British Comedy Guide

Comedy.co.uk Awards 2010 results

Miranda Hart's hit BBC Two sitcom Miranda was named the top comedy in 2010. The Trip and Peep Show were amongst the category winners; whilst voters showed their displeasure at Frankie Boyle by naming his sketch show the worst comedy on TV in 2010.

Best New TV Sitcom: The Trip

The Trip. Image shows from L to R: Rob (Rob Brydon), Steve (Steve Coogan)

A low-energy improvised trip around the Lake District, Lancashire, and the Yorkshire Dales with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing versions of themselves. It doesn't sound like the format for a hit sitcom, and split commentators on our message board fairly evenly down the love it/hate it line, but it grabbed the popular vote for best new TV sitcom of the year.

Tom Hollander's church-based Rev came in a very respectable 2nd place, with Simon Amstell's Grandma's House, BBC Three puppet sitcom Mongrels, and the kitchen-based Whites also scoring well.

Best Returning TV Sitcom: Peep Show

Peep Show. Image shows from L to R: Jeremy Usbourne (Robert Webb), Mark Corrigan (David Mitchell). Copyright: Objective Productions

The seventh series of this cult sitcom finished just before voting opened, and clearly delighted many. With a general consensus that any perceived drop in quality around Series 5 has since been rectified, the low-rating Channel 4 show evidently remains massively popular with its fans.

This was a particularly tough-fought category, with Miranda and The Inbetweeners only narrowly beaten in the polls.

Best Radio Sitcom: Another Case Of Milton Jones

Another Case Of Milton Jones. Milton (Milton Jones). Copyright: Pozzitive Productions

2010 was definitely a good year for master gagsmith Milton Jones. Thanks to appearances on shows like Mock The Week and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, the one-line pun-merchant has shot into the mainstream, and the public love him. He's been writing and performing Another Case Of Milton Jones on Radio 4 since 2005, but he's shot to the top with Series 4 this year.

As in previous years, Victorian epic Bleak Expectations and Hell-set Old Harry's Game also scored extremely well.

Best TV Sketch Show: That Mitchell And Webb Look

That Mitchell And Webb Look. Image shows from L to R: Robert Webb, David Mitchell. Copyright: BBC

Despite eliciting disappointment amongst our message board regulars in comparison to its previous series, the 2010 series of That Mitchell And Webb Look snatched the Best TV Sketch Show award for 2010. It was an incredibly close fight against The Armstrong & Miller Show right up until polling ended, but the Peep Show stars sneaked ahead to take the crown.

CBBC sketch show Horrible Histories also bagged an impressive proportion of votes, suggesting it was definitely a format to keep an eye on in 2011 - particularly with an adult adaptation, starring Stephen Fry, under way.

Best Radio Sketch Show: Sarah Millican's Support Group

Sarah Millican

This radio show, in which sketches were fitted around Sarah Millican's agony aunt character, came out top of our sketch show poll.

Elsewhere, Radio 7's Newsjack, the topical sketch show anyone can write for, did well.

Best TV Panel Show: QI

QI. Image shows from L to R: Alan Davies, Stephen Fry. Copyright: TalkbackThames

Brain-box panel show QI has won this award three times previously - and it comes out top of the voting again in 2010. It's true that the show's started to receive a bit of criticism of late, but its position in the vote shows that there are still more than enough fans around, and that the most high-brow of comedy can become a big success.

The BBC dominated this category, with Would I Lie To You? a very respectable second, and Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Mock The Week also proving popular in the poll.

Best Radio Panel Show: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Image shows from L to R: Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer. Copyright: BBC

Despite the change of host, Radio 4's self-styled antidote to panel games continues to please audiences. At this stage it was well into its 54th series and with such popularity shows no sign of slowing.

The Unbelievable Truth and The News Quiz, two other perennial Radio 4 panel shows, also picked up respectable numbers of votes in this category.

Best TV Entertainment Show: Newswipe With Charlie Brooker

Newswipe With Charlie Brooker. Charlie Brooker. Copyright: Zeppotron

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe special, rounding-up 2010 on TV, and a second series of the popular variant Newswipe, in which he mercilessly dissects television news coverage, grabbed a win for the acerbic commentator.

Russell Howard's Good News also did very well, and Harry Hill's TV Burp was the only ITV show in any category this year to have picked up a notable number of positive votes.

Best TV Comedy Drama: Misfits

Misfits. Image shows from L to R: Alisha (Antonia Thomas), Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Simon (Iwan Rheon), Nathan (Robert Sheehan), Kelly (Lauren Socha). Copyright: Clerkenwell Films

Comedy drama is tricky to get right: most programmes in this genre normally just fail to be funny enough. However, Misfits, written by Howard Overman, had been getting great ratings for E4 thanks to its mix of comedy and zippy storylines - and it took away the award for Comedy Drama this year.

Overman picked up a double here, with his BBC Four adaptation of Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently doing very well in this category, particularly so considering it was a single pilot.

Comedy Of The Year: Miranda

Miranda. Image shows from L to R: Penny (Patricia Hodge), Gary (Tom Ellis), Miranda (Miranda Hart), Stevie (Sarah Hadland), Clive (James Holmes). Copyright: BBC

At the end of the voting process, we asked voters to select what was the overall best comedy of the year. Many people opted for Peep Show or The Inbetweeners, but more selected Miranda than anything else.

Miranda Hart's sitcom is certainly a big success story - its family-friendly storylines, joyful atmosphere and use of techniques such as addressing the camera directly have all worked to establish a big fan-base, and as word-of-mouth spread, ratings rocketed, comfortably passing the 4 million viewers mark for the Christmas-themed episode 6 - absolutely massive ratings for a BBC Two sitcom.

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