Britcoms triumph at international awards

Serafinowicz was named best entertainer for his self-titled BBC Two sketch show, while The IT Crowd won best sitcom for Channel 4.

BBC Two’s Kombat Opera Presents... was named best comedy as well as the overall ‘best of 2008’ prize

Written by Jerry Springer: The Opera co-creator Richard Thomas, the five-part show gave the full operatic treatment to popular TV shows such as The Apprentice, Question Time and Wife Swap.

Judges said of the show: 'It's an inspired idea that opens the door to a whole new genre: culture-clash TV.'

Other British shows that triumphed at the 48th annual Rose d'Or festival in Lucerne, Switzerland – Europe's oldest international television entertainment festival – included Channel 4’s Skins and Strictly Bolshoi. The competition attracted a record 402 entries from 34 countries.

Event director Urban Frye said: ‘This year's programmes were of exceptional quality, which presented our international jurors with a challenging task.

‘However, the calibre of entries proves… that it is possible to create programmes with cross-cultural and cross-generational appeal.’

Here is a clip from the Question Time Out episode of Kombat Opera Presents:

Published: 7 May 2008