Comedy.co.uk Awards 2015 results
Peter Kay's Car Share was the big winner of the Comedy.co.uk Award 2015. Other shows picked out via the tens of thousands of votes included Inside No. 9 and Peep Show.
Best New TV Sitcom: Car Share
It's said to be quite hard to launch a big sitcom straight to BBC One these days, and after a number of years in production Peter Kay's long-awaited return to sitcom side-stepped that in the spring by debuting on iPlayer shortly before appearing on TV, where it was enjoyed by millions, week-in, week-out.
Also proving hugely popular with our many voters were Catastrophe, The Kennedys and Boy Meets Girl.
Best Returning TV Sitcom: Peep Show
We should've put money on this one: the final, ninth series of Channel 4's cult hit Peep Show took its final crown as the Best Returning TV Sitcom of 2015. With many fans describing the final run as the best series for a number of years, the show bowed out triumphantly in December after six further episodes of antics from the depraved Croydon duo and their unlucky circle of acquaintances.
Toast Of London and Detectorists were also favourites in this very competitive category.
Best Radio Sitcom: John Finnemore's Double Acts
Writer and performer John Finnemore is now truly one of Radio 4's crown jewels. There were no new episodes of his multi award-winning sketch show Souvenir Programme in the past year, but he did deliver this new sitcom anthology format, featuring two characters in each episode.
Best TV Sketch Show: Horrible Histories
Back for a sixth series this year, some decided that the BBC's move to replace the cast and much of the creative team behind the show would sound the death knell for Horrible Histories, but the sketch show remains a favourite with both viewers and our voters. Notable guest stars in the series included Rowan Atkinson.
Also popular in this category was An Evening With Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse.
Best Radio Sketch Show: Dead Ringers
With prolific producer Bill Dare's satire format firmly ensconsed on Radio 4 once more, Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens and the rest of the topical team can congratulate themselves on picking up a lot of love from our voters in 2015. Having returned from a 7 year hiatus in 2014, it seems show is likely to be around for another few years to come.
The Brig Society and Newsjack were runners-up in this category this year.
Best TV Panel Show: Would I Lie To You?
For the third year in a row, WILTY? returns to top the pile of Panel Shows for 2015. Lee Mack, David Mitchell and Rob Brydon went from strength to strength with the fantastical parlour game, entertaining millions through another 9 episodes of hilarity.
The incredible success of 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown saw the hybrid panel-game-show move into a close second place after its mammoth 24 weeks of broadcasts in 2015, whilst Stephen Fry's final series as host of QI also scored strongly.
Best Radio Panel Show: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
Having just entered its 45th year on the air at the time of these awards, the "antidote to panel games" showed no signs of waning popularity. The institutions of radio comedy that are Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden - plus host Jack Dee - recorded another two series in 2015.
The News Quiz, which in 2015 saw Miles Jupp take over from host Sandi Toksvig; and The Unbelievable Truth, came in second and third places.
Best TV Entertainment Show: The Graham Norton Show
Encompassing all the other formats - from stand-up to documentaries, chat shows to pure satire and game shows to the resurgence in traditional variety, this is a hotly-fought category, and one that can be difficult to stand above the crowd in.
However, for the fifth year in a row, one man (and his fabulous array of A-list guest stars) does just that: Graham Norton, with his beloved, weekly Friday night chat show.
Previous winner Charlie Brooker came a close second with Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe and Channel 4's righteous The Last Leg also clocked up lots of votes.
Best Radio Entertainment Show: Mark Steel's In Town
This stand-up format, which involves satirist and comic Mark Steel going to a new town each week, researching it and then performing a bespoke show for the locals - often being polietly rude about where they live in the process - was the most popular pick for voters in a similarly packed radio category. 2015 marked the show's sixth series, and its popularity is clearly not on the decline.
Best TV Comedy Drama: Inside No. 9
Series 2 of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's dark antholgy series took viewers into yet more ominous settings, including a train compartment and the 17th Century. Sadly still remaining a little bit of a cult hit with the public rather than enjoying the mainstream success it deserves, the wonderfully inventive comedy clearly tickled many viewers, who voted it the Best Comedy Drama of the year. Indeed, some critics highlighted Episode 2, The 12 Days Of Christine (starring Sheridan Smith), as their TV highlight of the past 12 months.
2015 would appear to be the year that Peter Kay has cemented his status as a great comic actor, with Cradle To Grave, the show in which he played Danny Baker's dad, coming in a very healthy second place.
Comedy Of The Year: Car Share
Proving the power of sitcoms in a market flooded with cheap panel shows, Peter Kay & Co are the latest to do the double, picking up a Best Sitcom title and the single best Comedy Of The Year of any genre.
Created and written by Tim Reid and Paul Coleman with Kay and co-star Sian Gibson, the show follows colleagues John and Kayleigh, thrown together on a car share scheme by their supermarket employer. It's available now on both DVD and Blu-ray.
Editors' Award: Ballot Monkeys
This is the award the Editors of British Comedy Guide handed to the show, person, channel, or indeed anything else comedy related they thought deserved some extra recognition.
Our 2015 Editors' Award went to Hat Trick Productions' sparky political satire, Ballot Monkeys.
From Drop The Dead Donkey writers Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, the series was filmed and broadcast in the closing fortnight of May's General Election, and set on board the battle buses of the four main parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP.
With a fantastic cast fulfilling their roles to perfection - not to mention brilliant scripts from Guy and Andy, plus direction from Paul Schlesinger and Jimmy Mulville - each episode was filmed within mere hours of broadcast, keeping the satire bang up to date.
Very funny and pushing the bounds of scripted comedy production with such an incredibly tight turnaround, Ballot Monkeys is a deserving winner of our Editors' Award on all fronts: creative, performance and technical.