‘A powerhouse of a series’
Judges called What It Feels Like for a Girl an “important and entertaining piece of public service television”, “a powerhouse of a series” and a “stand out show on every level”.
The BBC drama is adapted from Paris Lee’s memoir and follows Byron, a teenager in a working-class Nottinghamshire town, who escapes into the city’s early-2000s club scene and finds community with the flamboyant Fallen Divas. This purpose-driven coming-of-age story offers a “refreshingly upbeat working-class point-of-view”, an authentically drawn cast of characters and proper, genuine stakes.
The series is a major landmark for British television – the first time a trans writer has been able to tell her own story on screen – and has met with a huge critical reception and a warm reaction from the British queer community, who relished in this moment of unapologetic, complicated and joyful representation of the trans experience. In a period of time where trans people are being increasingly vilified and marginalised, this is no small feat, and judges praised how writer Paris Lees approached a “tough subject with heart”.
And to top it off, the “revelatory central performance” by Ellis Howard was the actor’s first major on-screen role – chosen for his authenticity and genuine roots in the community he was portraying.
Shortlisted
Bookish
Eagle Eye Drama in association with Happy Duck Films for U&Alibi
A passion project from Mark Gatiss, Bookish takes cosy crime to post-war Britain where bookshop-proprietor Gabriel Book uses his vast book collection to sleuth, all while secreting his homosexuality behind a lavender marriage at great personal risk. Judges called it a “self-assured twist on a popular genre” and complemented its strong visuals.
Down Cemetery Road
60Forty Films for Apple TV
With this commission, Apple TV brought another Mick Herron tale to the screen, this time with Ruth Wilson and Emma Thompson at the helm. When a house explodes in an Oxford suburb and a girl disappears, neighbour Sarah Trafford enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm to help find her.
Hijack
60Forty Films & Idiotlamp Productions for Apple TV
Series two of Hijack transports Idris Elba from an aircraft to the tunnels of Berlin in a tense, bingeable, action-packed adventure that sees cinema-grade production meet high-stakes storytelling. Judges praised the production values, sustained tension and intrigue as Elba fights tooth and nail to prevent tragedy on Berlin’s U-Bahn system.
Slow Horses
See-Saw Films for Apple TV
The fifth series of Apple TV’s word-of-mouth hit based on the books of Mick Herron about a team of washed-up spies consigned to an out-of-the-way MI5 unit. This series opens with a mass shooting hitting London, and mayoral candidates scrambling to garner backing from the public over their responses to the crisis.
The Buccaneers
The Forge Entertainment for Apple TV
Big costumes, big feelings and big budgets describe this series. The Buccaneers sees Nan St George and her best friends navigate the tightly corseted London season of the 1880s with a distinctly modern sensibility. This is the opposite of a stiff and serious period drama.
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