Winners Announced For RTS Yorkshire Centre Programme Awards 2017

The Royal Television Society (RTS) Yorkshire Centre celebrated excellence in production across the region on Friday 7 July, as it announced the winners for its annual Programme Awards with a ceremony hosted by Lorraine Heggessey at The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Actor John Middleton, who played Ashley Thomas in ITV's continuing drama Emmerdale for 20 years, was honoured with two awards. He collected the coveted Actor gong (sponsored by York St John University) for the heart-breaking, powerful and dignified performance he gave as his character in the soap dealt with the devastating effects of dementia. He was also one of two awarded with the RTS Yorkshire Outstanding Contribution Award. The second RTS Yorkshire Outstanding Contribution Award went to Carol McKenzie from True North Productions for being an essential part of the Yorkshire television landscape. Emmerdale also won in the Writer category with Maxine Alderton taking home the prize.

Paul Whittington fought off stiff competition to collect 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.

ITV Yorkshire's regional news and current affairs programme Calendar won three prizes. Jo Cox Murder picked-up the News or Current Affairs Story award; the Hillsborough Inquest Verdict secured the win in the News Programme category and Duncan Wood took home the Presenter gong. The News or Current Affairs Reporter title went to Made Television reporter Mark Kielesz-Levine; while Joe Foley from Air Television was named the One to Watch.


The Drama award, which is sponsored by The Northern Film School at Leeds Beckett University, went to four-part Channel 4 drama National Treasure (The Forge); while the Independent Spirit prize, sponsored by Channel 4 Nations & Regions, 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, without which the work of the industry would not be seen in the Yorkshire region.


In Factual, Hillsborough (VeryMuchSo Productions for BBC Two) won the Single Documentary award; The Last Miners (Keo Films for BBC One) triumphed in the Documentary Series category; Our Dancing Town (Twenty Twenty Television for BBC Two) secured the win in the Factual Entertainment & Features category and Helicopter ER (Air Television for UKTV - Really) took home the Low Cost Factual prize. In the Professional Excellence categories the post production team for Flying Scotsman from the Footplate (Roger Keech Productions for BBC Four) secured the Professional Excellence: Factual Post Production award and The Lie Detective (True North Productions for Channel 4) collected the Professional Excellence: Factual Production gong, which is sponsored by Individual Restaurants.

Other awards handed out on the night include: Basketball Champions League - opening titles (WORKS) which collected the award for Animation and ink films' Über Agency: BAFTA Film Awards trailer 2017 which picked-up the Promotion or Commercial Production award. The Second Screen Award went to Joi Polloi for ‘What's My Real Age' interactive test.

The full list of winners can be found here.