The cream of Bristol’s TV talent will compete in the region’s leading television awards on Sunday – with many of the productions having been made under unparalleled conditions during the pandemic.
The annual Royal Television Society West of England Awards champion the trailblazers in the fields of on-screen talent, craft, scripted, animation, regional news and across a range of factual programming, including natural history and documentary.
The prestigious event, which this year takes place at the Bristol Old Vic, is the only annual celebration of the region’s TV creative community.
As in previous years, BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit leads the way with 11 nominations for a wide range of programmes it has either made or been involved in.
Notable shows include Primates, Waterhole and Springwatch. In the Scripted category, there are five nominations for dramas shot and produced in the region across a range of subject matter including ITV drama McDonald & Dodds, set in Bath, and The Trial of Christine Keeler, the story of the Profumo Affair told from Christine’s perspective, pictured, below, being filmed in Bristol.
In addition The Cure, a factually based drama about Julie Bailey, who blew the whistle on one of the worst scandals in the history of the NHS, Pale Horse, based on the Agatha Christie mystery, and The Spanish Princess, broadcast on Starzplay with production based at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios.
An array of talent is represented in the ‘on-screen talent’ category, including chef Tom Kerridge in Saving Britain’s Pubs with Tom Kerridge, in which he offers business advice and moral support to struggling landlords, and Megan McCubbin for Springwatch 2020. Megan experienced her very first foray into live presenting when the pandemic struck and she was self-isolating with step-father and fellow presenter Chris Packham.
Also in the running is actress Tala Gouveia, for playing DCI Lauren McDonald in McDonald & Dodds, pictured below, and Nadiya Hussain for Nadiya’s American Adventure.
In the Factual Entertainment and Features category, four hit shows go head to head including Antiques Roadshow, The Battle of Britain and The Blitz Special (all BBC Studios), Nadiya Bakes (Wall to Wall West), War on Plastic: The Fight Goes On, presented by Anita Rani and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Keo Films), and Channel 4’s Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country (Outline Productions), in which the property expert and her family swap London life for a new start on a semi-derelict former dairy farm in Somerset.
Bristol independent production company Offspring Films has six nominations for its show Earth at Night in Colour for Apple TV, which captured animals’ nocturnal lives, with Indefinite Films and Marble Films at four nominations each for documentaries Murder in the Car Park and Locked In: Breaking the Silence respectively.
In News category, BBC Points West has five nominations across News Journalist and Story, with ITV News West Country and Drummer TV scoring a nomination each.
RTS West of England chair and assistant vice-chancellor, creative and cultural industries engagement, UWE, Lynn Barlow, said: “It’s even more important, this year, to celebrate the extraordinary talents of the television community.
“The majority of our entries were made during the pandemic and it’s down to the creative problem-solving, ingenuity and sheer hard work of the production teams, that the quality of the entries is so very high.”
“Congratulations to all our nominees. We are looking forward to celebrating your success.”
The awards, which again include productions from the RTS Devon and Cornwall centre, are staged in association with post-production firm Evolutions Bristol.
Photo of the filming of The Trial of Christine Keeler, courtesy of Bristol Film Office. Photo of McDonald & Dodds courtesy of ITV
