What a ‘Catastrophe’ – C4 comedy scoops awards
Catastrophe, the brutally honest Channel 4 comedy about unplanned parenthood, has won two top awards – and its co-writer Sharon Horgan is now set to repeat her success in Hollywood.
The story of a pregnancy resulting from a “six-night stand” between Horgan’s Irish primary school teacher and a US advertising executive played by comic Rob Delaney, Catastrophe won Best Comedy at the Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) awards, voted for by television and radio industry writers.
Horgan and Delaney, who created the series together, also won the BPG award for Best Writers. Horgan, 45, is now co-producing Divorce, an HBO sitcom starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a New York woman going through a bitter break-up.
Confirming her status as the queen of relationship comedy, the BBC announced that Horgan is co-writing a new sitcom, Motherland, about “navigating the trials and traumas of middle-class motherhood.”
Hackney-born Horgan, who fell pregnant six months into her relationship with advertising executive Jeremy Rainbird, said she mined her own experiences for the “unromantic comedy” Catastrophe.
The series pushed boundaries by throwing issues such as cervical dysplasia and foetal abnormalities into the comedic mix.
Boston- born Delaney, voted the “funniest person on Twitter”, has moved to Lon- don with his family following the success of Catastrophe, set to return for a third Channel 4 series. He accepted the awards on behalf of Horgan at the Theatre Royal ceremony in London.
Mark Rylance added a Best Actor honour to the Oscar he won last month. Rylance was recognised for his role as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, the BBC2 series which also won the award for Best Drama.
The BBC is poised to make a second series when author Hilary Mantel finishes The Mirror and The Light, the third novel in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy. Peter Kosminsky, Wolf Hall director, has been given a brief synopsis by Mantel and hopes to reunite Rylance and Damian Lewis, who played Henry VIII, on screen.
The BPG breakthrough award went to Aidan Turner for his roles in Poldark and And Then There Were None, both on BBC1.
Suranne Jones was best actress as Gemma Foster in Doctor Foster on BBC One.
Veteran broadcaster Sue MacGregor, 74, won Radio Programme of the Year for The Reunion. Mary Berry collected the award for best entertainment or factual entertainment show, The Great British Bake Off.
The Harvey Lee award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting went to John Lloyd, creator of comedy series including Not the Nine O’Clock News, Blackadder, Spitting Image and QI.
Comedy writer John Finnemore was named Radio Broadcaster of the Year for John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme.