Gongs, too, for Juice, Extraordinary, Big Boys and more

Black Ops stars Hammed Animashaun and Gbemisola Ikumelo both scooped gongs at the Royal Television Society Awards last night.

They won the male and female comedy performance awards respectively for their role in the BBC comedy about two hapless special constables who find themselves in over their heads when they go undercover in a drugs gang.

Judges praised Animashaun for his ‘joyous and skilful’ performance, and said of  Ikumelo: ‘The range, warmth and timing showed off a pure comic talent.’

However the show was beaten to the best scripted comedy show by Disney+’s Extraordinary, starring Máiréad Tyers and Luke Rollason. Judges called it ‘confident in tone and heavy on the funny – a thrilling piece of work’.

Kat Sadler’s Such Brave Girls had also been nominated in the same category.

The RTS also has an award for comedy-drama – though the distinction between the two categories appears fuzzy – with Mawaan Rizwan’s Juice triumphing over Big Boys and There She Goes.

The winning programme, said the judges, ‘felt unique and very original, packed with both innovation and imagination’.

However Big Boys creator Jack Rooke did not go home empty-handed, scooping the comedy writing award ahead of Bridget Christie for The Change and the team behind Black Ops.

Judges described Big Boys as ‘comedically daring and life-affirming in its warmth’.

Rob & Romesh Vs – ‘highly entertaining, brilliantly funny – and produced with real care from start to finish’ – won the comedy entertainment category over fellow  nominees Taskmaster  and The Graham Norton Show

But the stars lost out in the entertainment performance category to  Hannah Waddingham, for her ‘witty, warm [and] funny’ work on the Eurovision Song Contest. Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond had also been nominated for the The Great British Bake Off.

And Chris Packham squeezed out fellow nominee Rhod Gilbert in the best presenter character, with the wildlife expert winning for his programme Inside Our Autistic Minds..

Published: 27 Mar 2024