‘Adolescence’ Wins Big At The Broadcasting Press Guild Awards

Adolescence was the big winner at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards this evening in the UK.

The Netflix limited series about a teenage boy arrested on suspicion of murdering a female classmate won five categories, including Best Single Drama or Mini-Series.

Adolescence co-creator and star Stephen Graham was awarded Best Actor for his role and his work on Disney+ series A Thousand Blows, while Erin Doherty won Best Actress for her work in the same tow shows.

Best Writer went to Adolescence‘s other co-creator, Jack Thorne, who was honored for the Netflix show and his work on Toxic Town and The Hack, while young star Owen Cooper won the BPG Breakthrough Talent Award for Adolescence and Film Club.

BBC murder mystery reality series The Celebrity Traitors claimed the Best Entertainment award, with Amandaland and cop drama Blue Lights adding to the BBC’s tally with Best Comedy and Best Drama Series wins, respectively.

Louis Theroux’s The Settlers, from BBC Two, won Best Single Documentary or Mini-Series, and Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire took Best Documentary Series.

The BPG Awards, which are voted for by British media journalists, also handed out five special awards. The Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting went to Happy Valley and Riot Women writer Sally Wainwright, who was also nominated for Best Writer.

Love Actually star Bill Nighy won Best Podcast for his Ill-Advised by Bill Nighy podcast.

The BPG Innovation Award went to pop-up 1980s themed radio station WSQK ‘The Squawk’, which was launched by audio biz Global for Netflix as promotion for the final season of Stranger Things. London-based content creator Specs Gonzalez won The Emerging Creator Award. BPG Members Special Awards went to writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg and TV producer and founder of The TV Mindset, Adeel Amini.

“This year’s winners show just how powerful British broadcasting can be when it combines ambition with authenticity,” said BPG Chair Matt Deegan. “From bold drama and fearless documentary to inventive entertainment and audio storytelling, these programmes and creators have captured the imagination of audiences and critics alike.

“Voted for by the members of the Broadcasting Press Guild – journalists who spend their working lives covering television, radio and the media – these awards recognise work that truly stood out over the past year. At a time of enormous change for our industry, it’s encouraging to see such confident, distinctive storytelling continuing to emerge.”

Presenter Rhianna Dhillon presented the awards, which was held at The Barbican in London. The event is supported by BBC Studios, Pact, Prime Video, Netflix, TiVo and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Full Winners List