Netflix comedy duo, ITV insurrection doc among big winners at Rose d’Or Awards

Bo Burnham: Inside received widespread critical acclaim

Global streaming giant Netflix completed a comedy double at the 60th annual Rose d’Or Awards tonight, while UK commercial broadcaster ITV won three prizes for unscripted.

Netflix’s musical special Bo Burnham: Inside was named Best Comedy, while France Télévisions and Netflix’s series Call My Agent, made by Mon Voisin Productions and Mother Productions, won in the Best Comedy Drama and Sitcom category.

ITV, which is usually better known for dramas and shiny-floor formats, won the News and Current Affairs prize, and the prestigious Golden Rose, for its fast-turnaround documentary Storming the Capitol: The Inside Story, about the January 6 insurrection in the US. The film was made by ITN Productions and was the only crew to film inside the Capitol on the day of the attacks.

It also took the Reality and Factual Entertainment award for Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace, produced by Wall to Wall Media.

Other winners included Channel 4’s Help (Best Drama), Apple TV+ and the BBC’s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Documentary) and BBC Studios format Strictly Come Dancing (Studio Entertainment).

First held in 1961, the Rose d’Or Awards were this year a hybrid affair, with the digital ceremony streamed at Kings Place as Content London gets underway in the UK capital. The awards are organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in association with C21.

Rose d’Or Awards chairman Mark Rowland said: “It’s been an incredibly strong year, from the breadth of concepts and stories to the great on-screen performances and the production skill we’ve seen, across all genres. Given the many challenges the pandemic has thrown at TV production, this is an extraordinary achievement.”

EBU deputy director general Jean Philip De Tender added: “These awards, always impressive, have surpassed themselves this year. A record number of entries, a top-quality and diverse shortlist, and worthy winners.

“To pull this off in any year is a great achievement; to do this when we are still dealing with the restrictions of a pandemic is phenomenal. I’m proud to be part of this industry and to work with the Rose d’Or team, who consistently show how important it is to recognise the talents that create wonderful content and tell great stories, both in front and behind the camera, at a time when TV has never been more central to our lives.”