Derry Girls among big winners at BPG Awards

Derry Girls and This Is Going to Hurt were among the big winners at the Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards.

The two hit programmes picked up a pair of prizes each at the 49th annual ceremony, which was held in central London on Friday.

Channel 4’s Derry Girls took home the best comedy gong while its creator, Northern Irish screenwriter Lisa McGee, received the best writer award.

The comedy, which follows a group of teenagers growing up in Derry during the Troubles, also picked up three Bafta TV nominations earlier this week.

The stars of BBC’s This Is Going To Hurt – Ben Whishaw and Ambika Mod – claimed the best actor and best actress prizes respectively.

Whishaw also picked up a Bafta TV nod on Wednesday for the dark medical comedy based on the best-selling book of the same name by Adam Kay, which also secured a further five nominations.

The BBC also fared well across the categories as its hit mystery show The Traitors won the best entertainment title, Sherwood picked up best drama and Frozen Planet II took home best documentary series.

Sir Mo Farah was recognised as his BBC programme The Real Mo Farah, which saw him reveal he was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child, was awarded the best documentary mini series prize.

Sky’s dark comedy I Hate Suzie Too took home best drama mini series while writer Jack Rooke behind Channel 4’s hit sitcom Big Boys won the breakthrough talent award.

For the first time, the BPG jury prize was awarded to multiple winners as eight BBC local radio journalists were recognised for their interviews with former prime minister Liz Truss.

The Harvey Lee Award for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting was presented to Jeremy Paxman to honour his 50 years on TV and radio as a broadcaster and journalist.

In the audio categories, the radio programme of the year award went to BBC Radio 4’s In Dark Corners which saw Alex Renton investigate abuse at some of the nation’s most exclusive public schools.

The best podcast prize was won by BBC Radio 4’s The Coming Storm in which Gabriel Gatehouse explored American right-wing attitudes and modern conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, Marianna Spring received the audio presenter of the year gong for her journalism on BBC Radio 4 podcasts War on Truth and Disaster Trolls.

Simon O’Hagan, chair of the audio jury, said: “Three great winners this year that have tackled some very serious subjects and that shows that radio and podcasts are especially important when it comes to investigative journalism.”

The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards are chosen independently by TV and audio correspondents, critics and reviewers.