The 44th Rose D'Or television awards announced its winners on 17th April from Lucerne, Switzerland. The TV 'Oscars' were hosted for the second year running by the questionably talented Jon Culshaw. 'Top' celebrity award presenters included Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte and Saruman.

119 'popular entertainment programmes' from approximately forty countries were entered into eight programme categories: comedy, sitcom, soap, variety, music, game show, reality show, and arts & specials. And, for the first time in the ceremony's 43 year history, seven personal artiste categories were included: female and male comedian, sitcom actress and actor, soap actress and actor, and game show host.

Creature Comforts (the British Gas talking animals) got the golden gong for best comedy programme, beating - amongst others - Harry Hill's TV Burp, Little Britain (Matt Lucas and David Walliams ) and Spain's Homo Zapping.

Channel 4's Peep Show received the sitcom Rose defeating My Hero (Ardal O'Hanlan), Forty Something (Hugh Laurie) and Portugal's My Mother-In-Law Is A Witch.

Harry Hill won the best comedy actor award for his TV Burp having surprisingly/disappointingly/unbelievably beaten Matt Lucas and David Walliams joint nomination for Little Britain.

The best comedy actress award went to the hilarious (we're sure) Anke Engelke for her German show, Ladykracher, and beat the hilarious (we're sure) Karen Dunbar for The Karen Dunbar Show.

The best actor in a sitcom award went to Martin Freeman for ITV1's series Hardware beating Hugh Laurie from Forty Something.

The most controversial decision (in our opinion) came with the best actress in a sitcom award when Angela Finocchiaro's seminal performances in Mammamia! were overlooked by the judges and the award was given to Felicitas Woll for her lacklustre part in Berlin, Berlin. There's always next year, though.

One minor travesty was redressed when the press prize was given to Little Britain .

However, it was a great day for the wondrous world of comedy when the UK's paragon's of chirpy-cheeky-laddish-wit walked home with two Golden Roses. That's right, P.J. and Duncan AKA, Ant 'n' Dec came away with another two awards to add to their collection. Both for their Saturday Night Takeaway (programme and hosts) and thank GOD this time neither award was etched with the words comedy, humourous or funny. They got them for best 'Variety' programme and best 'game show' hosts.

They're allowed those ones aren't they?

The Rose d'Or winners in full

Programmes
Arts and Specials - Amelia (Canada)
Comedy - Creature Comforts (UK)
Game show - My New Best Friend (UK)
Music - One Bullet Left (Switzerland)
Reality - Wife Swap (UK)
Sitcom - Peep Show (UK)
Soap - Saint Tropez (France)
Variety - Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (UK)
Press prize - Little Britain (UK)
Honorary Rose - John de Mol - Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Endemol
Paper Format - From Rust to Riches (Sweden)
Pilot Award - Fur TV (UK)

Performances
Comedy, female - Anke Engelke, Ladykracher (Germany)
Comedy, male - Harry Hill, Harry Hill's TV Burp (UK)
Sitcom, female - Felicitas Woll, Berlin, Berlin (Germany)
Sitcom, male - Martin Freeman, Hardware (UK)
Soap, female - Benedicte Delmas, Saint Tropez (France)
Soap, male - Shane Richie, EastEnders (UK)
Game show - Ant and Dec, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (UK)