The West of England’s TV community turned out in force to celebrate their work at the Royal Television Society West of England Awards 2017 on Sunday night, hosted by Countryfile’s Anita Rani (pictured above).
Guests included Nick Knowles and Mark Millar from DIY SOSI, writer, chef and broadcaster Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, CBBC favourites Andy Day and Naomi Wilkinson, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby and actor Susan Wokoma (Crazyhead).
Drama categories were dominated by Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Hartswood Films), made at The Bottle Yard Studios, which took home four awards including Best Drama, Cinematography (Suzie Lavelle), Director (Douglas Mackinnon) and Composer (David Arnold & Michael Price).
Benedict Cumberbatch on set at The Bottle Yard Studios (image courtesy of Hartswood Films/BBC)
Crazyhead, also made at The Bottle Yard Studios, picked up three awards for Best On Screen Performance (Susan Wokoma), Sound (Aquariam Sound Team) and Design: Titles, Trails and Packaging (Liquid TV).
Presenting the Best Drama award, Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees praised the strength of Bristol’s film and TV industry.
BBC Bristol received a special award in recognition of its impact and influence in the region. Mark Linsey, the new Director of BBC Studios and Teresa Wise, CEO of the RTS, presented the award, outlining BBC Bristol’s pivotal role in the economy and culture of the city and beyond.
With a raft of BBC anniversaries to celebrate this year – the Natural History Unit is 60, Points West is 60, Gardeners’ World is 50 and Antiques Roadshow is 40 – there was applause for ‘ a combined 210 years of Bristol brilliance’.
Chair of the RTS Bristol centre Lynn Barlow said: “This year’s awards prove Bristol’s film, animation and television companies are producing some of the world’s most popular programmes and leading the way in digital innovation in a rapidly changing environment. We have more than 131 independent production and post-production companies in the city and last year they brought in £140 million to the local economy. Almost 4000 people now work in the business. We have never been stronger.”
View the full list of winners here.