Happy New Year to everyone! As Geektown awakens from its Christmas slumber, as has been the tradition for the last 10 years, we kick off the new year with the announcement of the Geektown Award Winners! I wanted to say a huge thank you to the thousands of people that voted in this year’s awards and a massive congratulations to Kevin who won the huge main prize, and Lauren (check your voicemail!) who won the runner-up mystery box, and have both been contacted.
Now we have the prize winners announced, on to the awards themselves, and we come to the actual category winners themselves, starting, as ever, with the ‘Best New and Best Returning Non-Sci-fi Drama’ categories. We’re going to split the announcements over a couple of days this year, but we begin part one of the shows you voted for below!
Best New Non-Sci-fi Drama
Nominees: Big Sky – Disney+, Bloodlands – BBC, Bridgerton – Netflix, Heels – Amazon Prime, Professor T – ITV, Ridley Road – BBC, The Flight Attendant – Sky, The Outlaws – BBC, Vigil – BBC, White Lotus – Sky, Your Honor – Sky
Bronze: The Outlaws – BBC
Silver: The Flight Attendant – Sky
Winner: Bridgerton – Netflix
Our first winner of the awards this year took a clear lead early on, and stayed the course throughout the voting. It was, of course, Netflix’s global smash hit ‘Bridgerton‘. The drama, which premiered on Christmas Day in 2020 (the Awards eligibility run from 30th November 2020 to 30th November 2021) became the number one show on the streaming service last year, with subscribers viewing a staggering 625 million hours of the drama across 82 million accounts. The drama was so successful, it not only returns for a second season on the 25th March 2022, but has also been renewed for seasons three AND four!
Based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling series of novels, ‘Bridgerton’, is set in the sexy, lavish and competitive world of Regency London high society. From the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair to the aristocratic palaces of Park Lane and beyond, the series unveils a seductive, sumptuous world replete with intricate rules and dramatic power struggles, where no one is truly ever on steady ground. At the heart of the show is the powerful Bridgerton family. Comprised of eight close-knit siblings, this funny, witty, daring and clever group must navigate the upper ten thousand’s marriage mart, in search of romance, adventure and love.
Whilst season one of the drama focused on Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor – ‘Younger’, ‘Waterloo Road’), the eldest daughter of the powerful Bridgerton family, the upcoming second season follows the plot of the second novel, ‘The Viscount Who Loved Me’, and is based around Anthony (Jonathan Bailey – ‘Broadchurch’, ‘W1A’), the eldest Bridgerton sibling and dutiful head of the family since assuming his late father’s title of Viscount. You can see in the clip the beginnings of a turbulent romance with Kate Sharma (played by ‘Sex Education‘s Simone Ashley). Kate is smart, headstrong London newcomer, who suffers no fools… Anthony very much included!
Best Returning Non-Sci-fi Drama
Nominees: Billions (Season 5) – Sky, Cobra Kai (Season 3) – Netflix, Dexter: New Blood (Season 9) – Sky, Line of Duty (Season 6) – BBC, Love Victor (Season 2) – Disney+, Outlander (Season 5) – Amazon, Ozark (Season 3) – Netflix, Sex Eduction (Season 3) – Netflix, Succession (Season 3) – Sky, The Blacklist (Season 8) – Sky, YOU (Season 3) – Netflix
Bronze: Sex Education (Season 4) – Netflix
Silver: Dexter: New Blood (Season 9) – Sky
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Line Of Duty (Season 6) – BBC
Despite somewhat mixed reactions to the reveal of the mysterious “H” in ‘Line Of Duty‘ season six, the drama, which previously won for Season 5 in 2019, fought off the competition to take the top spot… That isn’t easy when your closest rival is a serial killer who has returned after a long break! Voting was close for a long time, but the crew of AC-12 eventually stormed ahead to a convincing victory.
As to the future of the show, we don’t yet know. Season six did feel very much like it could serve as a show finale. The BBC are, obviously, keen to make more of their massive hit show, and a number of the cast have said they would love to return. However, creator Jed Mercurio recently struck a “first-look” deal with 20th Television to work on some new projects, so any new season is probably a while away yet. We will have to wait and see if Season 7 emerges at some point in the future.
