CBBC shows dominate NW comedy awards

Children’s programmes dominate the comedy nominations in the Royal Television Society Awards for the North West.

However Citizen Khan and Hebburn have also racked up two nods apiece.

Citizen Khan star Adil Ray is the only actor to be shortlisted for an adult series in the comedy performance category; while half of the best comedy show nominations are CBBC shows.

They are Hacker Time, starring the puppet Wigan dog Hacker, and the Johnny & Inel Show, whose stars, comedians Johnny Cochrane and Inel Tomlinson, are both up for the performance category too.

The best comedy category shortlist is completed by Citizen Khan and the BBC Two sitcom Hebburn.

And the other nominations in the performance category are Khalil Madovi for the 4 O’Clock Club and Justin Fletcher for Justin’s House, both on CBBC.

Hebburn is also up for a second award, as its creators Jason Cook and Graham Duff have been shortlisted for the writing award.

The other nominees are Joe Ahearne for The Secret of Crickley Hall, Sally Wainwright for Last Tango in Halifax and Karen Brown forThe Shrine: Moving On.

The dominance of children’s TV is largely due to the BBC’s move out of London, as CBeebies and CBBC have been based in Salford since 2011. BBC Comedy North is becoming an increasingly important base, but the genre is still predominantly based in the capital.

The RTS awards take place on November 23 at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester, hosted by BBC Sport's Dan Walker.

Published: 2 Oct 2013