The Grierson Trust has announced the nominations for the 2021 British Documentary Awards, which see Sir David Attenborough and Katie Price nominated in the Best Single Documentary – Domestic category, for Silverback Films’ A Life on Our Planet and Minnow Films’ Harvey and Me.

The BBC has 23 nominations, dominating this year’s awards, which are held in association with All3Media and digital partners Little Dot Studios.

Netflix, with 10 nominations leads Channel 4 which has seven. Sky has three, ITV two and Apple TV+, PBS, HBO and S4C awarded one apiece. The remainder is made up of festival and university screenings alongside theatrical releases.

Lorraine Heggessey, Chair of The Grierson Trust says: “This highlights the significance and popularity of the documentary genre to both long standing channels and newer providers like the streamers.”

Films about racism and climate change are well represented, with Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me, Take Your Knee Off My Neck: My First Time and The School That Tried to End Racism shining the spotlight on racism and Sir David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet and Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline exploring the impact of climate change.

The newly created sports category sees nominations for Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me, Athlete A, Finding Jack Charlton and Gods of Snooker.

Meanwhile, in the new music category Gen X icon Billy Eilish’s film The World’s a Little Blurry competes for honours alongside films about rappers The Notorious B.I.G and Digga D and the late punk icon Poly Styrene.

The 56 shortlisted films and five presenters will now go forward to judging ahead of the 49th annual awards ceremony on 10th November.

In addition to the 15 categories, there will also be a new special award – the Grierson Hero of the Year Award – presented to an individual nominated by their industry peers and judged by the Trustees to have made a positive impact within the industry over the last 12 months.

 

The 2021 Full Shortlist:

Envy Best Single Documentary – Domestic

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

Jonnie Hughes, Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey & Colin Butfield

Silverback Films & WWF Production — Netflix

 

Defending Digga D

Marian Mohamed, Samuel R. Santana & Emma Wakefield

Lambent Productions — BBC Three

 

Katie Price: Harvey and Me

Hannah Lowes, Cath Boggan, Sophie Leonard & Tom Dixon-Spain

Minnow Films — BBC One

 

Locked In: Breaking the Silence

Xavier Alford, Colette Hodges, Sacha Mirzoeff, Poppy Goodheart, Iris Maor & Jane Zurakowski

Marble Films – BBC Four

 

 

Molinare Best Single Documentary – International

 

Collective: Unravelling a Scandal

Alexander Nanau, Bianca Oana, Bernard Michaux, Hanka Kastelicova & Antoaneta Opriș

Alexander Nanau Production – BBC Four

 

Father Soldier Son

Production team

A Netflix Original Documentary & A New York Times Production — Netflix

 

The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo (Las Tres Muertes de Marisela Escobedo)

Axel Padraza, Ricardo Pory, Sara Rafsky, Ivonne Gutirrez, Laura Woldnberg & Carlos Pérez Osorio

A Vice Studios Latin America & Scopio Production – Netflix

 

Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge

David France, Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov, Tyler H. Walk & Igor Myakotin

Public Square Films – BBC Four

 

Televisual Best Current Affairs Documentary

In Cold Blood

Marcus Plowright, Celia Watson, Diene Petterle, Nina Davies, Leigh Brzeski & Alex Parsons

Darlow Smithson Productions – ITV

 

Return From ISIS: A Family’s Story

Joshua Baker, Karen Wightman, Raney Aronson-Rath, Dan Edge, Leo Telling & Nuvine Ibrahim

Mongoose & BBC Panorama – BBC One

 

Undercover in the Schools that Chain Boys

Fath Al-Rahman Al-Hamdani, Jessica Kelly, Mamdouh Akbiek, Bettina Waked, Simon Cox & Mustafa Khalili

BBC News Arabic Documentaries – BBC Arabic

 

Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge

David France, Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov, Tyler H. Walk & Igor Myakotin

Public Square Films – BBC Four

 

Storm Best Arts Documentary

African Apocalypse

Rob Lemkin, Femi Nylander, Geoff Arbourne, David Upshal, Matt McConaghy & David Charap

Inside Out Films & Lemkino Pictures – BBC Two

 

Imagine… Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me

John O’Rourke, Tanya Hudson, Alan Yentob & Kirsty Breetzke

BBC Studios, The Documentary Unit – BBC One

 

Keith Haring: Street Art Boy

Ben Anthony, Janet Lee, Alice Rhodes & Paul Van Dyck

BBC Studios, The Documentary Unit – BBC Two

 

The Painter and the Thief

Benjamin Ree & Ingvil Giske

Sky Arts

 

 

Sky Documentaries Best Music Documentary

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

Production team

A Netflix Original Documentary — Netflix

 

Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry

R.J. Cutler, Trevor Smith, Michelle An, Chelsea Dodson & Anthony Seyler

Apple, Interscope Films, The Darkroom, This Machine & Lighthouse Management & Media – Apple TV+

 

Defending Digga D

Marian Mohamed, Samuel R. Santana & Emma Wakefield

Lambent Productions — BBC Three

 

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Daria Nitsche, Celeste Bell, Paul Sng, Zoe Howe & Xanna Ward Dixon

A Sky Original Documentary in association with Tyke Films & Poly Doc Films – Sky Arts

 

 

Best Sports Documentary

Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me

Sian Guerra, Agata Krasicka, Jeremy Lee, Wendie Ottewill, James Ross & Wesley Thomas

New Era Television & Wonder Television – BBC One

 

 

Athlete A

Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, Serin Marshall, Jennifer Sey, Julie Parker Benello & Don Bernier

A Netflix Original Documentary in association with Impact Partners, Artemis Rising Foundation, Meadow Fund, Dobkin Family Foundation, Chicago Media Project, Grant Me the Wisdom Productions & An Actual Films Production – Netflix

 

 

Finding Jack Charlton

Gabriel Clarke & Pete Thomas

Noah Media Group in association with BBC & Virgin Media Television – BBC Two

 

 

Gods of Snooker – Episode 1

Production team

Mindhouse — BBC Two

 

 

Channel 5 Best History Documentary

Damilola: The Boy Next Door

Yinka Bokinni, Nelson Adeosun, Evie Buckley, Jonathan Smith, Jaimie D’Cruz & Ashley Francis-Roy

Acme Films – Channel 4

 

DeLorean: Back from the Future

Jon-Barrie Waddell, Jonathan Smith, Mike Connolly, Sian McIlwaine & Jake Martin

A Fired Up Films Production for the BBC in association with Netflix, Pennebaker Hegedus Films, Northern Ireland Screen & eOne – BBC Two

 

Once Upon a Time in Iraq – Episode 2

James Bluemel, Jo Abel, Miriam Walsh, Simon Sykes, Will Anderson & Andrew Palmer

KEO Films – BBC Two

 

Silenced: The Hidden Story of Disabled Britain

Kate Scholefield, Caroline Sciama, Diane Bernhardt, Alistair Pegg, Cerrie Burnell & Regie Gardener

Blast! Films – BBC Two

 

The Open University Best Science Documentary

The Last Artifact

Ed Watkins, Jaime Jacobsen, Stefanie Watkins, Ben King, Rick Smith & Aaron Pruitt

Montana PBS & Montana State University – PBS International

 

Locked In: Breaking the Silence

Xavier Alford, Colette Hodges, Sacha Mirzoeff, Poppy Goodheart, Iris Maor & Jane Zurakowski

Marble Films – BBC Four

 

Sudden Death: My Sister’s Silent Killer

Samantha Richards, Stuart Prebble, Danielle Graham, Aodh Breathnach, James Gold & Lindsay Konieczny

Storyvault Films – BBC One

 

The Surgeon’s Cut – Episode 1

Production team

BBC Studios — Netflix

 

Discovery Best Natural History or Environmental Documentary

Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline – Episode 1

Olly Bootle, Mike Radford, Chris Brainwood, Rowan Ings, Seamas McCracken & Phil Kingwell

BBC TV Current Affairs – BBC Two

 

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

Jonnie Hughes, Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey & Colin Butfield

Silverback Films & WWF Production — Netflix

 

Extinction: The Facts

Serena Davies, Helen Thomas, Stephen Moore, Charlotte Lathane & Sir David Attenborough

BBC Studios, The Science Unit – BBC One

 

My Octopus Teacher

Pippa Ehrlich, Ellen Windemuth, Swati Thiyagarajan, Craig Foster, James Reed & Sam Barton-Humphries

A Netflix Original Documentary in association with Off the Fence & The Sea Change Project – Netflix

 

YouTube Originals Best Entertaining Documentary

Bank Job

Daniel Edelstyn, Hilary Powell, Christopher Hird, Alice Powell & Lisa Marie Russo

Optimistic & Dartmouth Films – Theatrical release

 

DRYCH: Chwaer Fach Chwaer Fawr

Nia Dryhurst, Gethin Scourfield, Stephen Kingston, Emyr Llewelyn Jones & Lindsay Walker

DOGMA – S4C

 

The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea

Mads Brügger, Bjarte Mørner Tveit & Peter Engel

Piraya Film I AS – BBC Four

 

Undercover OAP: The Mole Agent

Maite Alberdi, Marcela Santibañez, Julie Goldman, Chris Clements, Carolina Siraqyan & Pablo Valdés

Micromundo Producciones, Motto Pictures, Sutor Kolonko, Volya Films & Malvalanda – BBC Four

 

Netflix Best Documentary Series

Allen v. Farrow

Amy Ziering, Kirby Dick, Amy Herdy, Jamie Rogers, Dan Cogan & Tara Lynda Guber

HBO Documentary Films presents in association with Impact Partners and Chicago Media Project, A Jane Doe Films Production – Sky Documentaries

 

Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles

Katharine Patrick, Samantha Anstiss, Joy Ash, Adam Robinson & Simon Mason

Wonderhood — Channel 4

 

Immigration Nation

Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Álvaro Guzmán Bastida, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg & Andrey Alistratov

Reel Peak Films – Netflix

 

Once Upon a Time in Iraq

James Bluemel, Jo Abel, Miriam Walsh, Simon Sykes, Will Anderson & Andrew Palmer

KEO Films — BBC Two

 

Channel 4 Best Constructed Documentary Series      

The Choir: Singing for Britain

Production team

Twenty Twenty Productions — BBC Two

 

 

The Dog House

Anna Llewellyn, Nick Mirsky, Victoria Bell, Claire Parry, Catherine Miller & Tom Parr

Five Mile Films – Channel 4

 

 

Grayson’s Art Club

Production team

Swan Films — Channel 4

 

 

The School That Tried to End Racism

Production team

Proper Content — Channel 4

 

 

The Rumi Foundation Best Documentary Short

Disciples

Jess Kohl, Bec Evans, Sherlene Ding, Adric Watson, Andrew Cross & Hadi Azmir

Dazed Digital

 

A Love Song for Latasha

Sophia Nahli Allison, Fam Udeorji & Janice Duncan

A Netflix Original Documentary – Netflix

 

Mother

Kate Stonehill, Jas Pitt, Sorcha Bacon & Lua Guerreiro

Try Hard Films – London Film Festival

 

Take Your Knee Off My Neck: My First Time

Liana Stewart, Lucy Pilkington, Shianne Brown & Dan Jarman

Milk and Honey Productions – Channel 4

All3Media Best Student Documentary

The Scarecrows

Dan Hodgson, Julia Alcamo, Hiromi Tanoue, Mariana Torii, Chiara Armentano & Rebeca Alvaro

Arts University Bournemouth

 

Tease

Jessica Brady, Danielle Goff, Lesley Posso, Henry Sims, Alastair Mcnamara & Fabiana Tesauro

National Film and Television School

 

Tough Love

Billy Morley, Deen Hussein, Sorin Baluta, Linus Sandelands, Felicia Stalhammar & Filip Arnqvist Eiritz

University of Westminster

 

You Girls Need to Grow Up

Sohee Kim

University College London

 

Best Documentary presenter

Alison Hammond for Alison Hammond: Back to School

ITV Studios, Daytime – ITV

 

DR CHRIS AND DR XAND VAN TULLEKEN for Surviving the Virus: My Brother & Me

Little Gem — BBC One

 

ROMAN KEMP for Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency

Twofour — BBC Three

 

YINKA BOKINNI for Damilola: The Boy Next Door

Acme Films — Channel 4

 

 

 

 

 

Jon Creamer

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