British Comedy Awards 2013 - Predicted Winners
Thursday night update. The winners have been announced. 5 out of 10 guessed right. B grade?
In advance of The British Comedy Awards, we always like to try to guess who is going to win. However, truth be told, we rarely get anything right. Thus, this year, we thought we'd try to utilise the hive mind of the internet and see if we can publish anything more accurate this time.
Over the last week we've asked comedy fans (via our website and social media accounts) to send us their predictions and comments about who they think will win (albeit perhaps that should be re-phrased as 'who they want to win'). We've analysed those responses, and come up with the predictions below...
Best Comedy Panel Show
8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown
Would I Lie To You? - Predicted Winner
Looks like WILTY? is the firm favourite in this category. Lee Mack and David Mitchell's winning chalk-and-cheese chemistry frequently makes for hilarious television and Rob Brydon holds things together with charm. The format is also impervious to dull guests thanks to the play-at-home fun of the question 'are they lying?'.
Relative newcomer 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown could be a dark horse though. Many said they enjoy how the two long-term shows have been brought together (good news: there'll be more episodes next year). A League Of Their Own was generally considered too sports-orientated by those who wrote in (although worth noting some said they'd not seen it because they've not got Sky), whilst - as the press has recently pointed out too - Have I Got News For You seems to be going through a dull patch.
Best Comedy Entertainment Programme
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
The Graham Norton Show - Predicted Winner
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is a bit of a surprise nomination, as most consider it to be more in the vein of general light entertainment than real comedy - although it is admittedly a funny show with two likeable hosts.
Alan Carr and Graham Norton's chat shows have never been more popular (some comments received were along the lines of Norton's Friday night show being 'unmissable' nowadays), but - all that said - could this be The Last Leg's category? The upbeat format, which sprung out of the Paralympic Games, has come straight out the starting blocks and picked up lots of fans, and the judges might recognise it for that.
Best Sketch Show
Horrible Histories - Predicted Winner
The general consensus has been that there's been a dearth of good sketch shows this decade, however this year's category is the strongest for some time. There were some very effusive comments about Sky Arts format Psychobitches in our inbox, however it was also notable that few respondees had seen it. If you are one of those people, do try and seek it out - we think it's brilliant.
Sketch veterans Harry & Paul have continued to please, whilst Kevin Eldon brought his own unique style to the genre this year with the highly authored It's Kevin. Horrible Histories looks set to take the category if our predication formula is calibrated right though. The CBBC show has won the category twice before, but now we all know there'll be no more series, the judges may well give the programme one last nod to recognise it for all its great achievements.
Best Sitcom
A tough category to call. We're going to have to wimp out on printing an outright prediction here, as there appears to be no consensus on who should win (or who is likely to win). Jack Whitehall's youth-skewed Bad Education has gone from strength-to-strength (breaking some records in the process); whilst Count Arthur Strong has proved popular with families.
Meanwhile Getting On, going somewhat under the mainstream radar, has produced some sublime scenes; and Peep Show continues to be highly-scripted quality comedy. (Can you believe the show is 10 years old now?)
We don't envy the judges on this one!
Best Male TV Comic
David Mitchell (for Would I Lie To You?)
James Corden (for A League Of Their Own)
Jon Richardson (for 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown)
Lee Mack (for Would I Lie To You?) - Predicted Winner
How do you pick between David Mitchell and Lee Mack? They're two of the most quick-witted comedians on television, as they regularly demonstrate on Would I Lie To You?. But it's apologies to David, as slightly more of our visitors named Mack as their preferred winner for this category.
We shouldn't forget the other two nominees though. Jon Richardson has yet to win a major award, but with consistently high-quality appearances on 8 Out Of 10 Cats he could well stand a good chance of picking up the title. James Corden, meanwhile, has seen his popularity graph go from hero to zero, but the line is definitely back on the climb. Will the Sky1 sporty panel show be enough to bag him this prize though? Probably not.
Best Female TV Comic
Miranda Hart (for Room 101)
Nina Conti (for Live At The Apollo)
Sarah Millican (for The Sarah Millican Television Programme) - Predicted Winner
Sue Perkins & Mel Giedroyc (for The Great British Bake Off)
A number of people responding to our request for comments said this category seemed 'weak', in so much as half of these nominations are for one-off guest roles rather than - as in the case of the male category - regular starring roles. We'll save the wider debate on this topic for another day...
Mel & Sue were praised by many in their emails, however there was a feeling that the judges won't have picked them as The Great British Bake Off isn't a comedy show itself. Sarah Millican looks set to take this prize again as, of the four, she is the one with a regular TV format to allow her talents to shine in - and shine she most certainly does.
Best Comedy Entertainment Personality
Adam Hills (for The Last Leg)
Alan Carr (for Alan Carr: Chatty Man)
Ant & Dec (for Saturday Night Takeaway)
Graham Norton (for The Graham Norton Show) - Predicted Winner
We reach the first category where everyone nominated we've already mentioned. In terms of a straight tally of responses, this looks set to be Graham Norton's night.
Norton has definitely had a great year with some very memorable guests - who can forget Mark Wahlberg's rather odd performance? The show does well on the internet too. In fact, it's just been revealed that the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air reunion clip was the 4th best trending video on YouTube UK this year, with 19m+ viewers.
Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist
Adam Hills (for The Last Leg) - Predicted Winner
Jonny Sweet (for Chickens)
Steve Delaney (for Count Arthur Strong)
Tom Basden (for Plebs)
This used to be the Best Newcomer category, but was sensibly re-named a few years ago as it was a bit embarrassing to brand some of those nominated as 'new' - they'd often been working hard on the comedy scene for a decade or more, but simply not achieved household-name status. It's still hard to work out how the judges will process the word 'breakthrough', as some of these nominees have been popular on our screens and airwaves for years...
If it's based on sheer uplift in popularity, it looks like this could be Adam Hills's category. Appearances on various shows, and his hosting job on The Last Leg, have seen him pick up legions of new fans over the last year. Don't discount Steve Delaney though. Count Arthur might have been on the radio since 2005 but the new TV sitcom has found the character a whole new fanbase.
Best TV Comedy Actor
David Mitchell (for Peep Show)
Greg Davies (for Cuckoo)
Jack Whitehall (for Fresh Meat) - Predicted Winner
Kevin Eldon (for It's Kevin)
Jack Whitehall comes out top of this category according to our poll. JP in Fresh Meat is a very popular character and - whilst at times he might be based on Whitehall's pre-existing stage persona - when we see the character at his most vulnerable we do get to witness Whitehall being a great actor. We know this came as a surprise to many people in the first series!
One reader pointed out that whilst David Mitchell can act (e.g. see Ambassadors), he is closest to his real persona in Peep Show so unlikely to win in that regard. Meanwhile Greg Davies is better in Man Down than Cuckoo...
Although he wasn't namechecked by many of our readers for this category, Kevin Eldon has appeared in supporting roles in many major comedy series over the last couple of decades, so will the judges use this nomination as a chance to recognise his body of work at last?
Best TV Comedy Actress
Jo Brand (for Getting On)
Miranda Hart (for Miranda)
Vicki Pepperdine (for Getting On) - Predicted Winner
Zawe Ashton (for Fresh Meat)
Vicki Pepperdine and Jo Brand are both superb in Getting On (shame not to see the equally brilliant Joanna Scanlan making the list too), and clearly lots of comedy fans would be happy for either of them to win. Vicki Pepperdine's notably different performance in Up The Women just tips the scales in her favour in our non-scientific poll.
One should never discount the nationwide favourite Miranda Hart's chances though, or perhaps it could be Zawe Ashton's night for her full-on and much-admired performance as Vod in Fresh Meat?
Four great performances - another tough one to pick!
To see how many of the above are right (some will definitely be wrong!), and to see who wins the special awards (including the Outstanding Achievement Award) tune into the British Comedy Awards 2013 with host Jonathan Ross. They're live on Channel 4 on Thursday 12th December from 9pm.
King Or Queen Of Comedy Award
Whilst the above categories are decided by an industry jury, there is one award you can influence the result of. Below are the six nominees for the King or Queen of Comedy Award. Nominee profiles
ALAN CARR
Mobile: 6 50 58 01
Landline: 09020 50 58 01
DAVID MITCHELL
Mobile: 6 50 58 02
Landline: 09020 50 58 02
GRAHAM NORTON
Mobile: 6 50 58 03
Landline: 09020 50 58 03
JACK WHITEHALL
Mobile: 6 50 58 04
Landline: 09020 50 58 04
LEE MACK
Mobile: 6 50 58 05
Landline: 09020 50 58 05
SARAH MILLICAN
Mobile: 6 50 58 06
Landline: 09020 50 58 06
Calls from mobiles and BT landlines cost just 35p (other landlines may vary). You may vote more than once. Full terms and conditions at channel4.com The results will be announced as part of the live ceremony on Thursday.