Rose d'Or 2012 comedy winners announced

Thursday 10th May 2012 @ 5:37pm by Aaron

Friday Night Dinner. Image shows from L to R: Jackie (Tamsin Greig), Adam (Simon Bird), Martin (Paul Ritter), Jonny (Tom Rosenthal). Image credit: Popper Pictures. Winners of the prestigious Rose d'Or television awards for 2012 have been announced, with British comedy picking up many top prizes.

The festival that gives the awards its name was established in 1961 and is now held in Lucerne, Switzerland, after moving from Montreux. Previous highly celebrated winners of awards include The Frost Report, Mr. Bean, Marty Feldman's Comedy Machine and Green Wing.

Prior to 2003, only one prize - the Golden Rose - was awarded each year, but since the competition has been split into multiple categories. Programmes are nominated by the broadcasters and production companies, and judged by a panel of television professionals drawn from more than 40 participating countries.

This year's British comedy winners are as follows:

Children

Horrible Histories. Image shows from L to R: Martha Howe-Douglas, Ben Willbond, Mathew Baynton. Image credit: Lion Television. Horrible Histories, the factually accurate historical sketch show for CBBC.

Nominees: The Gruffalo's Child (also BBC), and How to Survive...? from the Netherlands.

Sitcom

Friday Night Dinner. Image shows from L to R: Jackie (Tamsin Greig), Adam (Simon Bird), Martin (Paul Ritter), Jonny (Tom Rosenthal). Image credit: Popper Pictures. Robert Popper's Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner.

Nominees: Israel's Tall And Greenbaum and Life's Too Short.

Comedy

Black Mirror. Image shows from L to R: Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear), Princess Susannah (Lydia Wilson). Image credit: Zeppotron. Black Mirror: The National Anthem by Charlie Brooker.

Nominees: Shelter from Belgium and Israel's The Saddest Sketch Show In The World.

Channel 4 said of their three wins, including the Game Show award for Million Pound Drop Live: "Would a rose smell as sweet by any other name? Who cares - these roses smell like... like victory. As a result, everyone's coming up roses at Channel 4 (well, we are very excited...)

"Especially as these awards make Channel 4 the awards' most successful broadcaster globally. That's GLOBALLY. On the whole of planet earth. And (we think we're safe in saying) galactically. Possibly even universally. Take that, RCTI of Indonesia! In your face, Bhutan Broadcasting Service! We rock!"

The BBC had previously pushed Life's Too Short's nomination in the sitcom category as a mark of show's success, following a critical and audience failure that saw ratings plummet from 2.39 million to less than a million viewers during its run.

No other British comedies were shortlisted for the awards. A full list of nominees is available on the Rose d'Or website