and resonance.
LITTLE PRANKERS
This is truly a
Hat Trick Productions/Brown
Bred Productions for BBC Three/
BBC iPlayer
Kayvan Novak recruited a team of kids
confident enough to pull off pranks and
short-form
equipped them with earpieces for unscripted
show of the prompts. Mobile-phone cameras were
moment, used to capture additional footage for
the set-pieces, which generated nearly
dealing with 2 million Facebook views.
issues that are
relevant and PIE & A PINT
Comedy Central UK Digital for Comedy
delivered in an Central UK
entertaining, Eschewing the traditional ‘sit and chat’ inter-
informative way view style, the series of eight conversations
between up-and-coming comedians encour-
aged its stars to make full use of the pub
while having their beer-fuelled conversations.
The semi-improvised scenes, tackling themes
including body image, Britishness and millen-
nials, reached almost 2 million views.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
 BEST SPORTS OR LIVE EVENT COVERAGE
HOW TO DO A WORLD CUP
Copa90 for Copa90
OVERING A HUGE event like last summer’s Fifa
C
World Cup is a major undertaking for even the most
financially well-endowed broadcaster, but digital
sports content creator Copa90 managed it on a fraction
of the budget and in a truly innovative, authentic way.
Despite not having the rights to any of the 64 matches
broadcast out of Russia, the Copa90 team embraced
the celebratory nature of the world’s biggest football
competition with a desire to “completely reinvent how
a World Cup can be covered by sports media”.
A team of producers based themselves in Russia
for the entire tournament, with up a pop-up head-
quarters in Moscow.
They eschewed the pundits-and-analysis format of
larger rivals and instead put fans at the centre of the
coverage, seeding online platform-specific content
directly to audiences through shows and branded
content on platforms such as YouTube and Snapchat.
The programmes went beyond the sporting arena and
sought to dispel negative rumours about Russian fans,
while also delving into Russian culture. All told, Copa90
created 6,000 individual pieces of content, which drove
693 million views and 11 million engagements.
The judges were suitably impressed: “It has revolution-
ised the way the world’s biggest sporting event is covered,”
said one, while another noted: “This was an innovative
and ambitious entity that changed the digital universe.”
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
SHORTLISTED
2018 UEFA CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE FINAL
BT Sport for BT Sport 2
Last year’s Champions League Final between
Liverpool and Real Madrid netted BT Sport a
huge audience, with a peak of 4.9 million
and an average of 2.9 million across nearly
five hours of coverage. The show combined
heavyweight studio punditry, dramatic match
coverage, roving on-the-ground reporters and
award-winning sequences and features.
BEACH LIVE: JURASSIC
COAST REVEALED
Voltage TV for BBC Four
Stripped across three nights, this series rose
to the challenges involved with broadcasting
live from a beach and confirmed BBC Four’s
reputation for quirky live-event programming.
Ratings backed up the ambition, with the
first episode drawing 732,000, double the
slot average, and the series consolidating to
nearly 600,000 overall.
DEEP OCEAN LIVE
Sky News
Sky News attempted a world-first with its
coverage, using Bluecomm ‘light-emitting’
technology to transmit audio and visual live
from 150-250 metres beneath the ocean
surface. The programmes, targeted at
younger audiences, broke into Sky News’
busy news cycle with the aim of promoting
Sky’s Ocean Rescue campaign.
LONDON LANDMARKS
It has HALF MARATHON
FilmNova for Facebook Live/
revolutionised
Evening Standard
the way the This Facebook Live production was among the
world’s biggest first to use 4G cameras as the sole means
to capture a live event and managed to keep
sporting event a solid signal, even among the notorious wi-fi
is covered blackspot of Blackfriars Bridge. A resulting
119,000 page views on the Evening Standard
and London Landmarks Half Marathon Face-
book pages exceeded expectations.
ROYAL ASCOT – GOLD CUP
ITV Sport for ITV4
ITV4 delivered more than four hours of
racing coverage for its largely male audience,
pulling in an upmarket, commercially lucra-
tive crowd along the way. The coverage,
which included several key Gold Cup races,
culminated in the Queen presenting jockey
Frankie Dettori with a special saddlecloth to
celebrate his 60 winner at the event.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 15
 THANKS TO THE BROADCAST DIGITAL AWARDS JUDGES
At The Hospital Club in Covent
Garden, more than 80 industry
figures came together to judge the
Broadcast Digital Awards 2019.
The judges were split into groups
and presented with longlists in
each category, which they whittled
down to a shortlist of six. After
debating the merits of each
contender, a secret ballot took
place to determine the winner.
Judges were looking for digital
content, platforms and channels
that demonstrated originality,
insight and great storytelling. They
were not disappointed. Thanks
to everyone who took part.
Muslim Alim BBC Daytime TV
Elena Anniballi
Discovery Networks UK
Jake Attwell Appeal TV
Shona Baldwin Thames
Ben Barrett Drive
James Bennett StoryFutures
Phoebe Bourke
Rockfleet Productions
Chris Brogden Tinopolis
Susie Buckridge YouView
Josh Cole Sky
Phillippa Collie Cousins UKTV
Ben Cooper North One Television
Georgia Moseley
Sunil Patel, Jake Atwell and Danny Fenton
16 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
Barnaby Coughlin Label1
Peter Cowley Spirit Media
Tim Dams Freelance
journalist and editor
Wendy Darke True to Nature
Grace Dean ITN Productions
Chris Dicker Jam Media
Sarah Dillistone Channel 4
Jackie Edwards BFI
Lisa Edwards Studio Ramsay
Danny Fenton
Zig Zag Productions
Angela Ferreira
Douglas Road Productions
Jack Ford Lime Scripted
Adam Gee Real Stories
at Little Dot Studios
Dan Grabiner
Amazon Studios
Katrina Grant
Hungry Bear Media
Daisy Griffith BBC
Richard Halton Former
chief executive of YouView
Will Hanrahan FirstLookTV
Andy Hipkiss Triple A Media
Jimmy Humphrey
TCB Media Rights
Francesca Johnson
National Geographic
Dhanny Joshi Big Deal Films
Yush Kalia Hammerhead
Jonathan Pascoe
Cal Turner and Sarah Dillistone
Richard Klein
Plimsoll Productions
Emma Ko TV screenwriter
Dan Korn A+E Networks UK
Muki Kulhan Muki-International
Ian Lamarra Alaska TV
Adam Macdonald Possessed
Louise Maloney Channel 5
Stephen McQuillan Icon Films
Albert Millis Virtual Umbrella
Yasir Mirza Channel 4
Jamie Morris Sky
Georgia Moseley
BBC Studios Digital
Lydia Mossahebi
Beano Digital Network
Pasa Mustafa Gunpowder & Sky
Victoria Noble Discovery
Claire Nosworthy
Hare and Tortoise
Kate O’Connor Creative
industries consultant and
executive chair of Animation UK
Jonathan Pascoe
MTV International
Sunil Patel Whisper Films
Carolyn Payne
National Geographic
Sheena Peirse Digital
director and consultant
Cecilia Persson Turner
Broadcasting System
Namrata Sarmah
Jon Petrie Channel 4
Michelle Power Fox
Federico Ruiz Firecracker Films
Hassan Rumani UKTV
Diederick Santer
Drama producer
Namrata Sarmah
Viacom International
Will Saunders Media consultant
Emily Savage Digital Catapult
Kathy Schulz Media consultant
Dan Shires AfterShock Comics
Jody Smith Studio71 UK
Sabina Smitham Fable Pictures
Emma Smithwick
Rockfleet Productions
Matthew Stagg BT Sport
Kate Stannard Initial TV
Martin Trickey Warner Bros
International TV Production
Cal Turner
Boundless Productions
Yonni Usiskin Vice Studios UK
Ewan Vinnicombe
Media consultant
Emma Walsh Ricochet
Joanna Wells
Viacom International
Richard Williams STV
Shoshana Wilson Fox
Athena Witter Thames
Karl Woolley Framestore
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
 METHODOLOGY AND JUDGING

Cecilia Persson and Ewan Vinnicombe Shona Baldwin and Jimmy Humphrey

Susie Buckridge Diederick Santer Katrina Grant

Kathy Schulz Richard Klein Emma Smithwick

Jack Ford Yush Kalia, Muki Kulhan and James Bennett

BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 17

BEST SHORT-FORM COMEDY
HOUNSLOW DIARIES
CPL Productions for BBC Three
HIS EMPOWERING, relatable take on the lives
T
of a group of young British Muslim women was
head and shoulders above the rest in a highly
competitive short-form comedy category.
The debut writing project from Murdered By My
Father actor Ambreen Razia was described by one
judge as “extremely confident and very funny”, while
the “well-established characters” were hailed as
painting a true picture of life in west London.
The drama is rare in being penned by a female
British-Pakistani writer and the judges were full of
praise. “For showcasing exceptional new writing
talent and producing a laugh-out-loud piece, this
is one you’ll want to see more of,” said one.
The comedy was inspired by Razia’s one-woman play
Diary Of A Hounslow Girl. Execs from producer CPL
Productions watched the play at the Ovalhouse in London
and realised that the diverse range of teenage girls in the
audience were all relating to the characters portrayed on
stage. The BBC swiftly greenlit a pilot.
The show aired to 500,000 viewers on BBC One and
also performed admirably with the coveted 16-34
audience on iPlayer. The crew was 75% female, and the
writer, producer and director were all women under 30.
At a time when broadcasters are desperate to repre-
sent new voices, Hounslow Diaries’ critical success
could help usher in more diverse commissioning.
18 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
HIGHLY COMMENDED
SUSAN WOKOMA’S COMEDY SHORT
Roughcut TV for Sky On Demand
Susan Wokoma earns her place on the
shortlist for this hugely personal story about
childhood and the death of Princess Diana.
This Country’s Daisy May Cooper was so
impressed with the script that she agreed
to play a supporting role and Wokoma was
involved with all elements of the brilliant
production from start to finish.
SHORTLISTED
GOD’S OWN COUNTY
Guilty Party Pictures for All 4
C4’s Comedy Blaps has proved to be a
good breeding ground in the past and this
short may just kick-start what could be a fine
career for star and writer Kieran Hodgson.
The innovative format flitted between the
past and present day and used flashbacks
to drive this hilarious tale forward.
SAMSON KAYO’S COMEDY SHORT
Roughcut TV for Sky On Demand
Sky is committed to acting as a platform for
new talent and Famalam star Samson Kayo’s
short – inspired by his alternative career
plan of being an ambulance driver – was
no exception. Protagonist Maleek’s Denzel
Washington-in-Training-Day worldview worked
brilliantly and Kayo has gone on to create and
star in three-part comedy Sliced for Dave.
THE DATA DOCTOR
Ricochet for Channel 4 Facebook
For showcasing Dr Mark Silcox took to the screens for this
exceptional incredibly creative offering for Channel 4’s
Facebook feed. Silcox’s unscripted ‘comedy-
new writing factual’ short took personal information that
talent and people had left online to solve a variety of
producing a real-life problems. Carried out in an irreverent
yet intelligent manner, the show left the
laugh-out-loud viewer feeling unscripted comedy-factual
piece, this is could be the next big thing.
one you’ll want
WONDERDATE
to see more of Two Brothers Pictures for BBC Two
and BBC iPlayer
Commissioned as part of a set of iPlayer-only
shorts, long-time Alan Partridge collaborator
Tim Key took a self-deprecating look at the
muddled world of dating. Taking influence
from cinema genres of old, this black-and-
white story was hilarious yet kept the viewer
guessing the whole time.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
 BEST DIGITAL SUPPORT FOR A PROGRAMME
DERRY GIRLS SOCIAL CAMPAIGN
4Creative/OMD for Channel 4
HE GIANT Derry Girls mural painted on the side
T
of a house in Derry was hard to miss on social
media, with a time-lapse video of its creation
becoming the most-watched Instagram clip on Channel
4’s social account that week, as well as making the
national press. Alongside this, a slew of social media
posts played on both the show’s popularity in Northern
Ireland and the current appetite for 1990s nostalgia.
The judges said the digital support took “a rounded,
imaginative and ambitious approach”, which enhanced
enjoyment of the show. There was Derry Text, a Teletext-
inspired Instagram story that brought back memories
of catching up with news and culture in the 1990s, while
curated Spotify playlists, reflecting the characters’
tastes, were shared widely on social media.
C4 welcomed audiences back to a new school year in
Derry with 1990s-style school photos of the characters
on Instagram. Overall, organic and paid-for social
content achieved more than 27 million views, 105
million impressions and 1 million engagements.
C4 said Derry Girls returned with 3.2 million con-
solidated viewers for series two, outperforming the
previous series launch and making it the broadcaster’s
biggest audience for a comedy series since 2007.
The campaign was said to be “simply brilliant and
brilliantly simple” by the judges, as well as ticking
“every box in the judging criteria”.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
SHORTLISTED
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Remarkable Television/Endemol Shine
UK for BBC One
All Together Now’s digital campaign concen-
trated on getting the 16-24 audience to
watch the show on linear or online and, as
a result of targeted social media, it grew
its primetime share by 22%. Focusing on
authenticity, the campaign used its real-world
judges’ social media profiles, while BBC
Social created documentaries and comedies
for online featuring the contestants and
celebrity presenters.
HOLLYOAKS #DONTFILTERFEELINGS
Lime Pictures for Channel 4
A year-long campaign focusing on mental
health, Hollyoaks #DontFilterFeelings used
social media tools to encourage young
people to start conversations around the
subject. The campaign featured mental
health ambassadors and the Hollyoaks
cast and crew discussing the topic over a
variety of platforms. Overall, the campaign
reached more than 6.3 million people, with
1.2 million unique views.
HOTSPOTS
Sky News/Sky Atlantic/Snapchat
Sky News Hotspots focused on showing new
and younger audiences the important role of
journalists through Snapchat and YouTube.
Featuring unfiltered content from experienced
journalists, Hotspots informed audiences
about the dangers, complexities and
emotions of reporting on some of the most
Simply brilliant troubling stories of our time and gained
7.1 million unique viewers.
and brilliantly
simple. It LOVE ISLAND APP:
ticked every THE ULTIMATE COMPANION
ITV/Monterosa for ITV2
box in the With a daily schedule of 5am to midnight,
judging criteria the Love Island app featured a daily podcast,
quizzes, videos, articles and more. Users
were also given the ability to influence the
show directly through in-app voting, which
led to a 20% increase in votes cast com-
pared with the previous year.
THE GREATEST DANCER
Thames Digital/BBC Content Social
for BBC One
Creating more than 50 pieces of original
content across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube and TikTok, The Greatest Dancer’s
digital support used on-screen talent
with dance tutorial videos, podcasts and
exclusive preview content from the show.
The campaign had the most success on
Instagram, where it garnered 13.9 million
impressions and 5.2 million story views.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 19
BEST SHORT-FORM DRAMA
SNATCHES: MOMENTS FROM
WOMEN’S LIVES – BOVRIL PAM
BBC Studios for BBC Four
BC FOUR’S dip into short-form comedy and
B drama has worked a treat, and this Snatches
monologue featuring Jodie Comer was the most
powerful of the strand.
Bovril Pam perfectly captured the atmosphere of a
Liverpool typing pool in the 1960s as Comer demon-
strated the supreme acting skills that have landed her
roles in Killing Eve and Doctor Foster.
The show broke new ground and achieved its aim
of exploring the creative space between theatre and
conventional TV drama.
One judge said the “surprisingly unheard narratives”
had been “beautifully executed”, while the producers
used “playfulness” to great effect. Another described it
as “stylish, entertaining and funny”, adding: “This
drama brilliantly evoked time and place and told a
moving yet original female story.”
A third praised the “unusual and imaginative design”
in using the creativity of a theatre set and making it
work for TV.
With an almost entirely female crew, Bovril Pam
was part of the Snatches series curated by Royal Court
Theatre artistic director Vicky Featherstone to mark
100 years of suffrage, and demonstrated BBC Four’s
willingness to commemorate anniversaries in
innovative ways.
20 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
DEAD GIRLS DETECTIVE AGENCY
Keshet Studios/Insurrection Media/
Indigo Development/Entertainment
Arts for Snapchat
Snapchat’s darkly comic supernatural soap
about a 16-year-old girl investigating her
death from the afterlife was intriguing and
romantic yet irreverent. The low-budget,
bingeable series sought inspiration from
the likes of The Chilling Adventures Of
Sabrina and may end up being responsible
for bringing a new generation of millennial
viewers to the platform.
GLOSS
The Comedy Unit for BBC Three
BBC Three sought to match new and emerging
writers with young directors and versatile
performers with this set of short, engaging
films. The writers embraced the challenge
of penning stories for single characters on
screen and discovered innovative narrative
techniques to challenge the traditional
style of a monologue.
SOON GONE: A WINDRUSH
CHRONICLE
Douglas Road for BBC Four
The first of eight Windrush Chronicle episodes
was intelligently crafted and set the tone
for a fascinating selection of self-contained
multi-generational stories, overseen by Lenny
Henry. Soon Gone offered a nuanced depic-
tion of a woman who arrived in the UK in the
This drama
late 1940s full of hope, but was left contem-
plating the mismatch between her imagined
England and the reality.
brilliantly
evoked time
and place and
told a moving
yet original
female story
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK

THE SECRET LIFE OF 5 YEAR OLDS
ON HOLIDAY WITH THOMAS COOK
RDF Television for All 4
ITH UPSTART online travel companies eating
W into Thomas Cook’s business, there was an
obvious benefit to pairing with a leading format
to create a family-oriented programme that would
benefit both parties. The brands complemented each
other from the outset, giving Channel 4 a new strand to
its Secret Life Of… format and enabling Thomas Cook to
showcase its family holiday services.
The Secret Life Of 5 Year Olds On Holiday featured chil-
dren, many of whom had not travelled abroad before,
enjoying family activities and fresh experiences, including
traditional Turkish mud baths and swimming in the sea.
The second series of the show, which moved from
digital platform All 4 to a one-hour linear primetime
slot, attracted 1.8 million viewers, outperforming the
slot average across all demographics. This included a
65% increase in all viewers and triple-digit gains for
16 to 34 year-olds. The show also proved popular on
social media, with 35,500 social interactions.
The judges praised the “seamless integration” of a
brand that enhanced the editorial of a show to bolster
ratings. “The natural extension of a brilliant brand with a
perfectly suited affiliated brand,” said one judge. “It was
demonstrative of how a content partnership doesn’t have
to feel too advertorial. The integration brought to life all
the warm content that already existed within the format.”
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST CONTENT PARTNERSHIP OR AFP
HIGHLY COMMENDED
DAVE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CALM
UKTV
With suicide the biggest killer for men
under 45, Dave’s predominantly male
demographic offered the perfect opportunity
to increase awareness of suicide prevention
charity Calm. Through the partnership, Dave
championed Calm’s work, promoting the
charity while firming up Dave’s reputation as
a channel conscious of its audience.
SHORTLISTED
ALL STAR DRIVING SCHOOL IN
PARTNERSHIP WITH SUZUKI
Rumpus Media for E4
The partnership yielded a 15 x 30-minute reality
strip for E4 in which nine celebrities spent a
week learning to drive, ending with a driving
test. While it was forged to showcase the
Suzuki Swift, the dramatic reality show achieved
a consolidated series average of 239,000.
GOODWOOD FESTIVAL
OF SPEED 2018
Aurora Media Worldwide
Aurora and co-producer Engage were tasked
with producing a TV and digital offering that
reached UK and international audiences and
delivered revenue. Through a combination of
live streaming and broadcasting and ‘best of’
highlights, the event delivered more than
1.7 million viewers in the UK and 33 million
video views across 11 Goodwood-managed
The natural
social channels.
GUY MARTIN: BUILDING BRITAIN
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WICKES
North One Television for All 4
extension of In partnership with Wickes and trade and
a brilliant building skills training organisation Volunteer
It Yourself (VIY), North One created a series
brand with a of branded-content films with engineering
perfectly suited enthusiast Guy Martin to inspire young people
affiliated brand considering a career in construction. Besides
creating brand awareness for Wickes, it high-
lighted problems facing the construction
industry while giving viewers DIY tips.
THE KICK OFF WITH LADBROKES
True Geordie/Formidable
for True Geordie YouTube
YouTube star True Geordie created a new format
for a ‘watchalong’ show with his audience of
football fans. With Ladbrokes as partner, the
result was a multifaceted show combining
commentary, punditry, stats, analysis, social
media engagement and humour. The project
over-indexed on its desired ROIs for Ladbrokes,
while True Geordie grew his YouTube subscriber
base by around 250,000.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 21
BEST COMEDY PROGRAMME

SHORTLISTED
DEATH ON THE TYNE
Shiny Button Productions for Gold
A ratings hit for UKTV pay-TV channel Gold, this
feature-length one-off delivered a consolidated
series peak of 729,000 and improved on
its usual slot share by more than 6%. Writer
Jason Cook’s latest reunited Johnny Vegas
and Sian Gibson, the stars of spiritual
progenitor Murder On The Blackpool Express.

MAN LIKE MOBEEN

Tiger Aspect Productions for
BBC Three
Man Like Mobeen’s second run delivered
more than 1.5 million BBC iPlayer requests,
with 63% of the audience aged 35 or younger
– well above the BBC Three average. It also
delivered a 43% BAME profile when repeated
on BBC Two, cementing the channel’s growing
reputation for diverse programming.

SALLY4EVER
Hush Ho for Sky Atlantic
The latest offering from dark-comedy genius
Julia Davis delivered critical acclaim, strong
audience numbers and one of the most
FLEABAG shocking and talked-about sex scenes in
British television history. A consolidated
Two Brothers Pictures for BBC Three series average of 209,000 beat the slot
average by 38%.

THIS COUNTRY
ANY SUPERLATIVES have already been thrown

M
BBC Studios Comedy Unit
at the second, and final, series of Phoebe Waller- for BBC Three
Daisy and Charlie Cooper’s mockumentary,
Bridge’s bittersweet comedy. The judges added which focuses on the boredom and claustro-
more praise to the pile, with one saying: “This pro- This phobia young people face in modern rural
gramme has changed the comedy landscape.” village life, lost none of its quiet punch in
programme
The show picked up the darkly comic story of the series two. Described by BBC comedy
titular Fleabag a year after the end of series one, as the
has changed chiefs as a show that landed “fully formed”,
anti-heroine attempts to connect with her dysfunctional the comedy This Country has delivered more than
2.2 million BBC iPlayer views.
north London family, while finding herself attracted to landscape
a priest, who shakes up her worldview. TIMEWASTERS
Ratings backed up the strong critical performance, Big Talk Productions for ITV2
with episode one exceeding 1 million views on BBC The second series of Timewasters was as
well-received as the first – which was the
Three and 2.5 million consolidated views on BBC One.
most-watched new comedy for 16-24s on
Overall, the series averaged 2.3 million in its linear slot digital channels in 2017. The series
and drew a significant number of 16-34s. launched with a double bill, scoring a 3.7%
One judge said the series had displayed “huge global share and 214,000 consolidated views.
appeal and incredible writing”, while another admired
the “superb scripts and performances”.
BBC Three views the series as a brand-defining title,
while Waller-Bridge’s star has continued to rise through
the success of off-kilter comedy-drama Killing Eve, which
it acquired from BBC America. She has even been
drafted in to finesse the latest James Bond film script.
Though many wished for more series of Fleabag
and co, Waller-Bridge’s decision to end the run was
measured to perfection. Few shows are allowed to
finish on their own terms these days.

22 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK


COMEDY CENTRAL
IACOM’S COMEDY-focused pay-TV channel
V has turned up the dial in the past year by building
on its raft of returning shows with a variety of
brand extensions. The most prominent was Friendsfest,
a six-city tour that attracted 130,000 visitors between
July and September. Also bolstering the channel
was the inaugural Comedy Central Live, a three-day
event in Southampton that featured more than 100
performers, including Nish Kumar, Katherine Ryan
and Rob Delaney.
Other developments included a brand refresh, with
a revamped channel logo and a new digital strategy.
The launch of short-form series such as Porta Dos
Fundos, Bullshit Bingo and What I Wish I’d Said helped
the channel achieve 655 million cross-platform views.
A strong slate of shows remained at the heart of Comedy
Central’s strategy, with key returners including Roast
Battle, Russell Howard & Mum, Joel & Nish and Your
Face Or Mine (pictured), its best-performing series ever.
A portfolio of 85 hours that included a Dara Ó Briain-
fronted reboot of Blockbusters, which began in March,
helped Comedy Central become the biggest general
entertainment pay-TV channel in daytime, ahead of
ITV2, Sky 1, Dave and 5 Star.
The judges praised its 360-degree confidence and
“fantastic” rebrand, recognising the extent to which it
knows its audience. “Comedy Central feels like it has
found a British identity and cleverly marketed and repur-
posed its heritage brands,” said one impressed judge.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL
SHORTLISTED
5 STAR
5 Star, another Viacom channel, found
success with reality series Rich Kids Go Skint,
which peaked with 843,000 to become its
highest-rating original commission. The channel
also moved into stripped programming with
Celebs On The Ranch, demonstrating its ability
to attract talent despite modest budgets. Paired
with the originals were returners including
Extreme Hair Wars and Baby Ballroom.
BBC THREE
The digital-first channel, which secured a
late-night BBC One programming block in
February, launched its entertainment pillar
with formats such as Eating With My Ex and
Glow Up, as well as Instagram-first One Hot
Summer. Its social strategy paid dividends
– one Life And Death Row YouTube video
has been viewed more than 14 million times,
as has a Facebook video to accompany
Acid Attack: My Story.
BLAZE
Launched less than three years ago, Blaze
was last year’s fastest-growing male-skewing
free-to-air channel. It bolstered unscripted
US formats Forged In Fire, Pawn Stars and
Storage Hunters with a clutch of British
shows such as Flipping Bangers, Sean Bean
Comedy
On Waterloo and Shaun Ryder On UFOs.
E4
Aligned more closely with Channel 4’s on-
demand service All 4, E4 became the biggest
Central feels broadcaster on Facebook last year, largely
like it has due to its exclusive deal to feature The Big
Bang Theory. Other premium US programming
found a included The Goldbergs and spin-off Schooled,
British identity while Made In Chelsea and 8 Out Of 10 Cats
received significant brand refreshes.
and cleverly
marketed and W
repurposed The co-commission of comedy-drama Flack
its heritage with Pop underlined W’s status as a high-
brands
quality pay-TV channel. A keen understanding
of its core 25-44 female audience, coupled
with a focus on targeted original commissions,
resulted in strong performances from the
likes of Sex, Knives And Liposuction and Best
Popular Factual Programme winner Emma
Willis: Delivering Babies.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 23
BEST DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMME
BROS: AFTER THE SCREAMING STOPS
Fulwell 73 for BBC Four
HIS ALTERNATELY hilarious and moving film
T
documenting the return of ’80s pop phenomenon
Bros was deemed “the factual event of the year” by
our judges. Frank and instantly quotable, brothers Matt
and Luke Goss proved a gift to directors Joe Pearlman
and David Soutar, their story told through the dual
prism of family and fame as they pondered their place
in the pop firmament and prepared for a personal and
professional reunion.
The duo were closely involved in the doc, yet this
was no vanity film nor thinly veiled puff piece. Instead,
it was a highly accomplished piece of film-making that
weaved successfully between entertainment and
empathy and was often painful in its intimacy.
From Matt’s unforgettable descriptions of his home
décor to Luke’s wistful reflections on London, it is a
documentary that feels more akin to This Is Spinal Tap
or The Office, yet never feels contrived.
“It gave the viewer a new insight into sibling rivalry,
fame and ego,” declared one judge, while another
marvelled at a “surprising, complex unpacking of a
relationship, beautifully articulated with a proper
beginning, middle and end”.
The counter-view of fame hit a sweet spot for BBC Four,
spreading by word of mouth over the Christmas season
and picking up 1.4 million views across two showings
to become the channel’s biggest music doc of the year.
24 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
ABUSED BY MY GIRLFRIEND
Century Films for BBC Three
The judges praised the skilful storytelling
of what one described as a “raw, moving,
shocking and thrilling” piece of TV and
another described as “simply jaw-dropping”.
Viewers grabbed by the title were in for a
sensitive treatment of an important issue,
conveyed via “unobtrusive, subtle recon-
structions” and resonating long after the
credits rolled.
BLACK SHEEP
Lightbox/The Guardian for
The Guardian
The Guardian’s highest-profile documentary
to date has enjoyed Oscar buzz for toying
with audience expectations of fiction and fact,
posing tough questions about the complexi-
ties of race and identity. The judges admired
its boldness and ability to shock and surprise
from its powerful opening onwards.
BT SPORT – SHOULDER
TO SHOULDER
BT Sport/3 Rock Productions/
TBI Media for BT Sport 2
Former Ireland rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll
impressed with his open-mindedness when
confronted with potentially offensive points
of view in this “engaging and surprising”
authored doc. It explored the team’s experi-
ences during the Troubles in Northern Ireland
and prompted one interviewee to posit a
future for O’Driscoll as a documentarian.
A surprising, DRIVEN: THE BILLY MONGER STORY
Oxford Scientific Films for BBC Three
complex
The story of an extraordinary and endearing
unpacking of 17-year-old moved the judges, who also
a relationship, admired director Charlie Russell’s “nicely
judged” telling of the triumph of the human
beautifully spirit against the odds. The “raw, authentic and
articulated powerful” film was, they said, a great example
with a proper of capturing a story at just the right moment.
beginning,
THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER FILES:
middle and end A VERY BRITISH CRIME STORY
Wall to Wall Media for BBC Four
The well-trodden narrative of Peter Sutcliffe’s
murders was seen through fresh eyes in
Liza Williams’ stripped series, which asked
serious questions of British society in the
1970s by focusing on the victims’ stories.
Avoiding salacious sensationalism, it
was “very skilfully made with real craft
and commitment”, said the judges.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK

1943 BERLIN BLITZ
BBC/Immersive VR Education for BBC
HE BBC has sought to find new ways of using
T its archive content over the years and 1943 Berlin
Blitz – in which VR was employed to adapt an
iconic radio report recorded in a Lancaster bomber
flying over Germany’s capital during World War II –
was a perfect example of how to get it right.
The BBC Rewind team produced a realistic first-
person experience, recreating the full interior of the
plane and a 30-square-mile area of Berlin sourced
from aerial pictures, and using motion-capture
animation running at 90 frames per second to
create a virtual crew.
In terms of storytelling, the aim was to convey the
human aspects of the flight, from the camaraderie of
the crew to their relief when returning home, to offer
audiences a ‘front-row seat’ to history.
One judge described the experience as “an excellent
use of archive mixed with modern, immersive tech-
nology”, while another called it “a great use of immer-
sive sounds and visuals that brings archive to life –
giving it new purpose, reach and educational use”.
It wasn’t just the television industry that was
impressed – RAF pilots and even 93-year-old bomber
command veteran George Payne weighed in with
praise. Payne’s note that “there’s nothing wrong with
that” as he emerged from his headset experience was
particularly pleasing to the producers.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST VR EXPERIENCE
SHORTLISTED
CURFEW – JOIN THE RACE
Sky VR/Endemol Shine UK/Rewind/
Moonage Pictures for Sky
Accompanying Sky’s high-concept eight-part
drama Curfew, this experience placed audi-
ences on the starting grid of an illegal street
race and gave them the chance to affect
the action. The interactive narrative effec-
tively served as a hidden and high-octane
ninth programme of the series.
GRENFELL: OUR HOME
Parable for Channel 4
Channel 4’s first VR documentary combined
stereoscopic 360-video with computer and
hand-drawn animation to create a moving
picture of life at Kensington’s Grenfell Tower
before the fateful blaze that took so many
lives in June 2017. The virtual-reality world
was built using extensive contributor testimony
and memories, photographs and floor plans.
MALARIA: LIFE ON THE FRONTLINE
East City Films for Comic Relief
This short film begins in a stagnant pool of
water in Uganda, as larvae develop into adult
mosquitoes. Comic Relief supporter David
Tennant narrates as the experience moves on
to feature those fighting malaria on the front-
line in small towns and medical centres. 3D
modelling and a binaural recording device were
used to create the disease-carrying insects.
Excellent use
PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING VR
BBC/Roughcut TV for BBC
Rolled out as part of the launch for the final
series of the BBC Three comedy, the VR
short has now gained around 30,000 views
of archive
at pop-up events and online. To address the
mixed with tricky conundrum of making a virtual-reality
modern, experience funny, producers put the audi-
ence in the shoes of a kidnapped captive
immersive at the infamous Kurupt FM studio.
technology
VR SOUND STAGE
Philharmonia Orchestra
This nine-minute experience places the
viewer right at the heart of the Philharmonia
Orchestra as conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
leads renditions of works by Beethoven and
Mahler. A specially developed ‘sync player’
function enabled six viewers to experience
the film simultaneously, triggering an ambi-
sonic 18-speaker array.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 25
BEST ORIGINAL WEB CHANNEL

SHORTLISTED
BBC THREE
Big hitters Killing Eve, Fleabag, This Country
and Life And Death Row were joined by digital-
first commissions such as One Hot Summer,
Pls Like and How Not To Die on the BBC
Three slate, as the channel remained a
unique asset for the BBC. Increased iPlayer
requests and strong YouTube and Facebook
performances confirmed its strength.

BEANO.COM
The Beano’s cacophony of comedy content
for six to 12 year-olds kept it among the UK’s
most successful online channels. Last year’s
category winner has now amassed more
than 1,000 original videos and found a fan in
Sky Kids, which looked to the success of the
web channel before commissioning a TV
series, So Beano!.

MASHED
Channel 4’s gaming and pop culture-inspired
cartoons channel Mashed grew its subscriber
base by 160% in 2018 to more than 1.6 million.
A significant uptick in video views was driven
by content such as Fortnite-inspired comedy
BARCROFT TV Looty Tunes, which delivered 8.5 million
views and nearly 400,000 engagements.

REAL STORIES
ARCROFT TV is now one of the most popular

B YouTube channels in the world, with more than

6.7 million subscribers, having grown its base by
more than 70% from 3.7 million at the start of 2018. A true digital
By March this year, Little Dot Studios’ global
documentary channel had grown to more
than 2.4 million subscribers and 1.8 million
Facebook followers. Proving that audiences
will spend significant time watching video
Content shares grew by 64% from 1.7 million to 2.8 million,
while likes went up 73% from 4.6 million to 8 million.
trailblazer with online, Real Stories’ watch time per view was
more than 20 minutes – 350% higher than
The company’s content also achieved 3.4 billion Face-
interactive the YouTube average.
book views and prompted 152 million engagements. content that
A key focus last year was on creating new original more than TRUETUBE
competes TrueTube’s strong 2018 got even better in
brands such as true-crime series Chasing Justice, prop-
November when it won the first Content for
erty series Homes On The Edge, style show Share The with linear Change category at the Bafta Children’s
Hair and Truly, a two-part doc about snake-handling platforms Awards for its short documentary What Do
American pastors. Existing brand Born Different also You Mean I Can’t Change The World?. Its
thrived, with 410 million YouTube views. focus on social, moral and religious themes
continued to attract the target demographics
All in all, Barcroft TV brands achieved a staggering
of teachers and students.
1.4 billion views – comprising more than 4 billion
minutes (or 7,610 years) – during the qualifying period.
The likes of China’s Weibo, Tik Tok, Sky Q, Comcast
and MSN all carried its programmes, which were
designed for mobile-savvy 16-35s.
Barcroft’s web channel was praised by the judges
for its clear proposition, high production values and
original content. One judge said Barcroft TV was “a
true digital trailblazer with interactive content that
more than competes with linear platforms”. Another
said the company’s incredible growth made it hard for
rivals to compete in the online space.
“They have a clear digital-first strategy and it’s
working,” added a third judge.

26 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK


KILLED BY MY DEBT
BBC Studios: The Documentary Unit for BBC Three
HE LATEST in a long-running series of hard-
T hitting dramas from BBC Studios, Killed By
My Debt took the largely unnoticed story of
Jerome Rogers and turned it into a national issue.
BBC Three’s one-off drama about a young man trau-
matised by debt and harangued by bailiffs was watched
online and on BBC One by a combined 2.5 million,
trended on Twitter and was written about in The Big
Issue and the major tabloid and broadsheet newspapers.
The drama led to Jerome’s family meeting the govern-
ment and the Ministry of Justice calling for evidence on
the need for reform of the bailiff industry.
A parliamentary hearing heard testimony from
the family, the film-makers, charities and MPs, and
Newham Council has since announced it will no
longer use private bailiffs.
The judges said Killed By My Debt met BBC Three’s
remit to chime with the experiences of young people,
describing the programme as a beautifully crafted,
acted and chilling warning about the country in
which we live.
One judge praised its strong and realistic depiction
of the struggle of so many people, with a standout
performance from young lead Chance Perdomo. “Killed
By My Debt was a savage drama that left me reeling and
that I’m still thinking about days later – it was raw, true
and brilliantly crafted,” added another.
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
BEST DRAMA PROGRAMME
SHORTLISTED
BULLETPROOF
Vertigo Films for Sky One
Buddy-cop drama Bulletproof achieved
impressive viewing figures, consolidating
to a 1.7 million series average for Sky 1.
The high-octane drama, centred around the
antics of detective duo Aaron Bishop and
Ronnie Pike, was a whopping 311% up on
the slot average and secured an average
audience share of 4.1%.
CLIQUE
Balloon for BBC Three
With its university setting and focus on a
campus-wide scandal, Balloon’s drama met
the digital channel’s remit of delivering youth-
appealing shows and targeting the 18-35 audi-
ence. As BBC Three focused on docs and
entertainment, Clique was the channel’s only
high-end drama transmitted in 2018.
DEEP STATE
Endor for Fox
Deep State attracted a new upmarket
audience for the Fox channel, with 63% in the
ABC1 bracket. The Endor-produced series
reached 2.1 million viewers, with 38% of
them new to the channel. The spy thriller
also posed serious questions about the con-
nections between government and the big
industries that profit from global conflicts.
FLACK
Killed By My
Hat Trick Productions/
CASM Films for W
This six-part drama met the channel’s
objectives in putting W on the map as a
premium channel offering quality enter-
Debt was a
tainment. Delving into the PR world, Flack
savage drama achieved a series average of 350,000 – a
that left me 34% increase on the slot average. That was
a fitting result for W, which primarily targets
reeling – it women aged 25-44.
was raw, true
and brilliantly IN MY SKIN
Expectation for BBC Three
crafted Similar to Man Like Mobeen, In My Skin gave
a platform to a singular and fresh voice.
Based on the true-life experiences of writer
Kayleigh Llewellyn, the show depicted the
struggle of being a teenager and trying to
fit in, while caring for a sick mother.
Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 27
GAMECHANGER PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR
AL MURRAY: WHY DOES EVERYONE
HATE THE ENGLISH?
Avalon for History
N A STRONG YEAR for History, the Pub Landlord
I led from the front. Combining elements of trave-
logue, 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.
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.
28 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
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 conver-
sation and launched with a double bill, with all
episodes available to watch from week two.
TASKMASTER
Avalon for Dave
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
It helped to
Stripped across two weeks for maximum
impact, this new dating format took a distinc-
tive approach to casting by embracing the
LGBTQ+ community. Its other twist was that
some of its couples weren’t really in a relation-
shift viewers’ ship, playing with the idea of authenticity. All
perception of of this helped drive record-breaking ratings,
the channel at with the format averaging 149,000 for 16-34s.
precisely the
time it moved
from docs to
entertainment
on the Sky EPG
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
 CHANNEL OF THE YEAR (NON-PSB GROUP)

SHORTLISTED
BEANO.COM
Home to more than 1,000 anarchic videos
and hundreds of interactive formats, quizzes
and games, Beano.com has quickly estab-
lished itself among the very best homes
of kids’ content in the UK. It surpassed
1 million monthly users in March and claims
to be the fastest-growing kids’ website for
the second year running.

COMEDY CENTRAL
The winner of the Best Entertainment Channel
category is on the march, thanks to a whop-
ping 85 hours of original content commis-
sioned over the qualifying period. The likes of
Your Face Or Mine and Roast Battle UK went
from strength to strength, while new titles
The Comedy Bus and Blockbusters added to
the genuine momentum being created.

HISTORY
History moved confidently into the entertain-
ment category in Sky’s EPG thanks to out-
standing shows such as Al Murray: Why Does
Everybody Hate The English? The winner in
the Gamechanger Programme category led
DAVE the way among a slate that included local
originations such as River Hunters and
global events such as History Of Football.

AVE’S SLATE of returning brands is the envy

D of many bigger and better-resourced channels,

and its originals accounted for 60% of UKTV’s
best-performing shows last year. Taskmaster is arguably A channel at
MTV
In an exceptional 2018, MTV achieved its
biggest ever audience share and its best
VoD performance with 110 million streams
– making it a top 10 16-24 VoD channel. It
second only to Love Island as the digital sector’s most
influential programme and shows no sign of slowing
the top of its uncovered a bona fide hit in the shape of
game, which inclusive dating format True Love Or True Lies,
down – series seven averaged 1.5 million viewers, the while The Charlotte Show complemented the
show’s best-ever performance. has carved likes of Ex On The Beach and Geordie Shore.
Strong new additions to Dave’s slate included out a clear
and attractive TLC
Josh Widdicome and James Acaster’s Hypothetical
Top brands such as Say Yes To The Dress,
(pictured), which quickly established itself as a prime identity and 90 Day Fiancé and new favourite Dr. Pimple
brand alongside hospital sitcom Porters and Jon put original IP Popper delivered TLC’s biggest quarter on
Richardson: Ultimate Worrier. The latter was up 170% at its heart record in the first three months of 2018,
on slot average, while new format Judge Romesh was while one-off talent-led specials such Olivia &
Alex Said Yes and Vicky Pattison: The Break Up
watched by more than 900,000 people.
really cut through with younger viewers.
Dave delivered the third-highest non-PSB share
for 16-34s, with 20% of its audience falling into this
hard-to-reach demographic.
Its partnership with male suicide prevention
charity Calm was an outstanding initiative that
kicked off with a four-minute ad message during a
peak-time ad-slot. The channel also branched out
beyond TV, partnering with Global Radio for an
experiential campaign at one of the UK’s biggest
music festivals, Victorious.
That kind of confident behaviour is evidence of
a channel at the top of its game, which has carved
out a clear and attractive identity and put original
IP at its heart.

BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019 | 29

CHANNEL OF THE YEAR
BBC FOUR
HIS WAS THE YEAR in which BBC Four landed
T both its biggest ever audience and its first viral hit.
With canny scheduling, it invited BBC One viewers
gripped by A Very English Scandal to hear the real story
in The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal, which brought a record
consolidated audience of 2.4 million to the channel.
Music remained a staple of its schedules, but two
shows broke away from the tried-and-tested archive-
and-talking-heads Friday night doc format to huge
success. On paper, ’80s pop sensations Bros might not
scream ‘BBC Four’ but the word-of-mouth hit After The
Screaming Stops chimed perfectly with the channel’s left-
field sensibilities and racked up the numbers on iPlayer.
Meanwhile, a one-off, three-hour live revival of The
Old Grey Whistle Test built a cumulative audience of
1.4 million – and Tomorrow’s World got a new spin too.
Stripped factual such as The Ruth Ellis Files and
The Yorkshire Ripper Files, alongside an AI night
(pictured), brought a sense of event to the channel.
In the scripted space, BBC Four proved that low-
budget need not mean low-ambition, with monologue
series themed around Windrush and women’s suffrage,
curated by Lenny Henry and Vicky Featherstone respec-
tively, and Shaun Pye’s raw comedy There She Goes.
Sketch-show impressions of BBC Four as a stuffy
channel filled with academics shouting in fields were
consigned to history by these hits. Here was a digital
channel living in the moment, unearthing treasures of
the past and asking serious questions about the future.
30 | Broadcast DIGITAL AWARDS 2019
SHORTLISTED
BBC THREE
The BBC’s non-linear channel picked up the
pace, with comedies Famalam, Enterprice
and Jerk making their debut alongside
acquired megahit Killing Eve and the return
of Fleabag, plus punchy singles such as
Abused By My Girlfriend and Killed By My Debt.
The likes of Glow Up and Eating With My Ex,
meanwhile, spearheaded the channel’s new
‘pillar’ of fact ent.
CBBC
The BBC children’s channel did some growing
up this year, with improvised teen drama
Logan High and Stacey Dooley tackling topics
such as coming out and mental health in
The Nine To Five. Blue Peter turned 60,
Newsround tripled its web traffic and boy band
drama Almost Never garnered 3 million iPlayer
views and a fanatical Instagram following.
Public-service engagement at its finest.
E4
Channel 4’s youth channel enjoyed its best
ever comedy launch with The Big Bang Theory
spin-off Young Sheldon, which landed with a
26% share of 16-34s. It also raided US ani-
mation channel Adult Swim and became the
free-to-air UK home for cult favourite Ricky &
Morty. New brand extensions for Tattoo Fixers
Sketch-show
and Made In Chelsea, a ‘new talent’ reinven-
tion of 8 Out Of 10 Cats and the introduction
of Sex Clinic helped the channel keep moving.
SKY NEWS
impressions of Brexit, Harvey Weinstein, ‘fake news’ and the
Novichok poisonings were among the big
BBC Four as a issues keeping the news team busy with
stuffy channel exclusives in the past year, and it became the
filled with first channel to broadcast a royal event in UHD.
This was also the year of Deep Oceans Live –
academics a world-first broadcast of three live shows
shouting in from deep underwater.
fields were
consigned
to history
BROADCASTNOW.CO.UK
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