Winner
Channel 4
Its future may be in turmoil - will there be a tie up with Five or a deal with BBC Worldwide? But despite worries about the long term, Channel 4 still had many notable high points on screen during 2008. Dead Set, The Devil’s Whore, The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall, Shameless and Skins in drama; comedy shows like Star Stories, Peep Show, The IT Crowd and Eight Out of Ten Cats; factual entertainment bankers like Come Dine With Me and The Secret Millionaire and a host of top docs including A Boy Called Alex, My Street, The Family and The Ascent of Money. Channel 4’s chief executive is Andy Duncan and director of television is Kevin Lygo. Head of programmes is Julian Bellamy.
2nd
BBC2
Despite repeatedly seeing some of its best performing shows unceremoniously nicked by BBC1, BBC2 still rolled out the hits in 2008. In factual, the channel’s heartland, Shine’s MasterChef came back for another great run, as did Top Gear and Dragons’ Den. There were stand out docs too in Morgan Mathews’ The Fallen, Bungalow Town’s All White in Barking, Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder and the wonderful Wonderland. Buzzcocks and Mock the Week went from strength to strength too.
3rd
Dave
It was a famously successful rebrand that turned a largely unwatched and unloved multichannel offering into the “home of witty banter.” Its output is, of course, largely reliant on repeats of BBC hits but its success, and its move on to the Freeview platform, has given Dave the confidence and the cash to start creating some of its own brands too. Its Argumental comedy panel show has been a hit, gadget show Batteries Not Included roped in John Cleese and a new Red Dwarf was commissioned for 2009 too.
