Tuesday night saw the ceremony for the prestigious Royal Television
Society awards where every year all aspects of the industry are honoured, from
children's programmes to regional presenters. Frankly we don't give a
monkey's about kids TV, the memories of what Andi Peters got up to in his "broom
cupboard" are still too painful, and if any of you are desperate to know about
the best regional presenter we sincerely suggest you get out more.
What we do care about, of course, is the
comedy. The noteworthy award winners and nominees are listed below,
but to sumarise, for any information junkies needing a direct temporal
lobe injection, Ricky
Gervais picked up an award for the excellent "The
Office" Christmas special, Little
Britain
collected two and one went to Jonathan Ross for his
"Friday Night" show.
If you are still reading this then you obviously live a
more laid back kind of life and have time for a bit of extra detail. Below
are listed the main comedy-related awards, their winners, a snippet of what the
judges said about them and the unlucky nominees who went home empty
handed. Special congratulations go to Little
Britain
and Jonathan Ross, both of whom helped
prevent comedy-award-stealing geordie duo Ant & Dec from causing further
injustice.
SITUATION COMEDY AND COMEDY DRAMA
Winner:
The
Office Christmas Special (BBC Entertainment for BBC
ONE)
"The problem of writing a final episode of a much-loved comedy was
fully resolved. Tim gets Dawn. Dawn gets her oil paints. Brent gets the girl and
we are carried along with it all. Perfection!"
Nominees:
Marion & Geoff (Baby Cow Productions for
BBC TWO)
Peep Show (An Objective Production for Channel
4)
ENTERTAINMENT
Winner:
Little
Britain
(BBC New Comedy for BBC THREE)
"Wonderful invention in
writing and performance brought great originality to the potentially dated
television form of sketch comedy."
Nominees:
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
(Granada Entertainment for ITV1)
Bo' Selecta! (A
TalkbackThames Production for Channel 4)
ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE
Winner:
Jonathan
Ross - Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (Open Mike Productions for BBC
ONE)
"His show is now perfect and he attracts the very best guests. But,
most of all, he has extraordinary wit and entertainment value."
Nominees:
Ant & Dec - Ant & Dec's Saturday Night
Takeaway/I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!/Pop Idol (Granada
Entertainment for ITV1 / LWT Factual for ITV1 / Thames/19TV for
ITV1)
Mark Steel - Mark Steel Lectures (BBC New Comedy for
BBC FOUR/Open University)
COMEDY PERFORMANCE
Winner:
David
Walliams & Matt Lucas - Little
Britain
(BBC New Comedy for BBC
THREE)
"They were entered separately but the judges re-united them as one
entry on account of their joint success. They gave us narrative drive, memorable
characters and a real breakthrough from a digital channel."
Nominees:
Jocelyn Jee Esien - 3 Non Blondes (Brown Eyed
Boy for BBC THREE)
Ricky
Gervais - The
Office Christmas Specials
(BBC Entertainment for BBC ONE
EVENT:
Winner:
Comic Relief 2003 - The Big
Hair Do (BBC Entertainment for BBC ONE)
"…one event stood out
for its consistency and excellence. Now in its 16th year, this biennial event
has lost none of its freshness, constantly reinvents itself, and brings a
purpose and conviction as well as boundless pleasure to the nation on screen and
far beyond it."
