Royal Television Society Awards winners revealed

The Royal Television Society (RTS) Programme Awards have honoured the top drama, documentary, entertainment programmes of 2019.

Sky Atlantic’s Save Me took home the award for Best Drama Series, beating BBC America’s Killing Eve and BBC Two’s Peaky Blinders. The drama’s scribe Lennie James was honoured as Best Writer – Drama.

The show was praised by judges for: “its authenticity as a series, and captivating performances throughout”.

Killing’s Eve’s Jodie Comer was honoured as Best Actor (Female), while Kiri’s Lucian Msamati took the prize of Best Actor (Male).

The Breakthrough Award went to Informer’s Nabhaan Rizwan, who beat Mo Gilligan from The Big Narstie Show and Alice Feetham from Save Me to the top prize.

Channel 4’s Prison took the prize for Best Documentary Series, while Best Single Documentary went to Channel 5’s Raped: My Story. Best Entertainment went to C4’s The Last Leg.

A full list of winners can be found below:

Actor (Female)
WINNER – Jodie Comer Killing Eve (Sid Gentle Films for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • Sandra Oh Killing Eve (Sid Gentle Films for BBC One)
  • Michaela Coel Black Earth Rising (Forgiving Earth for BBC Two)

Actor (Male)
WINNER – Lucian Msamati Kiri (The Forge Entertainment for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Ben Whishaw A Very English Scandal (Blueprint Pictures for BBC One)
  • Lennie James Save Me(World Productions for Sky Atlantic) 

Arts
WINNER – The Art of Drumming (Wall to Wall Media for Sky Arts)
Nominees:

  • Black Hollywood: “They’ve Gotta Have Us” (AFL Films for BBC Two)
  • Germaine Bloody Greer (Big Wheel Film & Television for BBC Two

Breakthrough Award
WINNER – Nabhaan Rizwan Informer (Neal Street Productions for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • Mo Gilligan The Big Narstie Show (Expectation / Dice Productions for Channel 4)
  • Alice Feetham Save Me (World Productions for Sky Atlantic)

Children’s Programme
WINNER – Prosiect Z (Boom Cymru for S4C
Nominees:

  • My Life: Locked in Boy (Sugar Films for CBBC)
  • Jacqueline Wilson’s Katy (BBC Children’s In-House Productions for CBBC)

Comedy Performance (Female)
WINNER – Lesley Manville Mum (Big Talk Productions in association with The Money Men for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Sian Gibson Peter Kay’s Car Share – The Finale (Goodnight Vienna Productions for BBC One)
  • Daisy May Cooper This Country (BBC Studios for BBC Three) 

Comedy Performance (Male)
WINNER – Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith Inside No. 9 (BBC Studios for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Alex Murphy & Chris Walley The Young Offenders (Vico Films for BBC Three)
  • Samson Kayo Famalam (BBC Studios for BBC Three)

Daytime Programme
WINNER – The Repair Shop (Ricochet for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Moving On – Invisible (LA Productions for BBC One)
  • Murder, Mystery and My Family (Chalkboard TV for BBC One)

Documentary Series
WINNER – Prison (Spring Films for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Love and Hate Crime (Top Hat Productions for BBC One)
  • Drugsland (BBC Studios – Unscripted Productions and The Open University for BBC Three)

Drama Series
WINNER – Save Me (World Productions for Sky Atlantic) 
Nominees:

  • Killing Eve (Sid Gentle Films for BBC One)
  • Peaky Blinders (Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two)

Entertainment
WINNER – The Last Leg (Open Mike for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Britain’s Got Talent (Syco / Thames for ITV)
  • Don’t Hate The Playaz (Monkey Kingdom for ITV2)

Entertainment Performance
WINNER – Big Narstie and Mo Gilligan The Big Narstie Show (Expectation / Dice Productions for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Jennifer Hudson The Voice UK (ITV Studios and Talpa for ITV)
  • Michael McIntyre Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (Hungry McBear for BBC One)

Formatted Popular Factual
WINNER – The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night (Spun Gold TV for ITV)
Nominees:

  • Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip: The French Connection (Studio Ramsay for ITV)
  • Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (Owl Power for BBC Two)

History
WINNER – A Dangerous Dynasty: The House of Assad (72 Films for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Holocaust: The Revenge Plot (Caravan for Channel 4)
  • The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (Wall to Wall for BBC Four)

Live Event
WINNER – The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (BBC Studios for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • The Real Full Monty Live (Spun Gold for ITV)
  • Glyndebourne Opera Cup (Factory Films for Sky Arts)

Mini-Series
WINNER – A Very English Scandal (Blueprint Pictures for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • The Cry (Synchronicity Films for BBC One)
  • Butterfly (Red Production Company and Aenon for ITV)

Presenter
WINNER –  Romesh Ranganathan The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (Rumpus Media for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Michael Palin MichaelPalin in North Korea (ITN Productions for Channel 5)
  • Bobby Friction Pump Up the Bhangra: The Sound of Asian Britain (Pacific Quay Productions, BBC Studios for BBC Four)

 RTS Channel of the Year
WINNER – Cbeebies
Nominees:

  • BBC One
  • Channel 5

Science and Natural History
WINNER – Drowning in Plastic (Raw TV for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History (Tern Television Productions for BBC Four)
  • Blue Planet II (BBC Studios – The Natural History Unit for BBC One)

Scripted Comedy
WINNER – Derry Girls (Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Famalam (BBC Studios for BBC Three)
  • Detectorists (Channel X North, Treasure Trove Productions, and Lola Entertainment for BBC Four) 

Single Documentary
WINNER – Raped: My Story (Lambent Productions for Channel 5)
Nominees:

  • Grenfell (Minnow Films for BBC One)
  • Married to a Paedophile (Brinkworth Films for Channel 4)

Single Drama
WINNER – Killed By My Debt (BBC Studios: The Documentary Unit for BBC Three)
Nominees:

  • Mother’s Day (BBC Studios: The Documentary Unit for BBC Two)
  • Black Mirror: USS Callister (House of Tomorrow for Netflix)

Soap and Continuing Drama
WINNER – Hollyoaks (Lime Pictures for Channel 4)
Nominees:

  • Casualty (BBC Studios for BBC One)
  • Coronation Street (ITV Studios for ITV)

Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit
WINNER – Osi Umenyiora NFL This Week and The NFL Show (Whisper Films for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Roy Keane 2018FIFA World Cup (ITV Sport for ITV)
  • Gary Lineker MOTD: World Cup 2018 (BBC Sport for BBC One)

Sports Programme
WINNER – MOTD 2018 World Cup: Quarter Final – England v Sweden (BBC Sport for BBC One)
Nominees:

  • Winter Paralympic Games (Whisper Films for Channel 4)
  • 2018 Ryder Cup (Sky Sports & European Tour Productions for Sky Sports)

Writer (Comedy)
WINNER – Stefan Golaszewski Mum (Big Talk Productions in association with The Money Men for BBC Two)
Nominees:

  • Jamie Demetriou and Robert Popper Stath Lets Flats (Roughcut TV for Channel 4)
  • Lisa McGee Derry Girls (Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4)

Writer (Drama)
WINNER – Lennie James Save Me (World Productions for Sky Atlantic)
Nominees:

  • David NichollsPatrick Melrose (Little Island Productions, Two Cities Television and Sunny March for Sky Atlantic)
  • Russell T. DaviesA Very English Scandal (Blueprint Pictures for BBC One) 

Judges’ Award

WINNER – Ben Frow (Director of Programmes, Channel 5)
Outstanding Contribution to British Television
WINNER – Lorraine Kelly

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