Curious Films and Studio Lambert have won the top indie prizes at this year’s Broadcast Awards.
Factual indie Curious was named Emerging Indie of the Year for a transformative year in which its turnover surged by 50% and it delivered more hours of TV than it ever had before.
Key shows included two Channel 4 shows; Paula Yates documentary series Paula and National Treasures on Trial. It also made BBC3’s Wagspiracy: Vardy vs Rooney, BBC2’s Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry and its Netflix debut Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee.
The indie was also recognised for its involvement with the BBC New Directors Scheme, the government-led Kickstarter initative and its collaboration with Grierson and Netflix on an edit assistant and production management trainee scheme.
Also shortlisted were Mindhouse Productions, Motive Pictures and Wonderhood Studios.
All3Media label Studio Lambert was named indie of the year for a purple patch that included launching The Traitors and turning it into “a truly elite format in doublequick time”.
The indie grew UK production by 38% in the year to March 2023 and highlights included the BBC1 transfer of Race Across the World and its first celebrity version, and US shows for Netflix including The Circle, Dance 100 and How to Get Rich.
However, The Traitors lost out to another BBC1 show, Magnum Media's The 1% Club, which scored its second successive win for best entertainment programme.
Both shows' success helped BBC1 to scoop channel of the year, an award that also recognised the impact of drama series winner Happy Valley and event TV including Glastonbury, Eurovision and the King’s Coronation.
Programme wins included Keo Films/Walk on Air Films’ BBC2 series Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (best documentary series); Erica Starling Productions C4 doc Lyra (best single documentary); Love Productions format The Piano (best original programme); BBC Studios’ BBC2 doc Inside our Autistic Minds (best specialist factual); Twofour's BBC3 dating show I Kissed a Boy (best multichannel programme): and Hardcash Productions’ Dispatches investigation Russell Brand: In Plain Sight (best current affairs programme).
For a full list of winners, click here
