British Comedy Awards move to Channel 4
The British Comedy Awards are jumping ship from ITV to Channel 4 for at least the next three years, after spending 20 years with the commercial broadcaster.
The awards, created by veteran producer Michael Hurll in 1990 and usually hosted by Jonathan Ross, are one of the highlights of the comedy year, attracting the biggest names in comedy from home and abroad, as well as creating some of TV's most controversial moments.
It is partly due to these controversies that Channel 4 is seen as a more natural home for the awards, because the channel has a reputation for risk-taking. Channel 4 plans to expand the awards to cover more than just the live show, and has agreed with the production company behind the awards, Unique Television, to improve grass roots comedy.
The head of Channel 4, Julian Bellamy told The Guardian: "From The Inbetweeners and Peep Show, to our Comedy Labs and Showcases, we're passionate about comedy at Channel 4, and have a long heritage of supporting and developing new talent in this arena."
Unique Television's Mike Brosnan also said: "After 20 great years with ITV, the time is right for the awards to grow beyond a once-a-year event into a brand which will support comedy across all platforms from the grass roots up."
Amongst the more controversial moments during the history of the awards include Julian Clary in 1993 saying live before the 9pm watershed that he had been fisting then-Chancellor Norman Lamont backstage. The incident almost ended Clary's television career.
The show also got involved in the phone-in scandals of 2005 when the "People's Choice" award was given to Ant and Dec instead of Catherine Tate. Due to the scandals, ITV chose not to broadcast the 2007 event, angering comedy fans. Then in 2008, Ross did not host the awards following his involvement in the 'Sachsgate' prank phone calls, and was replaced by Angus Deayton for that year.
The British Comedy Awards 2010 will take place in December.
Here is a video from the 2009 ceremony in which Frankie Boyle - in keeping with the spirit of the awards - cracks a controversial joke: