Channel 4’s offbeat, adult puppet comedy Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared has been voted Comedy Of The Year and Best New TV Sitcom at the 2022 Comedy.co.uk Awards.
Spoofing children’s early-learning programming, the dark sitcom originated as a self-produced web series in 2011 and quickly became a cult hit, arriving on television in the autumn with a six-part series.
Meanwhile, BBC One’s family favourite Ghosts was named Best Returning TV Sitcom for a second year running, Taskmaster picked up its sixth Best TV Panel Show title, and Would I Lie To You? was voted Best TV Panel Show – its tenth year with the prize.
New entries to the top of the awards table include Best Radio Sitcom Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen?, which stars Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and BBC Three’s Ellie & Natasia (pictured), named Best TV Sketch Show.
Voting was conducted via the British Comedy Guide website (comedy.co.uk) over two rounds between 3rd and 22nd January 2023. The initial week-long longlist round saw every comedy to have debuted during the 2022 calendar year (379 in total) nominated in one of ten categories, divided by medium and genre.
The most popular six titles in each category then moved forward to a final shortlist round of voting, which occurred between Monday 17th and Sunday 30th January. Voters were also able to make an eleventh choice of their overall Comedy Of The Year from the 60 shortlisted productions.
The awards' seventeenth year, more than 150,000 votes were cast by comedy fans.
List of winners
See Comedy.co.uk for the full shortlists for each category.
Best New TV Sitcom & Comedy Of The Year
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Blink Industries for Channel 4) - Details
Creators Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling quip: "Trophies are important to us and we have two of them."
Best Returning TV Sitcom
Ghosts (Monumental Pictures for BBC One) - Details
Writer/creator/stars Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond say: "Last year’s award was touching enough, but to be the returning Returning Sitcom winner is doubly special. Huge thanks to everyone who voted for Ghosts. Thomas in particular was thrilled to hear that his work has ‘finally found the plaudits it so richly deserves’."
Best Radio Sitcom
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? (CPL Productions for BBC Radio 4) - Details
Writer David Quantick says: "I am totally delighted that Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? has won this award because the British Comedy Guide is the home of quality comedy appreciation. Thanks to everyone who liked the show and voted for it!"
Best TV Sketch Show
Ellie & Natasia (Nit TV for BBC Three) - Details
The comedy duo, Ellie White and Natasia Demetriou, say: "Thank you very very much to British Comedy Guide, our fellow sketch players and nominees, our parents, our agents, the BBC, TFL and ultimately ...laughter. Love you all so much, Natasia and Ellie."
Best Radio Sketch Show
‘Whatever Next?’ With Miles Jupp (Random Entertainment for BBC Radio 4) - Details
Writer James Kettle says: "It’s wonderful to get an award voted for by the audience and know that you’ve connected with people out there that genuinely loved our ostentatiously odd, madly heartfelt once-in-a-lifetime show. Extraordinarily enough, Whatever Next was around nine years in the making - it wouldn’t have been possible without the belief of Julia and Sioned at Radio 4, a literally stellar ensemble cast, our producer Victoria, exec Jon and script editor Graeme, plus of course the wildly funny, subtle and thoughtful, supportive and inspiring man I’ve been working alongside for all these years whose name temporarily escapes me."
Miles Jupp adds: "How nice!"
Best TV Panel Show
Would I Lie To You? (Zeppotron for BBC One) - Details
Video of Rob Brydon and Lee Mack accepting the award:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TlRpEhNwXgQ
David Mitchell adds: "It is genuinely heart-warming that we’ve won a British Comedy Guide Award for the 10th time. It’s an extremely gratifying constant in a world of worrying change. Thank you so much."
Best Radio Panel Show
The Unbelievable Truth (Random Entertainment for BBC Radio 4) - Details
Video of David Mitchell accepting the award:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZNZnrZ5718
Best TV Entertainment Show
Taskmaster (Avalon for Channel 4) - Details
Video of Greg Davies and Alex Horne discussing the awards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wmu9endgRY
Best Radio Entertainment Show
You’re Dead To Me (Muddy Knees Media and The Athletic for BBC Sounds/BBC Radio 4) - Details
Host Greg Jenner says: "Huge thanks to the readers of British Comedy Guide for once again voting for us! We’re thrilled to win this lovely award, even though - as a history podcast - it’s a highly dubious legal fudge to claim we’re a Radio Entertainment show. In fact, this photo is basically a crime. Nonetheless, I’m not giving the trophy back.
"Joking aside, YDTM is a vast undertaking that takes 8 months to make, so - before you send the Fraud Squad to my house - please allow me one final shoutout to all our fantastic guests, the brilliant PhD student researchers, the endlessly supportive BBC, and my amazing colleagues Emma, Emmie, Isla, Abi, Steve, Con, and Siefe. The series would be impossible without this amazing gang of talented people. Cheers!"
Best TV Comedy Drama
This Is Going To Hurt (Sister and Terrible Productions for BBC One) - Details
Writer Adam Kay says: "As wonderful as it to win awards voted for by the industry, nothing ever beats one voted for by the public. (Of course, I say the opposite at other awards.) Thank you to everyone who voted for This Is Going To Hurt - it was a labour of love, and a love letter to the NHS - I know the brilliant cast and crew who made it all happen will be absolutely thrilled."
About the awards
The Comedy.co.uk Awards have been running annually since 2006.
Recognising the best comic programming across both television and radio, the Comedy.co.uk Awards are unique in being decided upon solely by a public vote. The 379 British comedy programmes to start a new series or air a single special during the 2022 calendar year were automatically included in an initial round of voting at the start of January.
The top six programmes in each category were then subject to a second and final round, with thousands of members of the public casting their votes for the very best broadcast and streamed comedies of the previous 12 months.
Comedy Of The Year winners in previous years have been Green Wing (2006), The IT Crowd (2007), Peep Show (2008), The Thick Of It (2009), Miranda (2010), Horrible Histories (2011), Miranda (2012), Would I Lie To You? (2013), Cabin Pressure (2014), Car Share (2015), Red Dwarf (2016), Inside No. 9 (2017 & 2018), Good Omens (2019), After Life (2020), and Taskmaster (2021).
