UK dominates Rose d’Or awards

Channel 4’s Catastrophe was named best sitcom at the Rose d’Or Awards last night, in an evening again dominated by UK entertainment programming.

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney in Catastrophe

The UK claimed nine out of the 11 Golden Rose Awards on offer at the annual European Broadcasting Union (EBU) event, this year held at the British Museum in London.

Sitcom winner Catastrophe, coproduced by Avalon Entertainment and Merman, edged out Belgium’s Safety First and the UK’s Workaholics for the prize.

The show, written by and starring Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, debuted in January and follows an Irish woman played by Horgan and an American man, played by Delaney, who find out they are having a baby after a one-night stand.

C4 also won the award for Best TV Arts Show for Our Gay Wedding: The Musical, produced by Wingspan Productions.

Meanwhile, Best TV Gameshow went to Sky1’s Wild Things from Mad Monk/IWC Media/Group M, while the Best TV Entertainment gong was scooped by BBC1’s The Graham Norton Show, which hails from So Television. Psychobitches: Series Two, from Tiger Aspect Productions, won Best TV Comedy.

But in perhaps the biggest upset of the night, Canadian fly-on-the-wall parking show Street Jungle, which hails from Montreal-based producer Media Ranch, edged out the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off in the Reality and Factual Entertainment category.

Stephen Fry

UK actor Stephen Fry was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry.

Speaking after receiving the award, Fry said: “The real truth about broadcasting is that it’s about making the best programmes and those are to do with individuals, characters and emotions”.

“It’s not technology that tells stories, it’s human beings,” added Fry, who won a Rose d’Or Award in 2006 for Best Game Show Host in the BBC series QI.

In its third year of being revamped by the EBU, the UK accounted for 24 out of the 33 nominees across 11 categories at the 54th edition of the event, hosted by BBC presenter Paddy O’Connell.

More than 400 programmes – 377 television and 82 radio entries – were submitted and the winners of each category were chosen by judges who work in the industry.

Radio awards were included for the second time in the event’s history, with the UK winning four out of the five categories available.

Last year, C4 comedy Toast of London was named best sitcom in what was a successful evening for UK entertainment programming.

The full list of winners can be found on the Rose d’Or website.