Sky receives a record number of nominations at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2021

Sky has received a record-breaking 13 nominations at the 2021 Royal Television Society Programme Awards, across all key programme genres, beating its previous best of eight nominations in 2020 and 2019.

The nominations, which were announced this morning, are:

• Male actor: Lennie James for Save Me Too. James, who also serves as writer and creator of the action-packed Sky Original drama, stars as Nelson “Nelly” Rowe, who tirelessly tries to find his missing daughter Jody.

• Drama Series: Save Me Too. The critically acclaimed Sky Original drama series follows Nelly’s desperate quest to find his daughter Jody with potentially terrible consequences.

• Drama Series: I Hate Suzie. Starring Bafta® nominee Billie Piper, the bracing, Sky Original series follows Suzie Pickles who has her life upended when she is hacked and pictures of her emerge in an extremely compromising position.

• Writer – Drama: Lucy Prebble for I Hate Suzie. Emmy® winner Lucy Prebble (Succession, Enron) wrote and co-created the critically acclaimed Sky Original series about the moment in life when the mask slips, asking if any of us can survive being well and truly ‘known’.

• Children’s Programme: FYI Investigates - Brazil: Children Caught in the Crossfire. The team meet Brazilian children who risk their lives to go to school. This investigative piece also looks into the growing issue of poor mental health among young people.

• Entertainment Performance: Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan for Rob & Romesh Vs. Comedians and best friends Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan embark into the unknown whilst getting to know their celeb icons and sporting idols in a whole new way.

• Live Event: ENO’s Drive & Live: La Bohème. Puccini’s tragic masterpiece was captured by Sky Arts and partners English National Opera, during a live socially-distanced drive-through event at London’s Alexandra Palace.

• Live Event: The Third Day: Autumn. Created by Dennis Kelly and Felix Barrett, and produced by Sky Studios in association with Plan B, Autumn captured over 10 hours of a single day in real time. Broadcast in one continuous take, this cinematic TV live event invited viewers deeper into the mysterious and suspenseful world of the Sky Original drama The Third Day. It blurred the lines between what’s real and what’s not and was directed by founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, Felix Barrett and The Third Day ‘Summer’ director Marc Munden. The Third Day is the first original drama to be produced in house by Sky Studios, Sky’s new Europe wide production arm, in partnership with Plan B Entertainment, the world-renowned immersive theatre company Punchdrunk and writer Dennis Kelly.

• RTS Channel of the Year: Sky Arts. With the creative industries under serious threat, Sky Arts threw open its doors to become free for everyone in 2020, redoubling its mission to increase access to the arts and committing to get everyone involved as the industry recovers.

• Scripted Comedy: Brassic. Sky’s biggest original scripted comedy, starring Michelle Keegan, Joe Gilgun, Damien Molony as they are driven to a life of petty crime.

• Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit: Michael Holding - England v West Indies. During England’s first Test against the West Indies, legendary West Indies fast-bowler – and Sky Sports Cricket pundit – Michael Holding gave a powerful and personal live testimony of his experiences of racism and the need for education to end institutionalised racism.

• Sports Programme: England v West Indies 1st Test - Black Lives Matter. Michael Holding's powerful testimony combined with the words of Ebony Rainford-Brent – the first black woman to play for England – saw the Sky Sports Cricket pundits call for an end to institutionalised racism through meaningful change in society.

• Sports Programme: The Open for the Ages. With The Open cancelled due to the pandemic, an innovative project – resulting in a three hour broadcast, on the day The 149th Open was originally scheduled to conclude – gave golf fans the chance to witness the greatest players from the last 50 years compete for the Claret Jug.

The winners will be announced during a live-streamed awards ceremony on Tuesday March 16 at 6.30pm via The Royal Television Society.

For more information please contact:
Charlotte Mitchell (Senior PR Manager, Sky): charlotte.mitchell2@sky.uk.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place, easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes the arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice.