Broadcast Digital Awards 2026 shortlist unveiled

Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, The Investigation of Lucy Letby, Celebs Go Dating and The Dyers’ Caravan Park are among the high-profile shows nominated at the 2026 Broadcast Digital Awards.

The full shortlist for the ceremony, which takes place on 1 July 2026 at The Brewery in London, has been revealed (see below) with the best popular factual category seeing Apple TV’s docuseries Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars go head-to-head with Sky reality format The Dyers’ Caravan Park.

Also vying for the gong are BBC3 returner Glow Up: Britain’s Best Make-Up Star, More4 archaeology format Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders, U&Dave comedic format Will and Ralf Should Know Better, Sky history series Witches of Essex and U&W’s Pete Wicks: For Dog’s Sake – the first series of which won the category last year.

Apple TV drama Down Cemetery Road will battle it out for the best drama programme gong, against stablemates Hijack, Slow Horses and The Buccaneers. BBC3’s What It Feels Like for a Girl and U&Alibi’s Bookish round out the category.

Dating dominates the best entertainment category with long-running E4 format Celebs Go Dating up against peers Netflix’s Love is Blind UK, LumoTV’s Hold My Hand, BBC’s I Kissed A Boy and ITV2 competitive format Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends. The final series of Sky’s A League of Their Own completes the category.

Every show nominated in best comedy programme belongs to the BBC. They are Dinosaur, Dreaming Whilst Black, Juice, Man Like Mobeen, Such Brave Girls and Things You Should Have Done.

The best true crime programme comprises Netflix’s The Investigation of Lucy Letby alongside Netflix sibling Love Con Revenge, Convicting My Ex (BBC), Death of a Showjumper (Sky), Murder Case – The Vanishing Cyclist (BBC Scotland), Nicholas Rossi: Predator on Trial (Prime Video) and The Killing Call (BBC World Service).

The BBC dominates the coveted channel of the year nominations, which will be contested by BBC4, BBC3, CBBC, Channel 4.0, History Hit and U&Drama.

After Party Studios, Firecrest Films, FirstLook Studios, JustSo, Yeti Television and Zandland will compete for the Multichannel production company of the year title.

The ceremony will take place on Wednesday 1 July 2026 at The Brewery, London. Sponsors include tanooki and ABBAS Media Law. Tables are now available to book, for table enquiries, please contact shane.murphy@mbi.london; all table packages are listed here. 

Digital Awards Shortlist 2026

Best Comedy Programme

• Dinosaur, Two Brothers Pictures for BBC
• Dreaming Whilst Black, Big Deal Films & A24 for BBC
• Juice, Various Artists Limited for BBC
• Man Like Mobeen, Tiger Aspect & Dice Roll Productions for BBC
• Such Brave Girls, Various Artists Limited for BBC
• Things You Should Have Done, Roughcut TV for BBC

Best Content Partnership or AFP

• Call Yourself A Fan?, Buzz 16 for YouTube
• Dance Passion Bradford, Northern Town for BBC
• Jeremy Pang’s Hong Kong Kitchen, Electric Robin for ITVX
• Love Is In The Blood, Channel 4 & Word On The Curb for Channel 4.0
• The Great British Phone Switch, Electric Robin for Channel 4
• The Masked Singer: The Magic of Early Years, Bandicoot Scotland for ITVX & YouTube

Best Current Affairs Programme

• Behind Bars: Sex, Bribes & Murder, Forest for BBC
• Blood Parliament, BBC Africa Eye & BBC World Service for BBC
• Exposed: China’s Spycam Porn, BBC Eye Investigations for BBC
• Fake Friend: The Ticket Scammer, Spun Gold TV & Method in Motion for BBC iPlayer
• Hunting My Sextortion Scammer, Full Fat Television for Channel 4 YouTube
• UK Prisons Exposed - Sex, Drugs & Corruption, Dare Pictures for 4Documentaries YouTube & Channel 4 Streaming

Best Digital Children’s Content

• Bluey Tunes, BBC Studios Digital Brands & A+C Studios for Bluey YouTube
• Horrible Science, Lion Television for BBC
• I Spy, You Spy, Tiny House Productions & Nest Productions for CBeebies & BBC iPlayer
• Spy Kids Investigates: World. War. Me, Fresh Start Media for Sky News
• Solve the Story, Brickwall & BBC for BBC
• The Dumping Ground, BBC Studios Kids & Family for BBC

Best Digital Support for a Programme

• Death in Dubai, BBC Eye Investigations & Thread Studios for BBC
• Hollyoaks, Lime Pictures for E4 & 4Studio
• Scam Interceptors, BBC Studios for BBC
• Taskmaster, Avalon Television for Channel 4
• The Celebrity Traitors Digital Support Campaign, BBC TV Social for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook & BBC
• The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe for Cartoon Network (UK)

Best Digital Support for a Strand, Channel or Genre

• BBC Bookworm, Little Dot Studios for Books and Reading
• BBC Wonder Chase on Roblox (2.0), Mobile Pie for BBC
• Channel 4, 4Studio for Channel 4
• Scam Safe Week, BBC Scam Safe Week for BBC
• Sky News Digital Team, Sky News for Sky News
• Time Team: Digital Archaeology Community,Time Team Digital for Time Team Official YouTube & Digital Platforms

Best Documentary Programme

• Becoming Victoria Wood, Rogan Scotland, Phil McIntyre & Dartmouth Films for U&Gold
• Darcus Beese: In His Own Words, Fan Studios, WPP Media Motion Entertainment for 5 Streaming
• Death in Dubal, BBC Eye Investigations & Thread Studios for BBC
• Flintoff, South Shore for Disney+
• P Diddy: The Rise and Fall, Proper Content for BBC
• The Eubanks: Like Father, Like Son, Workerbee for BBC

Best Documentary Series

• Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth, Curious Films for Disney+
• Human, Zandland for Zandland
• Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, Navybee for Prime Video
• Molly-Mae: Behind It All, Navybee for Prime Video
• Murder Case - The Vanishing Cyclist, Firecrest Films for BBC
• Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, Firecracker Films for U&W
• Uncovered, Zandland, Tern, Bushido Films, Recorded Time & Postcard Productions for Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube

Best Drama Programme

• Bookish, Eagle Eye Drama in association with Happy Duck Films for U&Alibi
• Down Cemetery Road, 60Forty Films for Apple TV
• Hijack, 60Forty Films & Idiotlamp Productions for Apple TV
• Slow Horses See-Saw Films for Apple TV
• The Buccaneers, The Forge Entertainment for Apple TV
• What It Feels Like for a Girl, Hera Pictures for BBC

Best Entertainment Channel

• BBC3
• Channel 4.0
• U&Drama

Best Entertainment Programme

• A League of Their Own, CPL Productions for Sky Max
• Celebs Go Dating, Objective Entertainment (Part of Objective Media Group) for E4
• Hold My Hand, Gold Wala for LumoTV
• I Kissed a Boy, Twofour for BBC
• Love is Blind UK, CPL Productions for Netflix
• Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends, Optomen Television for ITV2 & ITVX

Best Factual Channel

• BBC4
• History Hit
• Zandland YouTube Channel

Best Popular Factual Programme

• Glow Up: Britain’s Best Make-Up Star, Wall to Wall Media for BBC
• Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, Studio Ramsay Global for Apple TV
• Pete Wicks: For Dog’s Sake, BBC Studios Entertainment for U&W
• Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders, Salamanda Media for More4
• The Dyers’ Caravan Park, Expectation for Sky 1
• Will and Ralf Should Know Better, Afro-Mic Productions for U&Dave
• Witches of Essex, Mindhouse in partnership with Motion Content Group for Sky History

Best Short-Form Documentary

• Battle for Bangladesh, BBC Eye Investigations for BBC
• Big Cats Unleashed, BBC Studios - Natural History Unit for PBS Nature
• Gurning To Win, Peninsula Films for GetPulped YouTube & Pulped.com
• I Exposed the UK’s Rental Scam Industry, POSTCARD for Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube
• Phone Snatching Exposed, Bushido Films for Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube
• Unmasking China’s Cryptoqueen, BBC for BBC

Best Short-Form Format (sponsored by tanooki)

• Don’t Get Catfished, After Party Studios & Bakers Dozen Studios for Channel 4.0
• Find the…, After Party Studios for Channel 4.0
• First Landings, Air TV for YouTube
• Get My Bike Back, Rare TV for Crime+Investigation (YouTube, Facebook & Streaming)
• Spectrum Ink: Getting A Tattoo with Tourette’s, Awkward Studios for YouTube
• The Rebound, Little Dot Studios for BBC

Best Short-Form Scripted (sponsored by ABBAS Media Law)

• Donkey, Mighty Pebble Pictures & The Story Collective for BBC
• I’m Glad I Know That Now Thank You, Blink Industries for YouTube
• Long Story Short, Triongl, Candle and Bell, The Fold, Joi Productions, Barry Crerar, Out of Orbit & Indefinite Films for BBC
• Rocket Fuel, Fully Focused Productions & Slick Films for BBC iPlayer
• Tell Me When you’re Bored, Calling The Shots Films for Channel 4 YouTube
• Yr Alwad, Mojo TV for S4C

Best Specialist Channel

• A Comedy Thing
• CBBC
• Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube
• ITV Quiz
• LumoTV
• Time Team

Best Specialist Factual Programme

• Great British Castle Rescue, FirstLook TV for Sky History
• How One Company Secretly Poisoned The Planet, Electrify Video Partners for Veritasium YouTube
• Pole to Pole with Will Smith, Nutopia for Disney+
• The Wild Ones, Offspring Films for Apple TV
• Underdogs, Wildstar Films (A Fremantle company, in partnership with Maximum Effort) for National Geographic
• Witches of Essex, Mindhouse Productions & Motion Entertainment (A WPP Media Company) for Sky History

Best Sports or Live Event Coverage

• Anoushka Shankar at the Proms, Livewire Pictures for BBC
• Burns 2026, BBC Scotland Productions for BBC
• Cheltenham: Countryside Day, ITV Sport for ITV4
• Tour Championship 2025, ITV Sport for ITV4 & ITVX
• Tour De France, ITV Sport for ITV4 & YouTube

Best True Crime Programme

• Convicting My Ex, Story Films for BBC
• Death of a Showjumper, Walk on Air Films & Sky Studios for Sky
• Love Con Revenge, Twenty Twenty Productions for Netflix
• Murder Case - The Vanishing Cyclist, Firecrest Films for BBC
• Nicholas Rossi: Predator on Trial, Firecrest Films for Prime Video UK & Ireland
• The Investigation of Lucy Letby, ITN Productions for Netflix
• The Killing Call, BBC World Service for BBC

Channel of the Year

• BBC4
• BBC3
• CBBC
• Channel 4.0
• History Hit
• U&Drama

Multichannel Production Company of the Year

• After Party Studios
• Firecrest Films
• FirstLook Studios
• JustSo
• Yeti Television
• Zandland