Three accolades for BBC Three sitcom

BBC Three comedy This Country scooped a trio of accolades at the Royal Television Society  awards last night.

Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper took home the comedy  writer and comedy performance prizes, while the show also secured the scripted comedy award. 

Judges said the siblings’ performance was ‘charming, endearing and warm…giving this funny show genuine heart’ and that the  show ‘was both warm and poignant in a world rarely represented’.

But the pair were beaten in the breakthrough award – in which  they were also nominated –  by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, creator of ITV2’s time travelling sitcom Timewasters. Judges called the show ‘original, clever and insightful, adding: ‘Clearly we’ll see much more of this talent in the future."

Elsewhere Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe won the best entertainment performance category, with judges saying: ‘The genuine warmth, imagination and sense of fun just shines through.’ 

They  had been nominated  against Ant & Dec for I'm A Celebrity and Claudia Winkleman for Strictly Come Dancing.

The entertainment programme award went to Love Island.

The Judges’ Award went to  Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones for Black Mirror.

Their citation said the show ‘has touched the zeitgeist and connected with millennial audiences particularly in the most profound way. Black Mirror is a series that defies neat categorisation. Is it science fiction? Is it an apocalyptic satire? Is it a psychological thriller? The truth is that it’s all of the these.

‘Its anthology format gives Black Mirror the creative space to be whatever it wants to be with each new scenario – sometimes it is shocking, dark and nightmarish, sometimes it is witty, or touching or thrilling. It is, though, always audacious.’

Published: 21 Mar 2018