The Royal Television Society Yorkshire has announced the winners of its annual Programme Awards – but the ceremony has been somewhat overshadowed by the BBC’s decision not to enter.
BBC Yorkshire’s absence effectively left the field open for Look North’s competitor, ITV Calendar, which won three prizes: News or Current Affairs Story, News Programme and Presenter (Duncan Wood).
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed: “We have chosen not to enter these awards. There are lots of industry awards. We don’t enter them all. We do enter the RTS National Awards. We wish all the nominees the best of luck.”
The Yorkshire Evening Post has reported that BBC decided not to enter because it was annoyed that a clip of former presenter Christa Ackroyd had been used in a tribute to her former co-host, Harry Gration, two years ago.
Gration was the subject of an RTS tribute two years ago in recognition of his “outstanding presentation work” and has also twice been named Regional Presenter of the Year.
Elsewhere, actor John Middleton, who has played Ashley Thomas in Emmerdale for 20 years, was honoured with both the Actor and the Outstanding Contribution awards. The second Outstanding Contribution award went to Carol McKenzie from True North Productions for being “an essential part of the Yorkshire television landscape”.
Emmerdale won in the Writer category with Maxine Alderton and Paul Whittington collected the Director Fiction award for his work on The Moorside (ITV Studios for BBC One). The series also secured a win in the Professional Excellence: Drama & Comedy Post Production category, with Ben Yeates taking home an award for editing.
ITV’s hit drama Victoria (Mammoth Screen) also prevailed, picking up two gongs. The production and design team took home the Professional Excellence: Drama & Comedy Production award; while Martin Phipps and Ruth Barrett won in the Music & Use of Music category.
The Drama award went to four-part Channel 4 drama National Treasure (The Forge); while the Independent Spirit prize was awarded to Daisybeck Studios for the second year in a row. Arqiva was presented with the RTS Yorkshire Centre Award for their continuing stewardship of the Emley Moor Transmitting Station.
