News round-up: BBC, C4 lead RTS Awards; WBD unveils UK & Ireland slate; Paramount renews ‘Star Trek’ spin-offs

Kate Winslet

BBC, C4 lead RTS Programme Awards

The BBC and Channel 4 were the stand-out winners at this year’s Royal Television Society (RTS) Programme Awards 2023, which took place last night at a star-studded event in London.

The BBC secured 17 wins, three of which were for the hit comedy series Am I Being Unreasonable?, while C4 followed with six wins, including two for its hit comedy Derry Girls, which won Scripted Comedy and Writer – Comedy prizes.

Other series that received wins across multiple categories included BBC’s The Traitors for Entertainment and Entertainment Performance, BBC’s Sherwood for Drama Series and Adeel Akhtar for the brand-new Supporting Actor – Male category.

Kate Winslet took to the stage to receive her prize for Leading Actor (Female) in I Am Ruth, while Kit Connor took home the Leading Actor (Male) prize for his role in Heartstopper for Netflix.

The Supporting Actor – Female prize, a new award for 2023, was presented to Ambika Mod for BBC and AMC’s This Is Going to Hurt, and the inaugural Comedy Drama award was given to Sky’s Brassic.

Sarah Lancashire was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award, while BBC content chief Charlotte Moore was presented with the Judges’ Award.

Richard Hammond’s Workshop

WBD unveils UK & Ireland slate

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has extended 90 Day Fiancé UK into a third season and unveiled a slate of new and returning shows in the UK & Ireland for its Discovery+ streamer and linear networks.

90 Day Fiancé UK is produced by CPL Productions and has been extended into a third 12 x 60-minute run ahead of its second season debut later this year.

Richard Hammond’s Workshop is also returning for third and fourth seasons with a total of 16 hour-long episodes, while the ‘vs’ format also returns with two new seasons. They will delve into the high-profile and very public battles between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian as well as Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez.

Both series are produced by Optomen and will drop on Discovery+ as two-part hour-long documentaries in the second half of this year.

Other commissions include a seventh season of Faking It and The Killer in My Home: A Deadliest Mums and Dads Special, which will premiere on Discovery+ in April.

The Crackit-produced documentary features an exclusive interview with grieving mother Laura Gray, who spent nearly five years believing that she had lost her two infant children, 24-day-old Ruby and 21-month-old Logan, to natural causes. It was years later that she discovered the devastating truth. Both were murdered by her former partner and father to their children, Jordan Monaghan.

Paramount+ renews Star Trek spin-offs

Paramount+ has renewed two of its Star Trek spin-offs, with Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks each receiving the greenlight for additional runs.

Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have been renewed for a 10-episode third season and a 10-episode fifth season, respectively.

Strange New Worlds will premiere Thursday, June 15 on Paramount+ in the US, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. New episodes of the 10-episode season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays.

The second season will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with premiere dates to be announced at a later date.

Animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks, meanwhile, will see its fourth season premiere later this summer on Paramount+ in the US, with exact dates to be announced.

As previously announced, the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery will premiere in early 2024.