The BBC’s World War I drama ‘Parade’s End’ has received four honours at this year’s ‘Broadcasting Press Guild Awards’.It was named best drama series, stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall won best actor and best actress, while Sir Tom Stoppard won the writer’s award for adapting Ford Madox Ford’s novels.
The awards, presented in London, were voted for by media journalists.
ITV picked up best documentary for its expose on Jimmy Savile, which led to a national inquiry into child abuse.
Broadcast in October last year, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile showed several interviews with alleged sexual abuse victims of the DJ and TV presenter.
It led to a UK-wide police investigation into historical abuse and set off a chain of events that resulted in the departure of the BBC’s then director general, George Entwistle.
John Humphrys, whose interview with Entwistle on Radio 4’s Today programme preceded the DG’s resignation later that day, won the Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting.
The judges said the BBC veteran’s “tenacious interviewing of politicians and others in the news [had] made his name a byword for fearless inquisition”.
The BBC was also honoured in the innovation category for its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.
The accolade recognised the corporation for its live and catch-up coverage of all 304 events during the games across multiple platforms and devices.
BBC Two’s comedy series Twenty Twelve, which took a humorous look at the preparations for the games, was named best entertainment/comedy for what the judges called its “uncanny ability to predict real-life events”.
(Source: BBC Online)
